Time For Action! Make Your Voice Heard!

                Your patients & your profession need YOUR help!

                    If not you, then who?  If not now, then when?

Currently, Medicare benefits include reimbursement for medical services generally delivered in the outpatient setting by physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and physical therapists to name a few.  Although Medicare Part B recognizes (and reimburses) for these non-physician practitioners and the services they provide, it does NOT include respiratory therapists and the services they furnish!

Earlier this year, the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) was successful in getting legislation known as the “Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative” introduced in both the US
Senate (S 343) and in the US House of Representatives (HR 1077).  If passed into law, this legislation would
recognize qualified Respiratory Therapists and the services they furnish by amending the statute to include a new and separate benefit category for respiratory therapy services under the Medicare Part B “medical and other health services” provision.

What does that mean? 

In short, Respiratory Therapists would FINALLY be recognized by Medicare!  In addition, the legislation would expand the ability of qualified Respiratory Therapists to deliver services in physician offices without the physician having to be in the office when they do it.  Although most therapists don’t work in physician offices or other outpatient settings, it is vital that ALL therapists support this bill as it would force the recognition of our profession by the largest insurer in the country!

Health reform will be the hot topic in Washington DC this summer. What will likely happen is that a health reform bill will be the one and only big health care legislative initiative in Congress.  Medicare bill provisions that have nothing to do with actual health reform will be attached to this one large bill.


 
 
                                     Your Help Is Needed RIGHT NOW!  


To ensure that the Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative moves forward, ALL Respiratory Therapists along with their patients, families and friends need to urge Congress to include the provisions of those bills into the health reform legislation.  (NOTE:  If you emailed before, please do so again!)

Write to your members of Congress now and ask them to include S 343 (in the Senate) and HR 1077 (in the House) in the health care reform that moves forward.  The AARC has made it very easy for you to take this action by providing an online email authoring tool on the AARC's website.  Click on the link below to take action and ask your patients, family, friends, enemies....EVERYONE...to do the same!

 Write to Congress

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