Pitt students, professor get Medicare funding for 81-year-old

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune Review

When University of Pittsburgh law student Ivana Grujic took a look at her assignment at the university's health law clinic, the file was so thick and the issues so complex she didn't know where to begin.

"We were pretty inexperienced," said Grujic, a third-year student from Philadelphia.

But when she, classmate Kurt Hoffman and professor Stella L. Smetanka completed the assignment a year later, they had won a key decision that could help thousands of senior citizens on Medicare who need intensive rehabilitation services.

The case, cited by advocates and members of Congress as potentially precedent setting, overturned a ruling by Medicare officials that Wanda Papciak, 81, of the South Side could not continue to get rehabilitation services after a hip replacement.

The Pittsburgh decision in September and a parallel Vermont ruling fueled efforts to get Medicare officials to broaden coverage for people needing similar services.



Read more: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_710443.html

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Way to go students!

[xchrom]

1. Awesome! Nt

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Ahhhhhhhhh..to be young and passionate....

[JDPriestly]

3. Wonderful.

My mother broke her hip. Without supplemental insurance, which is expensive, a Medicare patient does not get adequate care for hip surgery. It takes a very long time and lots of therapy to recover to a status in which you can live on your own and take care of yourself. In the long run, this additional coverage will save money on expensive nursing home services due to lack of the capacity to care for oneself.

[avaistheone1]

4. Terrrific story about our young people and one of universities.

:kick:

[Doctor_J]

5. THis is why Repukes hate college students and lawyers

they actually help old, sick, and needy people.

[qanda]

6. That's great!

Go Pitt Students. So proud...