by Administrator
4. February 2010 03:16
Therapy Cap Advocacy Update
NASL and other therapy stakeholders have been working with patient groups in pressing Congress to pass legislation to extend the therapy cap exceptions process. A letter signed by nearly 40 patient and provider groups has been sent to House and Senate leaders. This has provided some much-needed press coverage about the problem. The newspaper The Hill and two subscription publications carried stories yesterday about the therapy cap problem.
NASL is working with another coalition representing groups supporting 10 of other Medicare “extenders” that were allowed to expire January 1. In addition to therapy caps, these provisions were also allowed to lapse:
- Work geographic index floor and revisions to the practice expense geographic adjustment under the Medicare physician fee schedule
- Payment for technical component of certain physician pathology services
- Ambulance add-ons
- Certain payment rules for long-term care hospital services and of moratorium on the establishment of certain hospitals and facilities
- Physician fee schedule mental health add-on
- Outpatient hold harmless provision
- Medicare reasonable costs payments for certain clinical diagnostic laboratory tests furnished to hospital patients in certain rural areas
- Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program
- Medicare-dependent hospital (MDH) program
- Hospital wage index improvement
A separate coalition letter representing all of the groups interested in these extenders will be sent to congressional leaders next week.
Meanwhile, the NASL Advocacy Center www.capwiz.com/nasl has generated more than 6,500 messages to congressional offices, and the information you have provided to NASL regarding patient vignettes and numbers of people reaching therapy caps has been used to bolster our advocacy efforts.
It appears that Congress is finally getting the message. We have received reports from several different sources that Congress intends to address the therapy cap problem later this month. A jobs bill and a tax extenders bill are the likely legislative vehicles for this effort.
We hope to provide more clarity at the NASL Winter Legislative and Regulatory Conference next week. In the meantime, please continue to support our grassroots efforts by directing your employees to the NASL Advocacy Center. We need to keep up the pressure on this issue.
If you are attending the NASL conference, please consider setting up appointments to see your legislators. Please visit the NASL Advocacy Center www.capwiz.com/nasl and click on “Elected Officials” tab to find your legislator – telephone numbers and addresses are available on the “Contacts tab.” You might be asked to put your request in writing.
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