AOTA and MOTA Champion Efforts to Enable OTs to Open Home Health Cases

Congressional Committee may Consider Medicare Red Tape Relief Legislation in September

AOTA with the help of the Missouri Occupational Therapy Association (MOTA) worked to secure a Congressional champion, Rep. Jason Smith (R, MO), who is fighting to include the Medicare Home Health Flexibility Act (H.R. 6225) as part of a Red Tape Relief package which may be considered by the House Ways and Means Committee in September.  AOTA has emphasized that the legislation is bi-partisan, non-controversial and has no impact on the federal budget, which we understand to be essential features for legislation to be considered as part of this effort.  H.R. 6225 would eliminate an unnecessary and arbitrary Medicare restriction and allow occupational therapists to open Medicare home health therapy cases.

Passage of the bill would eliminate some home health scheduling delays and result in improved client access to therapy services.  AOTA/MOTA member Rhonda Wolfe Hutsell, MSOT, OTR/L, CLT, an OT with Salem Memorial District Hospital in Salem, MO notes that “therapists can drive 100-200 miles per day when serving clients in this part of Missouri, and current restrictions mean that home health therapy services are often delayed if the agency does not have a physical therapist or speech-language pathologist available to initiate services on a given day.” 

Rep. Smith has noted, “this bill would eliminate a Medicare restriction that is needlessly burdensome on patients and home health therapy providers.”  Smith represents a large district in Southern and Southeastern Missouri, and he serves as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee that is conducting the Red Tape review.  H.R.6225 has been co-sponsored (as of 7/19/2018) by 9 Representatives including Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) who is the lead Democratic sponsor on the Ways and Means Committee, while Senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) have introduced an identical bill in the Senate, S.977.  It has also been endorsed by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and the National Association of Home Care and Hospice (NAHC). 

Your Help is Needed to Pass the Bill!

Now is the time to urge your Representative to support this bill! We need to increase the number of co-sponsors to clearly demonstrate broad Congressional support.  Click here to contact your Representative today or to visit our Legislative Action Center (www.aota.org/takeaction) today!