Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter Wednesday urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to maintain the exceptions process for Medicare Part B therapy caps. The action comes after the agency earlier in the week told the nursing home industry that it would not take such action.
“I write today to … allow the exception process to remain in place until Congress acts to extend the moratorium and reinstate the exception process,” the letter said. “Alternatively, I ask that you delay processing claims for therapy services provided to beneficiaries subject to the cap.”
The caps–which limit Medicare payments to Part B therapy to $1,810 for speech and physical and $1,800 for occupational–took full effect on Tuesday. The Senate is expected to pass a bill that would extend the exceptions process (which protects most people from the caps) when it returns from its Fourth of July recess.
