ATRA ACTION ALERT
Dear RT Colleagues:
(4-8-09) Please find attached talking points for the ATRA Medicare Project and two letters. One letter is an example letter to your Congressional Representative to request that they sign-on to a Dear Colleague Congressional Letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sponsored by Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) and Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-PA). You will need to personalize this letter.
The second letter is a copy of the Dear Colleague Letter that is available for your Congressional Representative to support. Do not make changes to this letter. Download the letter from the link on the left of this article.
Please act now!
Congress is on Easter Break, April 3-17. Call your Congressional Representative's local office (That will be the office listed near your home. See the link below.). Ask to speak to the local Legislative Aide that covers healthcare issues. Ask them if you can email, fax, or deliver the cover letter and Dear Colleague Letter. Use the talking points if you need but do not send the talking points document.
The Best option: Go visit your Representative or his/her Legislative Aide in their local office while they are on Easter Break (April 3-17).
It is crucial that every recreational therapist get their Congressional Representative to sign on to the Dear Colleague Letter. Please click on the following link to find your Congressional Representatives contact information. Click: www.house.gov. In the top left hand corner, enter in your zip code and you will find out who is your Congressional Representative.
When you receive confirmation that your Representative will sign on please report this by
emailing lmorgan@siskinrehab.org
Or calling 423-634-1674
It is essential that you send this communication to your Representative while they are in District. Now is the time for recreational therapists to take action on behalf of their profession. You have a role and responsibility. Please take a moment to act.
Sincerely,
ATRA Federal Public Policy Team
Thomas Skalko, Diane Skalko, and Lisa Morgan
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SAMPLE LETTER
Please cut and paste the sample letter below into a word file in order to personalize prior to sending to your representative.
(put today's date here)
Dear Honorable (add name of your representative):
I am a practicing recreational therapist at (insert agency). I want to make you aware of an on-going issue that affects Medicare recipients. Attached is a Dear Colleague Letter sponsored by Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher and Congressman Glenn Thompson to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The letter addresses issues regarding the regulations and manual provisions governing recreational therapy services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. We are concerned that Medicare coverage of recreational therapy services provided in inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and units (IRFs), inpatient psychiatric hospitals and units (IPFs), and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) may be unclear to beneficiaries and providers, thereby creating inconsistent access to these services for Medicare beneficiaries across the country.
Recreational therapy is a health care discipline that delivers treatment services designed to restore, remediate and/or rehabilitation functional capabilities for persons with injuries, chronic illnesses and all disabilities. Recreational therapists utilize a wide range of therapeutic modalities, community-based interventions, and rehabilitative techniques to assist patients in developing functional skills for daily living and community involvement.
The language of the regulations and manual provisions issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) leaves considerable ambiguity on the inclusion of recreational therapy services as covered benefits in these three settings. If the Medicare program is paying for these services through prospective payment rates, patients who need recreational therapy ought to be able to access these benefits. In the inpatient rehabilitation hospital/unit context, this ambiguity could be resolved by CMS simply by clarifying that recreational therapy meets the definition of the 3-hour per day therapy guideline that appears in Section 110.4.3 of the Medicare Benefits Policy Manual (MBPM), Relatively Intensive Level of Rehabilitation Services.
The Dear Colleague Letter requests that CMS amend the Medicare Benefits Policy Manual to clarify coverage of recreational therapy in these three inpatient settings will ensure that Medicare beneficiaries have consistent access to these services across the country. Thank you for your consideration of my concerns on this matter and I look forward to your response and support.
Please contact Roger Murray with Rep. Tauscher (6-8543, roger.murray@mail.house.gov or Matthew Brennan with Rep. Glenn Thompson (5-5121, matthew.brennan@mail.house.gov.
Sincerely,
(Your Name and Credentials)
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ACTION ALERT!!!!
1-15-07
The Action Alert to gain co-sponsors for H.R.4248,( the bill we are lobbying our congressmen and women in the House of Representatives concerning access to recreational therapy in inpatient rehab, psych, and skilled nursing facilities under the Medicare program) is needing MUCH more support from us and our employers, agencies, friends, and consumers. So far, Rep. Rahall has signed on as a co-sponsor (good work, Huntington and other district 3 supporters!). So now, Charleston area, Weston, Elkins, and clear across to Martinsburg for District 2 and Congresswoman Capito, we need to keep up the phone calls and e-mail!
Ms. Capito's healthcare legislative aide is Aaron Sporck. His direct email is aaron.sporck@mail.house.gov, and the phone no. for Ms. Capito is 202-225-2711. Please, anyone in the 2nd district, please get on her website and email her (http://capito.house.gov), and try these additional contacts.
Those of you in Congressman Alan B. Mollohan's area ( First Congressional District: Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Mon, Marion, Preston Barbour, Taylor, Harrison, Doddridge, Tyler, Pleasants, Wood, Ritchie, Gilmer, Tucker, Grant...and Mineral!)--your action is
needed! Email him at CongressmanMollohan@mail.house.gov. Call him at
202 225 4172. Talk to his healthcare legislative rep! ASK specifically for co-sponsorship, and contact him each week. A form letter back is not what you need--work for a personal connection with the aide if you can't speak directly to him. Be personal.
You will want to understand the bill, and know where it is at presently. I have sent previous information, or you can review it on the ATRA website (see Medicare Project) www.atra-tr.org. Remember that you can check where it is, how many current co-sponsors, and related information by going to http://thomas.gov. You will see a line called"Search Bill Text" Put in H.R. 4248, and select the circle for bill
no. below that. Then click search.
If you have questions, or need more information, please review the details on the ATRA website or you may contact me. Remember, a personal connection is important, and we are stressing that this is a zero cost bill. It is also recommended that you email and call, as mail is delayed to D.C. Stick with contacting the(Washington, D.C.) rep for your district, as they are representing their constituents, and specifically, their VOTING constituents! Yep, they can review their constituent list and find out who votes (but not who they vote for), so if you aren't registered to vote, here's a good reason to do so...
Thank you for being involved. This is very important to the future of recreation therapy staff, the agencies they work for, and mainly for the consumers of the future, which will be ...us!
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ACTION ALERT!!!!
TO: All Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialists (CTRS)
FROM: G.T. Thompson, Co-Chair - Recreational Therapy Medicare Project (RTMP)
DATE: December 21, 2007
SUBJECT: H.R. 4248 Update
ACTION ALERT UPDATE
As you know ATRA’s House Bill, H.R. 4248 “The Ensuring Medicare Access To Recreational Therapy Act Of 2007” has been introduced in the United States House of Representatives.
Recreational Therapy professionals, consumers, students and other supportive individuals have been doing a great job of contacting Congress throughout the nation to request members of Congress to sign on as H.R. 4248 Bill Sponsors.
CURRENT STATUS: We have the Sponsor and 11 Cosponsors
officially listed as of December 21, 2007.
These Members of Congress that have signed-on include:
Rep Tauscher, Ellen O. [CA-10] (introduced 11/15/2007)
Rep Boucher, Rick [VA-9] - 12/12/2007
Rep Carnahan, Russ [MO-3] - 12/17/2007
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 12/17/2007
Rep English, Phil [PA-3] - 11/15/2007
Rep Etheridge, Bob [NC-2] - 12/5/2007
Rep Gordon, Bart [TN-6] - 12/5/2007
Rep Peterson, John E. [PA-5] - 12/17/2007
Rep Rahall, Nick J., II [WV-3] - 12/11/2007
Rep Rehberg, Dennis R. [MT] - 12/12/2007
Rep Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [FL-18] - 12/11/2007
Rep Wamp, Zach [TN-3] - 12/12/2007
Accessing the Library of Congress web site at THOMAS.gov and entering 4248 under the Legislation in Current Congress search function can obtain the current status of H.R. 4248.
RECENT EFFORTS:
H.R. 4248 Dear Colleague Letter Circulated
A “Dear Colleague” Letter circulated last week to all 435 Congressional Offices by Representative Tauscher and Representative English.
Medicare Bill passes that includes many temporary Medicare fixes / extensions, but not Recreational Therapy clarification
A slimmed-down Medicare package was passed that essentially pushes everything off until next year to address all over again. On Tuesday December 18th, the Senate passed this bill by unanimous consent and the House also passed the bill.
The final Medicare package leaves all NEW policies on the cutting room floor for now including the provisions of the “The Ensuring Medicare Access To Recreational Therapy Act Of 2007”.
The passed Bill includes a temporary update to the Medicare physician fee schedule and a number of simple extensions of existing policies that would expire if Congress did not pass this bill, particularly in the area of rural health provisions.
A whole host of policy provisions, including our Recreational Therapy coverage clarification, needs your advocacy over the course of the first six months of the new year. Because most of the provisions of this most recent Medicare Bill are only temporary, Congress will be required to take additional Medicare related action within the next six months. This provides us an excellent opportunity to build more support for H.R. 4248!
ACTION REQUESTED:
Continue to request that your United States Member of Congress (U.S. House of Representatives) sign-on as a co-sponsors. There is no time limit at this point.
Please be sure to emphasize:
- CMS (Medicare) has verbally commented that this is zero budget and they would not oppose the language that we have had introduced.
- This is about consumers getting access to services that are already being paid for by Medicare under the inpatient prospective payment systems..
Please keep Lisa Morgan updated at lmorgan@siskinrehab.org when your House member agrees to co-sponsor.
Please Act Now!! Contact Your Members Of Congress!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!
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