Alpha Lillstrom Cheng

The 2021 MPFS proposed rule (https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2020-0088-0001) includes a -9% cut to PT reimbursement.  This is unacceptable.

Please send the following email to your Representative as soon as you can--asking them to join a letter requesting that the next COVID package include a 2-year waiver of the budget neutrality requirement that is forcing CMS to pay for an increase in Evaluation and Management (E/M) Codes on the backs of PTs and other specialists who don't bill E/M codes.  The deadline for signing onto the letter is this Friday.

--TEMPLATE letter [please customize these fields]

In June, PPS and 52 other organizations (including the American Medical Association) sent a letter to Congressional leadership asking for legislation to waive budget neutrality requirements to prevent the deep cuts to non E/M code billing providers (/sites/pps/files/sl_files/6C6B7B63-BCAF-EE06-1EF80FE063EF5B43.pdf).

Despite a full year of significant Congressional and stakeholder pushback since this cut was proposed last July (not to mention that we are in the midst of a public health and economic crisis), CMS's proposed 2021 MPFS further deepens those cuts (https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2020-0088-0001).  CMS is proposing to cut physical therapy by -9%.

Will Rep. [____________] be willing to sign onto  Rep. Rush's Dear Colleague (see below) seeking to include a waiver of budget neutrality on the E/M codes for 2 years in the next COVID-19 package? The deadline for signature is this Friday, Aug 7.  As you know, waiving the budget neutrality requirements within the MPFS would prevent these drastic cuts to this large swath of critical health care providers--including physical therapists--who can't absorb such a cut during this joint public health emergency and economic crisis.

Please contact Lauren Citron in Rep. Rush’s office to sign on.

Thank you for your consideration,
[Name, credentials]
Member, Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association
[Practice Name]
[Practice Address]
[Practice phone number] 

 

Demand CMS Waives Reckless Cuts to Providers to Protect Access to Care

Sending Office: Honorable Bobby L. Rush
Sent By: Lauren.Citron@mail.house.gov

 

 

 

 

Request for Signature(s)

DEADLINE TO SIGN ON: 3 PM ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 7

Dear Colleague:

As the United States continues to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, our nation’s healthcare providers need all the financial assistance they can get just to keep their doors open.  Despite the tremendous financial strain our healthcare system is currently under, CMS recently published its Calendar Year (CY) 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Proposed Rule, which makes drastic cuts to many providers across numerous specialties.

Congress must step in to stop these impending cuts to providers associated with budget neutrality requirements while permitting the increases to the evaluation and management (E/M) code set.  If the planned cuts are allowed to go into effect, they will be devasting for many providers in our districts and ultimately decrease access to care for patients.

As such, I hope you will join me in supporting a waiver for the budget neutrality requirement for Calendar Years 2021 and 2022.  During this time, CMS should be required to study the proposed cuts in light of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

If you have questions or if you would like to sign on to the letter, please contact Lauren Citron in my office (Lauren.Citron@mail.house.gov)

Sincerely,

Bobby L. Rush
Member of Congress

 

LETTER TEXT:

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy:

Thank you for your continuing efforts to provide our healthcare specialists with much-needed and meaningful aid to allow them to continue operations during this pandemic.  However, it has come to our attention that many specialists are being targeted for ill-conceived and sizeable cuts that simply no longer make sense to implement.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) final CY2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule published in November 2019 increased rates for the office-based evaluation and management (E/M) code set in CY2021.  Due to the requirement for budget neutrality, this would result in a significant cut for many providers, across multiple specialties, beginning on January 1, 2021.

If these cuts go into effect, they will be devasting for providers and will ultimately result in decreased access to care for patients.  Our healthcare system is already under tremendous financial strain, as it continues to grapple with both the economic and health consequences of the coronavirus.  Now is not the time to implement these reckless cuts.

Since CMS did not reconsider its policy in the recently released CY 2021 MPFS proposed rule, we ask that, in any upcoming and relevant legislation moving through the House, you waive budget neutrality for Calendar Years 2021 and 2022 for the E/M codes scheduled for implementation on January 1, 2021 as described in the final rule (84. Fed. Reg. 62568, 62847-62860) until after CMS reports to Congress on the overarching effects of the COVID-19 public health emergency.  Specifically, Congress should require CMS to study how COVID-19 has impacted access to critical health services in underserved urban and rural Health Professional Shortage Areas, as well as the impact on providers of failing to waive budget neutrality associated with the E/M policy.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.  If we can answer any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.