Crotched Mountain Foundation to stop operating assistive-technology firm

Jan. 07--A local assistive technology firm that serves approximately 900 people annually will wind down its operations by the end of February.

ATECH Services, operated by the Greenfield-based Crotched Mountain Foundation, provides support statewide to people with disabilities, offering evaluations for the types of assistive technologies clients might need and devices, such as wheelchairs and lifts.

The services were covered by insurance companies, Medicaid and school districts, according to David Johnson, vice-president of marketing and communications at the Crotched Mountain Foundation. But for the decade or so the foundation has operated ATECH, he said, the firm has always operated at a loss, even with subsidies from the previous provider, Lakes Region Community Services.

"We put a lot of work into trying to make it sustainable and worked closely with the state, but in the end, reimbursement rates were not nearly enough to keep (ATECH) fiscally sustainable," he said.

The foundation's board voted in December to transition the services ATECH offers to the state, he said.

ATECH will cease to operate on Feb. 28, according to a news release from the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services. The department said it will work to ensure services to clients won't be disrupted by the change.

The change will not affect the foundation's refurbished equipment marketplace in Concord, a service that offers discounted assistive gear, Johnson said.

Liora Engel-Smith can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or lsmith

@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @LEngelSmithKS.

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