Advocacy Matters! Tell CMS to Stop the Cuts to Therapy Providers!

The National Association of Rehabilitation Providers and Agencies (NARA) has created an Action Center to urge CMS to delay implementation of the therapy assistant differential. Help us to join them in their action plan for change! The time is short as comments must be submitted to CMS by September 13th.

Since 2011, therapy providers have had up to 29% of layered on reimbursement cuts handed to them by CMS.

For CY 2021, therapy providers received some reprieve from the expected 9% decrease in reimbursement due to E&M reimbursement increases, but the resulting 3-4% cut was not insignificant.

Therapy providers continue to struggle against the impact of COVID shutdowns in 2020 and continuous reimbursement cuts to therapy services. Based on the CY 2022 CMS Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule, therapy providers can expect to see an additional 3- 4% decrease in reimbursement on top of the upcoming 2022 15% reduction for services provided by therapy assistants.

This reduction comes because of the therapy caps being permanently eliminated; however, the timing and the short window of implementation based on changes in the CY 2022 proposed rule from the CY 2021 final rule will make it difficult on providers and vendors to properly prepare.

Please take this opportunity to submit a comment to CMS asking them to:

Delay the implementation of the assistant differential
Exempt rural areas from the assistant differential
Stop cutting reimbursement to therapy providers
Oppose CMS’ decision to omit CPT codes frequently used by therapists from the list of permanently covered telehealth services

We encourage you to edit this letter with:

Examples of how these constant reductions in reimbursement impact your business, your community, and your patients
Examples of how you successfully utilized telehealth for your patients and how it could continue to be used for your patients to achieve their goals

Let’s advocate together and make a difference!