Blackburn makes bipartisan, bicameral request for GAO details on assistive technologies

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate the coverage of assistive technologies provided to patients who experience amputation or have other limb challenges.

“The need for high-quality assistive technologies and quality health care is vitally important,” wrote Sen. Blackburn and her colleagues, who included U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), in a bipartisan, bicameral Jan. 26 letter sent to U.S. Comptroller Gene Dodaro. 

The lawmakers pointed out that an estimated 185,000 amputations occur each year in the United States, a number that’s expected to double by 2050 due to the increasing rates of contributing conditions, including vascular disease, trauma and cancer. 

At the same time, two million Americans currently live with limb loss or limb difference, while two-thirds of them will not receive a prosthetic device. “There is a lack of information to explain why such a disparity exists,” Sen. Blackburn and her colleagues wrote. 

To better understand such gaps and disparities in access, the lawmakers requested that the GAO evaluate and submit a report to Congress by July 1, 2023, detailing the access barriers to prosthetic devices. 

The report, they wrote, will be used to inform future legislation and should address numerous questions, including related healthcare coverage barriers that exist to using assistive technologies; and to what extent patient outcomes for those using assistive technologies are impacted by being on Medicare or private insurance or when care is provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“In addition, healthcare payers, such as the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Veterans Health Administration and private insurers will benefit from the additional research into limb loss and limb difference” provided by any forthcoming bill, wrote Sen. Blackburn and the lawmakers.