I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8581 
To direct the Government Accountability Office to evaluate appropriate cov-
erage of assistive technologies provided to patients who experience ampu-
tation or live with limb difference. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 13, 2020 
Mr. BUTTERFIELD (for himself and Mr. GUTHRIE) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and 
in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Veterans’ Af-
fairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To direct the Government Accountability Office to evaluate 
appropriate coverage of assistive technologies provided 
to patients who experience amputation or live with limb 
difference. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Assistive 
Technology and Devices for Americans Study Act’’ or the 
‘‘Triple A Study Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE COVERAGE OF ASSISTIVE TECH-
NOLOGIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 
of the United States shall evaluate, and submit to Con-
gress a report on such evaluation, the appropriate cov-
erage, through insurance or otherwise, of assistive tech-
nologies provided to patients who experience amputation 
or live with limb difference, particularly prosthetic devices 
and custom orthoses, including— 
(1) timely access to care, including educating 
patients regarding options for assistive technologies; 
(2) assessments and guidelines for assistive de-
vice determinations; 
(3) matching specific assistive devices with the 
needs of the individual beneficiary, such as women; 
(4) the affordability of assistive devices; 
(5) the provision of rehabilitation services to 
support acclimation to assistive devices; and 
(6) appropriate timelines for assessments for 
surgery and assessments of assistive devices. 
(b) COMPARISON OF CERTAIN DATA.—As part of the 
evaluation conducted under subsection (a), the Comp-
troller General shall compare data on practices and out-
comes derived from the Medicare program under title 
XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.), 
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the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the commercial 
health insurance market relating to the coverage of assist-
ive technologies, including— 
(1) the percentage of patients who get access to 
assistive devices; 
(2) performance measures that monitor the 
timeliness of processing prosthetic prescriptions; 
(3) coverage denials and overturn rates; 
(4) coding for physician or physical therapy as-
sessments, including whether a prosthetist was en-
gaged in the assessment; 
(5) the rate of patients returning to work in 
general, and after receiving a prosthetic device com-
parable to other assistive technologies; 
(6) reductions in long-term assistive technology 
services and supports; 
(7) with respect to those using assistive tech-
nologies, policies to reduce falls and secondary com-
plications, such as diabetes, heart disease, vascular 
disease, and others; and 
(8) the amount expended by individual entities 
on prosthetics relative to total amount expended by 
such entities. 
Æ 
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