In Today?s News – Good times. Bad times?
The vote is in and the future will never be the same again, or something like that! We need to Stop the Therapy Cap
The long awaited vote on Medicare?s policies, specifically the SGR (sustainable growth rate) and Outpatient therapy cap is in, the vote was due almost 2 weeks ago but was pushed back due to a Spring break for the senate.
The SGR has been a bone of contention for many treatment providers, it set a physician?s payment rate based upon the quantity of treatment they provide, more worrying though was the proposed rate for 2015, a reduction of payment rates by almost 21%!!
So as you can imagine it was with absolutely no sadness that we wave goodbye to the SGR plan and say hello the new payment system that is proposing an annual raise of 0.05% in Medicare reimbursement rates for the next 5 years!? Furthermore, this payment plan will base the physician?s payment rate based upon the quality of care they provide instead of the quantity.
Which leaves the dreaded Therapy Cap, for almost 18 years it has been a thorn in the side of Therapists, creating a barrier to administrating care for those trying to aide their elderly patient into having a more comfortable existence.
We have all cursed the cap at some point as it has a knack of getting in the way when you starting to make some significant progress but it would seem that this battle has been lost and unlike the SGR, the cap will stand.
However this will not stop those determined to right this wrong, there are several groups who have been actively campaigning since its introduction to scrap it and this latest set-back will certainly not be the final word!