United Ostomy Associations of America (UOAA)

UOAA’s mission is to promote quality of life for people with ostomies and continent diversions through information, support, advocacy and collaboration.

UOAA Advocates For and Strives To:

ensure that any person living with a permanent or temporary ostomy

has access to the supplies that

complete their prescribed

pouching prosthetic system.

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Advocacy Priority:

Stop Non-Medical Switching!

Non-medical switching occurs when health insurers or suppliers substitute the products of a stable ostomate to alternative products, for non-medical reasons typically on the basis of cost. This practice is similar to when insurers force stable patients from their current effective medications to an insurer’s “preferred” drug.

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How Non-Medical Switching Occurs:

• Insurers stop covering the particular medical device (in this case components of the ostomy pouching application system) or remove it from their formulary, forcing patients to pay out-of-pocket for the device that is already working well for them.
• Insurers may restrict consumers to specific brands or specific suppliers, which limits patient access to the products they need, as patients often must use products from multiple manufacturers.
• Some suppliers “switch out” what was prescribed and substitute generic, poorer quality, or less expensive brands without consultation with the patient or the prescribing medical professional.
• Health care facilities such as hospitals (including LTAC, and rehabilitation hospitals), and skilled nursing facilities as well as home health agencies switch what a person uses or what was ordered on discharge from hospital for their in-house formulary brand or “whatever they have on-hand”.

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A Study of the Qualitative Impact of Non-Medical Switching of Ostomy Supplies:

Patient Perspective:

“Non-medical switching contributes to leaks. My situation is such a fine balance that if I switch products today, I would say there is a 95% chance I'll leak overnight. Can these insurers and regulators imagine what it's like to have leak after leak after leak everyday and every night leading to breakdown of skin, causing painful lesions, which ultimately results in loss of quality of life and embarrassment?” - Tina

Self-Advocate/Raise Awareness/DDNC Support: