We are fortunate enough to be a member of an outstanding organization for advocacy in the long term care setting. Last week, I had the honor of meeting with members of Congress to discuss the therapy Part B cap exceptions process for 2014, standardization and automation to the manual medical review (MMR) process , and asked for cosponsor support of HB 713 to repeal the therapy caps altogether.
The National Association for the Support of Long Term Care (NASL) arranged meetings with members of Congress based on where I live and where we do business. After a warm welcome from the Representatives and/or their staff, I met with Representative Steve Chabot’s (OH-01) Legislative Assistant, Representative John Duncan, Jr. (TN-02), and Representative Jim Renacci (OH-). We discussed the talking points below and shared compelling stories from therapists as able.
Washington D.C. is a fascinating city full of history and positive buzz. Even though I didn’t meet in the Capitol Building, the offices where my meetings were held were absolutely amazing! There are three house buildings where Representatives have their offices: Rayburn House, Longworth House, and Cannon house. Two of my meetings were in the Rayburn House Office Building and the other was in the Cannon House Office Building. There is an underground walkway to travel between the three house buildings.
Summary of our talking points provided by NASL:
“Until an appropriate patient-centered alternative payment model for Part B outpatient therapy services is implemented, support a Congressional extension of the current Part B therapy cap exceptions process, along with necessary safeguards to prevent against inappropriate therapy utilization.”
“Support the development of a new payment system that would apply to all care settings and reflect key factors around clinical diagnoses, complexity of rehabilitative treatments and duration of an episode of care.”
“Include a Long-Term Solution for Therapy Caps in SGR Package. Show support by cosponsoring the Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act (H.R. 713/S. 367) which would repeal this harmful cap.”
We will be facing a hard therapy cap in 2014 if Congress doesn’t act. Please make your voice heard by clicking on this link http://capwiz.com/nasl/issues/alert/?alertid=62942356&type=CO
Gina Tomcsik
Director of Compliance
Functional Pathways
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