APTQI Expresses Deep Concern About Payment Cuts to Specialty Services for CY2022
The recently released Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Proposed Rule for CY2022 once again includes deep, across-the-board payment cuts to physical, occupational, and speech therapy despite bipartisan lawmaker and broad healthcare stakeholder opposition, The Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation (APTQI) notes in a media release.
These include a 3.5% cut to providers in CY2022, eventually adding up to a steep 9% payment cut by 2024. Since originally proposed and then implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 1, 2021, the APTQI has warned that continued cuts to specialty Medicare services will undermine the ability of vulnerable seniors to access the vital therapy services they need to manage their post-operative care, pain, immobility, and risk of falling.
APTQI Urges Congress to Ensure Continued Patient Access to Specialty Care, Investment in MPFS
The Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation (APTQI), along with more than 60 organizations representing over one million physician and non-physician health care providers, call on Congress to enact provisions that will ensure continued Medicare beneficiary access to vital services and provide additional financial stability to the United States’ healthcare system.
In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the groups call attention to the financial turbulence instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic and describe how this instability was exacerbated by the significant reimbursement cuts included in the 2021 final Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS).
Applause! 2% Medicare Sequester Cut Suspension Draws APTQI Endorsement
Introduced by Representatives Brad Schneider (D-IL) and David McKinley (R-WV), the bipartisan bill would provide critical relief to specialty providers by extending the current moratorium on the automatic 2% Medicare sequester cut for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE).
“Since enacted, the suspension of the broad 2% Medicare sequester cut has been an indispensable pillar of support for physical and occupational therapy providers, who have grappled with enormous financial and operational challenges throughout the pandemic.
“The Biden Administration has already signaled its intention to keep the current COVID public health emergency in effect through the end of 2021. Extending the sequester relief through the duration of the PHE is a commonsense solution that will provide stability to the physical therapy community and all Medicare providers who continue to struggle amid the COVID-19 c
Worried About Deep Medicare Cuts for Specialty Providers? This Group is Taking a Stand
The Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation (APTQI), along with a coalition of organizations representing a broad range of more than one million healthcare providers, call on House and Senate lawmakers to address the critical deficiencies in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) and halt deep payment cuts to providers across the healthcare delivery system.
In a letter submitted to Members of the 117
th Congress on February 22, the groups urged lawmakers to continue working to address severe Medicare cuts for specialty providers and address the budget neutrality requirement in the MPFS that threatens to impose arbitrary reductions to provider reimbursement unrelated to the cost of providing care.
Medicare Cuts Planned for 2021 Will Affect PT Services and Undermine Patient Access to Vital Care
By Nikesh Patel, PT, Executive Director, APTQI, and Terrence D. Sims, President of Strategic Growth and Marketing, Raintree Systems
The COVID-19 pandemic has already dealt a major financial blow to physical, occupational, and speech therapists and other specialty healthcare providers. But things are going to get substantially worse in 2021 if Congress does not act to stop the Medicare cuts to 33 specialty services set to go into effect on January 1.
In its CY2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, CMS stated it was moving forward with across-the-board cuts of 9% to physical and occupational therapy services, and reductions ranging from 4% to 11% in other specialties ranging from pathology to anesthesiology to radiology. To understand why requires a little bit of background.