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.
Read more on this issue and health reform