Ok, ok, the refrain of “beware the fiscal cliff” is probably more ingrained in your heads than the chorus to sliver bells BUT lets do something to help the cyotee from plumiting like an ACME anvil to the bottom of it.
PT Friends and Friends of PT —> Get your policy on and call your representative TODAY!
Courtesy of the APTA political action committee :
Senate Fiscal Cliff Package Includes Increase for Therapy MPPR
CALL YOUR HOUSE MEMBER TODAY
This morning the US Senate passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The legislation included three Medicare provisions important to the profession:
- Aversion of the scheduled 26.5% Medicare fee schedule cut
- One year extension of the therapy cap exceptions process
- One year extension of the work geographic adjustment
While these are positive developments, the Senate also acted to include an increase in the multiple procedure payment reduction (MPPR) policy that applies to the practice expense portion of therapy codes. Currently set at 20% in private practice and 25% in facilities, the legislation includes an offset provision that raises the MPPR policy to 50% across settings.
The House of Representatives has not yet voted on this legislation. Please call or email your House member today and ask that this provision be removed from the final legislation.
Virginian like me? Here ya go: Congressman James Moran – (202) 225-4376
Everyone else: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Tell them that:
Tell your House member that MPPR is a flawed policy when applied to therapy for the following reasons:
Efficiencies Accounted For: MPPR is based on the assumption that duplication exists in the practice expense portion of therapy codes billed on the same day. However, therapy codes are unlike most Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes in that the practice expense for a typical visit is spread out among multiple codes since multiple services are typically provided to a patient during a visit. In other words, CPT recognized that services are billed through multiple codes and valued the existing codes correctly to account for efficiencies in practice expenses.
Not Discipline Specific: The current MPPR policy on therapy imposes a reduction to all therapy services and is not a discipline specific policy. For example, if a patient sees a physical therapist and an occupational therapist in the same day both providers are affected by the MPPR reduction. Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology are three separate and distinct services. To spread an MPPR over the three therapies equates to reducing payment for a cardiologist because a patient saw their general practitioner earlier in the day.
Original Data Flawed: The original data utilized for the current MPPR did not accurately define the length of an average therapy visit. As a result, the data has further skewed assumed efficiencies in the policy.
Impact on Patient Care: The proposal would restrict patient access to vital therapy services. Particularly hard hit would be patients with multiple chronic conditions, who might benefit the most from intensive therapy treatment programs. The MPPR provision would likely delay or divert care to these patients. Many therapists will be forced to choose not to treat Medicare beneficiaries.
This policy is inconsistent with Health Care Reform objectives to shift care to efficient and less costly interventions
A Cup A Day 