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Archived News: |
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Videostroboscopy Supervision-CMS Development ASHA has been waiting
for a decision by CMS on a revision of the in-the-room supervision
requirement for videostroboscopy (31579) and nasopharyngoscopy (92511
only) ever since our March meeting at the CMS central office with
AAO-HNS representatives. A letter from CMS was received by an
individual speech-language pathologist in Massachusetts last week that
appeared to be a final decision that removes all levels of physician
supervision, recognizing that these procedures are for evaluating
function and not diagnostic procedures. Posted June 29, 2011 HB 1819 Update:
This week we presented our bill, HB 1819, in the Senate Education Committee and lined up Chairman Jimmy Jeffress to run our bill on the Senate floor where the bill passed on Thursday with 35 yea votes. Governor Beebe signed the bill into law on April 1, as Act 1035. -Added April 4, 2011
ArkSHA members are encouraged
to contact their legislators tonight and tomorrow - asking for support
for HB 1819 (a bill that sets December 1 as the deadline to pay the
$5000 stipend to public school SLPs according to ACT 1187 of 2005 and
appropriated by ACT 607 of 2009). This date is the same date that the
teachers have. To view the full details of this bill go the Arkansas Legislation page here. Posted March 23, 2011
ArKSHA Hires New Management December 23, 2010 Best Association Management is a
full service association management company (AMC) that offers unique
business solutions for professional, trade and non-profit associations
and their leadership who are seeking to improve services and
operations. Anne Fuller, President of Best Association Management says
“we can provide highly qualified Executive Directors, administrators,
meeting planners, bookkeepers, etc., and your association has access
to the portion of the qualified staff person needed each year for
various activities and functions.” The office of Best Management can
also serves as the central office for their clients and has a board
room available.
House Approves temporary Medicare fee schedule fix
Last night the House of Representatives approved the Senate-passed bill that would stop a projected 23 percent cut in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (H.R. 5712), and extend the current payment rates through the end of December. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law later today. Absent additional Congressional action, the Medicare fee schedule payments will be cut by 30.1% starting January 1, 2011. ASHA is actively working with other stakeholder groups to not only address the impending cuts to the 2011 physician fee schedule, but also to ensure that the Medicare therapy cap exceptions process is extended through 2011. The current therapy cap exceptions process is set to expire December 31, 2010. For additional information, contact Ingrida Lusis, ASHA’s Director of Federal and Political Advocacy at ilusis@asha.org.
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Senate passes one month Medicare Fee Schedule “Fix”
Last night, by voice vote, the Senate passed the “Physician Payment and Therapy Relief Act of 2010”, which provides a 30-day halt to the 23% reduction in Medicare reimbursement levels that was scheduled to take effect on December 1. The House of Representatives is expected to act on this legislation when they return after Thanksgiving.
In order to off-set the cost of legislation, lawmakers used the recently announced therapy multiple procedure payment reduction (MPPR) policy. As part of the bill, the 25% MPPR practice expense reduction announced in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule would be replaced with a 20% MPPR reduction. This legislative maneuvering turned the projected regulatory savings into a legislative cost off-set for extending the current Medicare fee schedule rates. Although the legislative action reduces the impact of the MPPR on therapy services, it would codify the CMS regulations into law.
Though MPPR will primarily affect physical therapists and occupational therapists, eight speech-language procedures are designated as applicable to MPPR, therefore ASHA joined other stakeholder groups in opposing this ill-conceived policy. Additional information on the MPPR can be found in ASHA’s analysis of the MPFS at 2011 Medicare Fee Schedule for Speech-Language Pathologists.
Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) also pledged to work together during the lame duck session to develop a year-long Medicare package that would include the fee schedule and extension of the therapy cap exceptions process.
Lemmietta G. McNeilly, PhD., CCC-SLP, CAE ASHA Fellow
Chief Staff Officer, Speech-Language Pathology
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
2200 Research Boulevard, #229 Rockville, MD 20850-3289 +1 301-296-5705 telephone 301-296-8577 fax
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| © 2009 Arkansas Speech-Language-Hearing Association |