 |
 |
attn Medicare recipients: From: Kevin Lockette Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2010 7:11 PM To: Well Gang, Crap?!#! Here we go again. So Medicare is proposing a 13% reduction for outpatient services in 2011 which would be in addition to the 22% decrease if congress does not act by the end of the year to fix that snafu as well. In this case, we need to contact CMS (Medicare) and not the congressman. Medicare is accepting comments up to Aug 24. Once again, there is no common sense rationale for the methodology of these cuts or for the cuts in general. Please follow the below link to review the rule which will also give you instructions to comment. Anyone who is on Medicare, should contact Medicare to stop the nonsense of these unfunded reductions. We have all paid into the Medicare system and deserve access to the services that we have paid all of our working years for and as professionals, (MDs, PTs, OTs, STs) we deserved to be compensated for our needed services. We cannot afford to take these cuts as we cannot afford to see Medicare patients if we cannot even cover our costs. Medicare puts so many restrictions like 1:! services, etc. but will not pay for the cost to deliver it. Please send your comments to Medicare (CMS) to not apply their proposed fee schedule changes for 2011. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Kevin ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Melissa Manzione <[log in to unmask]> Date: Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 2:54 PM Subject: CMS Issues 2011 Proposed Physician Fee Schedule Rule – Contains Proposed Pay Cuts To: [log in to unmask] The below Information Bulletin was sent to Federal Affairs Liaisons, Key Contacts and Members of APTA's PTeam Grassroots Network. CMS Issues 2011 Proposed Physician Fee Schedule Rule – Contains Proposed Pay Cuts for Outpatient Therapy Services On June 25, 2010 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the proposed physician fee schedule rule that would implement key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and update payment rates under the physician fee schedule for services furnished on or after January 1, 2011 (CY 2011). If this rule becomes effective, physicians, physical therapists and other health care professionals would receive a 6.1% cut to their Medicare payments starting January 1, 2011 in addition to the 21.3% reduction that has been delayed several times already this year due to the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. This reduction was replaced with a 2.2% update until November 30, 2010 when the President signed the “Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010” on Friday, June 25th. In addition to the projected reductions due to the SGR, CMS also proposes a multiple procedure payment reduction policy (MPPR) that would result in significant reductions in payment for outpatient therapy services. Specifically, CMS proposes to make full payment for the therapy service or unit with the highest practice expense value and payment of 50 percent of the practice expense component for the second and subsequent procedures or units of the service furnished during the same day for the same patient. The work and malpractice components of the therapy service payment would not be reduced. The proposed multiple procedure payment reduction policy would apply to both the services paid under the physician fee schedule (PFS) that are furnished in the office setting and those services paid at the PFS rates that are furnished by outpatient hospitals, home health agencies (Part B), skilled nursing facilities (Part B), comprehensive rehabilitation facilities, and other entities that are paid by Medicare for outpatient therapy services. It is estimated that if the multiple procedure payment reduction policy were implemented, payment for outpatient therapy services would be reduced by approximately 13% in addition to the projected SGR payment cut for CY 2011. APTA is gravely concerned with the magnitude of these proposed reductions in payment, and believes that CMS’s proposal to apply the multiple procedure payment reduction to outpatient therapy services is based on flawed presumptions and has no justification. APTA will aggressively work to stop implementation of the proposed MPPR policy and the SGR payment reductions. CMS also includes extensive discussion in the proposed rule of several potential alternatives to the therapy caps that could lead to more appropriate payment for medically necessary and effective therapy services that are furnished efficiently. They solicit public comments on this proposed rule regarding all aspects of these alternatives. CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule until August 24, 2010 and will respond to them in the final rule to be issued on or about November 1, 2010. APTA will submit extensive comments in response to this rule and work with its members on various advocacy strategies to avoid this unsustainable and unjustified payment cut. To view the rule in its entirety, go to the following link: www.federalregister.gov/inspection.aspx#special APTA will post a full summary of the proposed rule on the APTA website in the coming week. -- Kevin Lockette PT www.ohanapacificrehab.com www.parkinsonsmoveit.com Kailua Clinic 808 262-1118 Honolulu Clinic 808 593- 2610 Cell Phone 808 228-0340 SPECIAL NOTE: This communication is intended solely for the individual or the entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and/or prohibited from disclosure. If the reader of this communication is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately at the above telephone number provided and return the original message to us at the above address via the U.S. Postal Service. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn