New Legislative and Regulatory Resources

ASHT and StateScape are please to present ASHT members with a quick reference to the legislative and regulatory bills within your respective part of the county or area of practice. You can access the new legislative and regulatory resources by going to ASHT's Member Center. In the member center click on either Legislative Resources or Regulatory Resources. You will than be able to select a state to reference legislative and regulatory bills in your area.

State/Scope of Practice Issues
Review recent issues with individual states, which may affect your practice.

Current Status of Therapy Cap Extension and Payment Cuts

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4851, the Continuing Extension Act of 2010 by a voice vote. This bill delays the scheduled 21.2% cut in Medicare physician fee payments and extends the Medicare therapy cap exceptions process through April 30, 2010. In addition to these very important APTA provisions, the bill also provides a one month extension for other vital issues like unemployment insurance and COBRA. During floor debate, Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) spoke on the importance of the bill for Medicare beneficiaries; "H.R. 4851 also provides a crucial extension to the current arbitrary Medicare beneficiary therapy caps exception process. When outpatient therapy is considered medically necessary for a patient, we should never put an arbitrary limit on the dollar amount that can be spent to provide this important care. And I support the provisions of this bill to allow Medicare beneficiaries to continue receiving the outpatient therapy care that they need." Possible Next Steps: H.R. 4851 must be passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama before becoming law.

On March 10th, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 4213, the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 by a vote of 62-36. This legislation includes APTA's three priorities of extending the therapy cap exception process until December 31, 2010, freezing payments at the 2009 level under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule preventing the 21.2% reduction until September 30, 2010 and re-instating the Geographical Practice Cost Indices (GPCI) floor at 1.0 for the remainder of 2010. Possible Next Steps: The bill now has to be passed by the House of Representatives and signed by President Obama before becoming law.

Occupational Therapy: Part of the Health Care Solution
By Stephanie Yamkovenko

On March 23, President Obama signed health care reform into law. Despite months of delays and political changes in the Senate, the House of Representatives passed the Senate's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by a close party-line vote on March 21. Read more.

Washington

I'm pleased to report that SHB 1041 authorizing administration of medications by OTs was passed last week and is awaiting signature by the governor. One problem solved; our Google group was very effective for communicating with OT/hand therapists in WA on this issue. We continue to have challenges with regard to wound care and will have to pursue a bill for the 2010 session, clarifying our role/skills in wound care.

- JoAnn Keller Green, OTR, CHT