Alpha Lillstrom Cheng

Advocacy Opportunity:

Your voices were heard! 229 Members of the House of Representatives signed onto the September 24th letter led by Reps. Bera and Buchon. This bipartisan letter publicly requested that Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy include a fix to the Medicare cuts in legislation that is passed before the end of the year.

Now there is a bill to get behind. These same lawmakers—Reps. Bera and Buchon—have introduced a bill that would negate the looming (9% to PT) cuts that are set to go into effect on January 1, 2021. The legislation wants to provide an extra payment to specialties who receive cut under the final 2021 Physician Fee Schedule. The bill calls for the “hold harmless” payment to be made for 2 years (2021 and 2022).

This is a new advocacy request and it is important that your Representative and their staffer hear from you—even if you have already written to them about this issue. Use the template below to ask your Representatives to cosponsor H.R.8702 in order to protect physical therapy from a 9% cut in Medicare reimbursement.

Check here to see if your legislator was one of the 229 Representatives on record in support of a legislative fix before the end of the year—if so, please include the line (below in the template) in your email. If not, please delete that sentence.

Remember your legislators need to hear directly from you—their Key Contact—multiple times about the stark economic landscape you are experiencing and the impact a 9% cut would have on your business.

While this effort is focused on the House, the Senate doesn’t get a pass. If you are on social media, tweet or create a Facebook post tagging your legislator and both your Senators and using #PPSAdvocacy. Template tweet: “Cosponsor HR8702. Pass legislation to stop the 9% cut so I can keep my doors open, continue providing cost effective physical therapy, and maintain a vital business in our community. [@Represenative/Senator twitter handle] #PPSAdvocacy”

New to engaging with your lawmaker or need a refresher? Check out these tips for advocacy.For information on PPS’s legislative priorities and activities, visit the Advocacy section at www.ppsapta.org

Thank you. Your efforts are making a difference!

TEMPLATE:

Subject line: My patients need physical therapy. Cosponsor HR8702 to stop the 9% cut so I can stay in business.

Dear Representative ____________,

Despite a year of unrelenting pushback by stakeholders, providers, patients, and Members of Congress—coupled with the COVID-19 public health emergency—in the 2021 MPFS proposed rule CMS proceeded to move forward with plans for an E&M code payment boost ranging between 1% and 17%. This has resulted in cuts ranging from -1% to -11% for over 35 types of healthcare providers. Physical therapy is projected to receive a 9% cut. These cuts are to go into effect on January 1, 2021.

Thank you for being one of the 229 Members of Congress who signed the September 24th letter to Congressional leadership asking for legislative action to prevent these cuts.

Representatives Bera and Bucshon have introduced H.R.8702, the Holding Providers Harmless From Medicare Cuts During COVID-19 Act, which would negate the looming Medicare cuts that are set to go into effect on January 1, 2021. The legislation would provide an extra payment to those specialties who are slated for cuts under the 2021 PFS proposed rule. This “hold harmless” payment will be made for 2 years (2021 and 2022). Here is a one-pager which provides more details and background. Please cosponsor H.R.8702 so that Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy can bring it to the floor for passage before the end of the year.

I am a physical therapist and member of the Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. Along with the ___ therapists and support staff I employ, my outpatient clinic is a vital small business and has been an important part of the [town/county name] economy for ___ years. Our community-based physical therapy clinic has been providing patients with access to safe, cost-effective care throughout the public health emergency.

If Congress doesn’t act to prevent CMS from cutting physical therapy reimbursement by 9%, many community-based outpatient physical therapy clinics, who are barely hanging on through the joint impact of the public health emergency and economic crisis, will go out of business. We need your help so that our physical therapy clinic can keep its doors open—to not only serve our patients but also to provide good jobs in our town.

Please contact Colleen Nguyen in Rep. Bera’s office or Dylan Moore in Rep. Bucshon’s office to cosponsor H.R.8702.

Thank you,

[Name, credentials]

Member, Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association

[Practice Name]

[Practice Address]

[Practice phone number]