[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 78 (Friday, May 23, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7115-S7116]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          MEDICARE VISION REHABILITATION SERVICES ACT OF 2003

  Mr. SUNUNU. Mr. President, today I rise to ask my colleagues to join 
me in supporting the Medicare Vision Rehabilitation Services Act of 
2003. This is legislation I introduced in the Senate this past week to 
deal with vision impairment, one of the most common disabilities 
affecting seniors today.
  Millions of Americans currently have impaired vision. The number of 
people in the United States with vision impairments continues to 
increase. The vision impairment is a loss of vision that is not 
correctable by standard glasses, contact lenses, medicine or surgery. 
One of the leading causes of vision impairment and blindness in the 
United States is age-related disease and that is why it is important we 
begin to deal with this serious illness under our Medicare system.
  Vision rehabilitation assists individuals with this serious vision 
loss so they can safely navigate in their own homes and within their 
local environments. Vision rehabilitation services help people avoid 
medication errors, help them cook and use kitchen utensils safely, and 
help avoid burns and falls; in short, help them to be more independent 
in their own community and enable them to enjoy a better quality of 
life.
  Importantly, vision rehabilitation services promote safety and that 
all-important independence for our elderly. This legislation would 
ensure that Medicare coverage for vision rehab

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services would be made available to all of our elderly citizens in the 
United States.
  It would make the coverage available nationwide. It would establish 
strict qualifications in the Medicare Program for specially trained 
vision rehabilitation professionals who operate under physician 
supervision and allow them to provide the highest possible quality 
services in the home when deemed medically necessary.
  One in five older Americans, over 7 million people, report some 
degree of serious vision impairment. More than 700,000 older Americans 
are legally blind. According to the CDC, falls among older people cost 
the Government more than $20 billion a year, and vision problems were 
specifically cited as one of the leading causes of these falls. If only 
one in five of the hip fractures due to vision impairment were 
prevented, each year the annual cost savings would be hundreds of 
millions of dollars.
  Nearly anyone suffering from vision loss can benefit from vision 
rehabilitation services that can help patients make the most of 
whatever vision they do have remaining.
  Specifically, this bill takes a number of important actions. It 
establishes national coverage under Medicare for the provision of 
rehabilitation services. It defines rehabilitation services as services 
provided to a person with a vision impairment under a plan of care 
developed by a physician, allowing these services to be furnished both 
in-office and in a patient's home. It defines a vision rehabilitation 
professional as well as setting out the educational criteria these 
providers must have.
  This legislation ensures payment under the existing physician fee 
schedule. That is important. There was an awful lot of work put into 
developing this legislation, so we did not have to create a new or 
separate physician fee schedule. The legislation also requires the 
patient care plan be developed by a physician in order to receive 
reimbursement under Medicare. That plan has to attest that vision 
rehabilitation services are medically necessary, and is a plan that 
periodically is reviewed by a physician.
  It is a strong, focused program that provides coverage for these very 
important services under Medicare. In over a 5-year period, the 
independently estimated cost is less than $10 million--less than $10 
million, to begin to address one of the leading causes of accidents 
that disable our elderly citizens in their homes. It is less than $10 
million over a 5-year period to increase independence, to increase 
quality of life, and to provide a better quality of care in a home 
setting.
  I think this is an important piece of legislation that can make an 
enormous difference for millions of older Americans under Medicare.
  I do thank the cosponsors who have already agreed to support this 
legislation--Senator Stevens, Senator McCain, Senator Collins, Senator 
Bunning, Senator Specter, Senator Burns, Senator Allen, Senator Kerry, 
Senator Lincoln, Senator Miller, Senator Rockefeller, Senator Cantwell, 
Senator Kennedy, and Senator Landrieu.
  It is a strong, bipartisan coalition that will work throughout this 
year to see that this legislation is signed into law, making a 
difference by adding vision rehabilitation services to Medicare and 
making that difference in the lives of millions of elderly Americans.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from 
West Virginia is recognized.

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