The Winter Legislative and Regulatory Conference of the National Association for the Support of Long-Term Care takes place Monday through Wednesday in Washington. In addition to Congressional visits, the gathering will feature an address by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the vice chairwoman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, as well as Marc Hartstein, a director from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Top themes to be discussed with members of Congress and other regulator and legislative leaders will include:

• Addressing the SGR update by March 31, and extending the Part B outpatient therapy exceptions process

• Expanding telehealth coverage under Medicare to authorize reimbursement for occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech language pathology services in nursing facilities 

• Improvements to the Recovery Auditor Contractor (RAC) program, and establishing limits on the number of Additional Documentation Requests (ADRs), by payment system 

• Hospitals’ categorizing of Medicare beneficiaries as outpatients under observation, rather than as inpatients. Also, whether a new site-neutral hospital prospective payment system would encompass both inpatient and outpatient stays.

For more about the event, click here.