Welcome to the NSM Monthly Minute
December 2021 | In This Issue:
- Take the Monthly Minute Survey: Your feedback will help inform future content
- Season's Greetings from National Seating & Mobility
- Monthly Products Showcase: Featuring LUCI Mobility Stories of Independence
- House Passes Legislation to Stop PAYGO Cuts for 2022
- NSM Client Spotlight: Amber Rangel's lifestyle is full of adventure
Take The Monthly Minute Survey: Your feedback will help inform future content
Although this year has brought many challenges, it has also brought us together. We are honored to work alongside you to help your patients gain more independence and achieve better health outcomes associated with their customized mobility solutions.
As we come to the close of another year, we recognize that our Monthly Minute readership levels could improve. That is why we are requesting you to take a short survey for us to better understand how we can improve upon the information we include in the Monthly Minute. Please click the button below to take a short survey.
Thank you for trusting us to serve you and your patients. Because of you, many are able to give thanks for greater mobility, safety and improved health this year.
Season's Greetings from NSM
Please click below for a holiday greeting from all of us at NSM.
Monthly Product Showcase: Featuring LUCI Mobility Stories of Independence
In the February edition of the Monthly Minute, we shared the exciting news of our partnership with LUCI Mobility to distribute the first-of-its-kind smart technology platform giving power wheelchair users unparalleled stability, security and connectivity.
LUCI is a hardware/software platform that fits onto an existing power wheelchair and utilizes a patented sensor-fusion safety system combining data from cameras, ultrasonics and radar into a single, 360-degree view of the world. The technology works with a chair user's steering inputs and reaction times to create a customized, safer driving experience, providing collision avoidance, drop-off protection and anti-tipping alerts.
LUCI also provides cloud-based communications and alerts via a MyLUCI portal, available to users in the Apple and Google Play app stores. The portal allows rides to view their data and share select information such as location and low battery notifications with trusted family, friends and caregivers.
Below are stories of the independence this groundbreaking technology provides to its users.
Monthly Minute Archive
Click 'Expand' to Access Past Issues
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November 2021
ExpandNovember 2021 - in this issue:
- Thank You for Your Partnership: Please Take a Short Survey
- Our Response to Supply Chain Disruptions
- Monthly Product Showcase: Featuring a Holiday Gift Guide
- NSM Client Spotlight: Luis Cruz
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October 2021
Expand- Seat Elevation Congressional Sign-On Letter Sent to CMS
- Let's Get Moving Magazine: Arts & Culture Issue
- Monthly Products Showcase: Featuring Affordable Transportable Power Mobility
- NSM Elevates Accessibility at Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival as Official ADA Sponsor
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September 2021
ExpandSeptember 2021 - in this issue:
- Help Secure Medicare Coverage for Seat Elevation & Standing Systems: Take One Minute to Make a Difference
- September is Fall Prevention Awareness Month: NSM's SAFE Program Helps Clients Reduce the Risk of Falls
- Monthly Products Showcase: Power Seat Elevation & Standing Systems
- Client Spotlight: The Marlin Family "lives for today without worry for tomorrow"
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August 2021
Expand- Join Us at the NCART & NRRTS Virtual Fly-In on September 21, 2021
- Podcast | Required Documentation & Payer Policies: New Equipment & Repair Orders
- Monthly Product Showcase | Featuring Peace of Mind Technology
- Client Spotlight | SMA2 Warrior Oliver Schaper
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July 2021
Expand- CMS Temporarily Extends Rate Protections for Manual CRT Accessories
- Wheelchair Clinic Brings Technology-Driven Care During the Pandemic
- Monthly Products Showcase: Perks of Power Assist
- NSM Client Spotlight: Sean Simonson Achieved Peak Performance During the Pandemic
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June 2021
Expand- CMS Temporarily Extends Rate Protections for Manual CRT Accessories
- Wheelchair Clinic Brings Technology-Driven Care During the Pandemic
- Monthly Products Showcase: Perks of Power Assist
- NSM Client Spotlight: Sean Simonson
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May 2021
Expand- Introducing Let's Get Moving Magazine
- The Next Crisis: Unsafe Housing for an Aging America
- Monthly Products Showcase: One Step Closer to Medicare Coverage for Power Seat Elevation & Standing
- NSM Client Spotlight: Kellie Morris Living a Performance-Driven Life
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April 2021
Expand- The Essential Home Accessibility Checklist to a Safe & Access Home
- Do Your Part to Stop Cuts to CRT Manual Wheelchair Accessories
- Monthly Products Showcase: Bariatric Products
- NSM Client Spotlight: Diana Holmes
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March 2021
Expand- COVID-19: My Perspective One Year Later
- CMS Updates DEMPOS Fee Schedule
- Monthly Products Showcase: LUCI
- NSM Client Spotlight: Calvan Ferguson
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February 2021
ExpandFebruary 2021 - in this issue:
- NSM Expands Access to Smart Technology Platform with LUCI Distribution Agreement
- Clinician Task Force Publishes Guide to Telehealth
- Products Showcase: Power Seating Products
- NSM Client Spotlight: Keagan Robinson
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January 2021
Expand- Driving Innovative Service Solutions During the Pandemic
- A Better Solution for Your Injured Worker's Mobility & Accessibility Needs
- Products Showcase: Power Assist for Manual Wheelchairs
- NSM Client Spotlight: Luis Cruz
NSM ATP, Ron Seely, Helps Bring Independence to Client, Caleigh Gray, with LUCI
Before using LUCI, Caleigh didn't drive her power wheelchair much. In fact, its main use was a napping spot for the family cut. However, the family cat now has to find a new spot to nap because thanks to NSM ATP, Ron Seely, introducing Caleigh's mom to LUCI, Caleigh now uses her chair multiple times a day. She moves around and explores with confidence - just like every kid should be able to!
Click here to see Caleigh enjoying her newly found independence.
The World Needs You
Twenty years ago, when Jen and Barry Dean learned their daughter, Katherine had Cerebral Palsy, they didn't really understand what that meant. Their journey has been marked both by beauty and struggle.
Click here to read Jen's essay on how she learned to navigate the world with her daughter in a power wheelchair, and how the overwhelming need to protect their daughter led her husband, Barry, to develop LUCI.
Congress Passes Relief from Medicare Cuts
A huge thank you to everyone who took action to protect access to CRT! Thanks to the work of many individuals and organizations across the country, Congress has passed legislation that will defer/minimize scheduled 2022 Medicare cuts that would have negatively impacted the healthcare community. The bill has been sent to the President for signing.
As reported earlier this week, there were two Medicare payment cuts scheduled for implementation in 2022. A 4% PAYGO reduction (tied to increased spending for COVID-19) and a reinstatement of the 2% Medicare sequestration reduction (tied to a budget bill passed in 2011). Such cuts would have severely impacted CRT providers’ ability to supply the specialized technology and supporting services that people with disabilities and chronic medical conditions depend on.
Once the President signs the bill, the 4% PAYGO reduction will be deferred to at least 2023. The 2% Medicare sequestration reduction will be gradually instituted in 2022; 1% as of April 1 and the full 2% as of July 1. While this did not provide complete relief, it minimizes the negative impacts.
Amber Rangel's Lifestyle is Full of Adventure
Amber Rangel found her passion for water skiing when she was introduced to it at the age of eight. A decade of hard work later, at nineteen, she became a world-class barefoot skier, ranked 26th woman in the world. That year, while training for the Barefoot Water Ski national championship, an accident left Amber with a spinal cord injury, changing the course of her life.
During intensive recovery and therapy, as a full-level quadriplegic, what once gave her such joy, now terrified her, but she knew she had to get back to the water. After some searching, Amber decided to try scuba diving. She started by getting diving instruction in the pool, and then found Divehart, a non-profit that helps people with disabilities gain freedom through diving. Today, Amber is a certified Adaptive Scuba Diver who dives around the world in locations such as Mexico, Honduras and Iceland. Working with Divehart, her goal is to help introduce scuba therapy worldwide to others with disabilities.
When she’s not diving, Amber can be found working out at the gym, hitting the trail with her sister and her dog, or participating in a variety of outdoor sports activities through a non-profit organization, Adaptive Adventures. Her active lifestyle is full of adventure, but her passion will always remain in the water, where she now finds freedom.
Click here to read more inspiring NSM client stories.