We need your help with a very important study! With changes to Medicare supplemental oxygen reimbursement impacting and countless patients it has become vital that we document the importance and clinical significance of mobility for lung impaired patients. As a consequence of competitive bidding, new reimbursements for supplemental oxygen are now dictating which oxygen devices are being made available to Medicare recipients, often restricting patients to be forced to transport large E-cylinders. The result is that patients using supplemental oxygen are experiencing severe loss of mobility impacting their quality of life and health outcomes. In basic terms: we are going back to a 1970’s model of oxygen delivery that is restricting patients to the confines of their home.
The link below is a survey that hopes to document the impact of transporting large cylinders of oxygen will have on our community. To date there is no research that illustrates the obvious fact that carrying or transporting weight causes desaturation in lung impaired users. This of course might seem obvious to us, but has been largely ignored by Medicare who states they require clinical data before they can accept this actually occurs.
We ask all community members to click on the link below and fill out the survey. We also ask that you share the survey on any social media you may be a part of. We NEED this information in our effort to force change in a damaged system that puts money over patient welfare. If we do not reverse the impacts of this flawed policy, the health and wellbeing of our community will suffer for many years to come! This survey is for ALL who use or have used supplemental oxygen!
Please click on the following link and make your voice heard:
https://redcap.rush.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=LM78EP8ED8