With no promise of therapy caps fix, real pain hitting home
Long-term care providers who supply therapy weren’t invited to the big party Thursday, but they’re hoping they’ll still have reason to celebrate soon anyway.
Long-term care providers who supply therapy weren’t invited to the big party Thursday, but they’re hoping they’ll still have reason to celebrate soon anyway.
As drama rages over whether Congress will allow the federal government to grind to a halt Friday night due to a funding tug-of-war, long-term care providers will anxiously watch to see if a repeal of Medicare Part B therapy caps will be a part of any solution.
Therapy caps are back on for now, even though Congress may still be prepared to eliminate them in 2018.
Sure, a tax overhaul bill that has a significant segment of providers quivering is picking up steam and should be on the president’s desk soon. But there’s also other legislation being considered that should have providers acting like tiny tots with their eyes all aglow.
Skilled nursing providers found both good news and bad news Thursday in a House bipartisan agreement statement on a Medicare extender package.
Could this really be happening? Medicare Part B therapy caps took a huge step toward vanishing for good on Thursday.
The historic repeal of the “doc fix” this week left about equal numbers of stakeholders relieved and disappointed. Among the most crestfallen: Therapy providers who were hoping for Congress to finally repeal Medicare Part B outpatient therapy caps.
Providers are seeking legislation to end old therapy cap rates and to see changes in manual medical review process for therapy claims.
National long-term care industry advocates and numerous facility representatives made the rounds in the halls of Congress on Wednesday in support of legislation designed to permanently end nearly two decades-old therapy caps and improve short-term data collection efforts they say have caused undue administrative burdens on providers and patients.
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.