This story has been updated.
A bill aimed at curbing wait times for wheelchair repairs won final approval at the General Assembly on Tuesday.
Lawmakers in the House unanimously passed Senate Bill 308, An Act Implementing Task Force Recommendations For Wheelchair Repair. It goes to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk for final signature.
The bill requires complex rehab technology companies to complete repairs within 10 business days of the request, as long as replacement parts are available and insurance authorization is obtained. Medicaid and private insurers must now remove new prescription and prior authorization requirements — which can contribute to repair delays — in cases where the original prescription for the chair is less than five years old.
[RELATED: CT wheelchair repair wait times are increasing. A bill aims to change that]
“I think it is a good first step,” Michelle Duprey, an attorney and wheelchair user, wrote in a statement to The Connecticut Mirror. “But there is quite a bit more work to be done to provide people with disabilities a stable and predictable medical equipment repair process.”
Wheelchair repair companies will also have to report average repair wait times to the Department of Social Services, and the state will establish a complaint hotline managed by the Office of the Healthcare Advocate. The bill also creates a Wheelchair Repair Advisory Council, composed of wheelchair users and government officials, to monitor repairs of wheelchairs and to make recommendations concerning improving these times.
This bill comes after the Wheelchair Repair Task Force, a group of advocates, industry representatives and lawmakers, published a list of 12 recommendations to decrease the wait times. The Task Force found that some wheelchair users wait more than 49 days, on average, from request to repair to have their chair serviced.
“We believe this law represents progress,” Wayne Grau, executive director of the national organization of wheelchair providers, National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology, wrote to the CT Mirror. “The elimination of prior authorization from insurers for wheelchairs within five years of the original prescription is no longer required, which will greatly reduce the wait time for consumers.”
A previous iteration of S.B. 308, passed by the Human Services Committee, included a measure that would financially penalize companies that did not meet the 10-day repair timeline. The amended version approved by the Senate removed the provision.
“There are people who are mad with various aspects of this bill and want to build tweaks in different ways,” Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, said during the Senate vote. “We will see if this bill works, and if it doesn’t, we can come back next year.”
While advocates feel encouraged over the bill’s approval, many say work still needs to be done for Connecticut residents with disabilities.
Jonathan Sigworth, a former member of the Wheelchair Repair Task Force, voiced his disappointment that the legislature has not passed any other bills related to disabilities, including one measure that would have increased access to diagnostic equipment for those in wheelchairs and another that would have eliminated asset limits for HUSKY C, the state’s Medicaid program for residents over 65 and those with disabilities.
“What is the point of supporting timely wheelchair repairs for the disabled community if you then fail to support our access to wheelchair accessible medical diagnostic equipment to prevent cancer or our access to Medicaid health insurance in order to get the care that we need?” Sigworth asked. “That needs to be put to shame by the public.”
CT Mirror staff writer Katy Golvala contributed to this report
Update: H.B. 5200, an act to increase access to diagnostic equipment for those in wheelchairs, passed on Wednesday but without the unanimous support that S.B. 308 received in the House.
Correction: A previous version of this story refers to Senate Bill 308 as House Bill 308