Success! CMS Reverses Coding Changes in Response to Physical Therapist Concerns
In January, we asked for your help in reaching out to the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) Contractor to remove new edits that were made to the NCCI Procedure-to-Procedure (PTP). The edits, if implemented as written, would have harmed patients by restricting a physical therapist’s ability to provide treatment during a patient’s first visit. You…
Danger Ahead: More Medicare Cuts in 2021
In the 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services indicated it intends to impose an estimated 8% payment cut to seniors’ therapy services in 2021. This cut, coupled with a series of payment reductions in recent years, will undermine patient access to the care they need and will…
Physical Therapy Advocates Continue to Speak Out Against Medicare Cuts
When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a projected 8% cut to physical therapy services starting in 2021, the physical therapy community was quick to speak out by submitting more than 2,300 comment letters to CMS expressing concern with the proposed reimbursement reduction to PT services. And while CMS chose to finalize…
New Medicare Cuts Threaten Physical Therapy
In November, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) rule for CY 2020, which includes a projected 8% cut to physical therapy services starting in 2021. Considering that thousands of physical therapists sent letters to CMS warning against this payment cut and the devastating consequences it could have…
Dozens of Bipartisan Lawmakers Urge CMS to Protect Physical Therapy
In response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed 8% cut to physical therapy services, a bipartisan group of 55 Members of Congress signed a letter to CMS to voice their opposition to the proposed cuts. In the letter, led by Representative Bill Johnson (R-OH), the lawmakers emphasized the growing need for…
PT Community Floods CMS with Comment Letters on Proposed PFS Rule
Last month we asked for your help in reaching out to CMS, and advocates like you took action in overwhelming numbers! More than 41,000 letters were sent to CMS on the proposed Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) rule for CY 2020. Physical therapists in nearly all 50 states submitted more than 2,300 comment letters to the Centers…