{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=ff4dcf92-4da3-43d0-bb76-ea5fc35f0f43", "COCHRAN & HARPER:  MEDICARE POLICY CHANGE WILL HELP THOSE WITH DEGENERATIVE DISABILITIES", "2014-11-13", "2014", "2014-11", "Republican", "House", "MS", "Thad Cochran", "C000567", "www.cochran.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Representative Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) today welcomed a decision to reverse recent Medicare policy changes that restricted coverage to speech generating devices used by people with ALS, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other neurological and degenerative disabilities.\r\nIn response to concerns raised in September by Cochran, Harper and a significant number of Senate and House members, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently agreed to reconsider the benefit category national coverage determination for speech generating devices (SGDs) and SGD-related accessories.\r\n\u00a0\u201cBureaucratic policy decisions have real consequences on people, as witnessed by those who rely on these communication devices being left with higher costs or, worse, without access to these technologies,\u201d Cochran said.\u00a0 \u201cThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made the right decision to reconsider these policy changes.\u00a0 I am pleased that CMS will now update these policies to reflect the new technologies available to help those with degenerative disabilities.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\u201cWe have heard from our constituents in Mississippi on the need to reverse the Medicare policy changes that restricted coverage to SGDs,\u201d Harper said. \u201cI am committed to ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries that are afflicted with a neurological or degenerative disability have access to needed technologies to improve their quality of life.\u201d  \u00a0  The CMS decision will allow patients to retain Medicare coverage for SGDs that are modified to improve functionality or who require SGDs after being admitted to a hospital, hospice, nursing home or other facility.\u00a0 The CMS order would also affect recent coverage denials for eye tracking and eye gazing technologies used by those living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.\r\nCochran was among 27 Senators and Harper was among 173 Representatives who signed a letter to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner in September that was critical of the SGDs policy changes and sought a detailed explanation for the CMS policy revisions and subsequent actions taken by Durable Medical Equipment Medicare Administrative Contractors (DME MACs).\r\n\u201cThe patients who are in need of SGDs are some of Medicare\u2019s most vulnerable beneficiaries.\u00a0 As we mentioned, SDGs provide often the only means of communication for patients living with cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Rett Syndrome, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson\u2019s disease, brain stem stroke, locked-in syndrome, and traumatic brain injury.\u00a0 It is imperative that Medicare policy and DME MACs take in account the ability of these patients to communicate with their family, caregivers, and health care providers,\u201d the lawmakers wrote Tavenner.\r\nIn rescinding the SGD policy changes, CMS indicated that it will now implement a process to set a new national coverage determination for SGDs.\u00a0 The current coverage policy took effect in 2001 and does not reflect advances in SGD technologies.\r\nLINKS:  \u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 CMS Coverage of Speech Generating Devices Announcement:\u00a0 http://go.cms.gov/1wLK3OZ   \u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Letter to CMS Administrator Tavenner available below.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=ff4dcf92-4da3-43d0-bb76-ea5fc35f0f43"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1887410655617714, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}