Therapists... It's Time to Make A Stand and

Take Action!

This is from Advion, formerly NASL, our advocacy organization:

TAKE ACTION NOW! Email Your Member of Congress Today to Ensure Medicare Legislation is Passed by the End of the Year

Dear Advion Members:

Now that the midterm elections are behind us and with the end of the year quickly approaching, there are only a few more weeks left on the legislative calendar for Congress to address the cuts under the CY 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule. 

At the end of each year, Congress typically passes a large legislative package and we need to ensure legislation is included in this package that will address both the overall Medicare cuts and the 15% cut to services furnished by physical therapist assistants (PTAs) and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs). Advion needs our advocates to ask their Members of Congress to include both the Supporting Medicare Providers Act (H.R. 8800) and the Stabilizing Medicare Access to Rehabilitation and Therapy (SMART) Act (H.R. 5536) in any legislative package moving before the end of the year.

H.R.8800 would provide critical relief to providers by mitigating 4.42% of CMS’ 4.47% the cut to the CY 2023 Conversion Factor (CF). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a CF of $33.06 for CY 2023, which represents a decrease of 4.47% (or $1.55) from CY 2022. The bill also includes language directing the Secretary of HHS and Congress to take action to ensure the financial stability and predictability of Medicare payment, reward value-based care, and safeguard access to high-quality care.

H.R.5536 has been Advion’s top priority this year and it would preserve access to care in rural and underserved areas by providing a temporary exemption to the 15% payment differential for services furnished by a physical therapist assistant (PTA) or occupational therapy assistant (OTA). The SMART Act would also align Medicare supervision requirements for private practice settings with that of the general supervision requirements in other Part B settings.

We need to generate as much support as we can for these important pieces of legislation in order to show House and Senate leadership that they have significant support. Your voice is critical to ensuring this language is included in the end-of-year legislative package. Advion has prepared a letter for you to email to your Members of Congress. You can access and send this email in under two minutes using the link provided below:

Take Action Now to Stop the Cuts to the CY 2023 Medicare PFS

Once you select the link above, you will be prompted to type in your name, street address, zip code, phone number, and email address. The email template Advion has prepared for you to send to your Member of Congress is provided below that information and you are welcome to edit the message as you see fit. Once the message is sent, you will see a thank you message confirming that your email was submitted successfully. 

Please feel free to share this message on social media, with staff, colleagues, non-Advion members and family members. 

Thank you for your advocacy and support of this important initiative.

Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please email Michael Barnett at michael@nasl.org.