AHCA praises bipartisan effort to repeal SNF therapy caps

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living came out in support of bipartisan legislation to permanently repeal Medicare Part B therapy caps for skilled nursing facilities. The legislation was introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate on Feb. 15.

A $1,900 cap on outpatient skilled nursing therapy was introduced in 1997 as part of the Balanced Budget Act. Since then, numerous unsuccessful attempts to eliminate the cap have been made.

“Long term and post-acute care patients should be assured of receiving the full spectrum of necessary therapies prescribed by their doctors to complete their recovery,” said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “Doctors and caregivers should be monitoring patient progress, not a cap, when administering these important therapies to their patients and our residents.”

AHCA/NACL commended the repeal act's sponsors, Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA).

The legislation was introduced one day after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services called on providers to give input on how to adjust the payment system under Medicare Part A.