11-4-09
Alternatives to the Therapy Cap Update: Need Your Feedback
AOTA has reported extensively about the two projects by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to investigate alternatives to the Medicare Part B therapy cap. AOTA is participating in both projects, and AOTA appointed an expert volunteer member to participate in the long–term (5 years) therapy cap alternative study conducted by Research Triangle Institute (RTI) entitled, Developing Outpatient Therapy Payment Alternatives (DOTPA).
RTI recently released drafts of its clinical assessment tool through the Federal Register that could help to identify characteristics of Medicare Part B therapy users. AOTA is interested in hearing your feedback regarding the assessment tools. Specifically how effective you believe the tools will be in gathering data about the characteristics of Medicare Part B patients in the outpatient setting, as well as in the facility setting (e.g., many resident Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) patients are paid under Part B once they have exhausted their Part A benefit under Medicare).
All of the relevant documents for your review can be found in the links below. For ease of review, we suggest you read the Supporting Statement first for background information, then review the outpatient (“CARE C”) community admission tool and community discharge tool, followed by a review of the facility admission tool and discharge tool (CARE).
We welcome your written feedback and comments for inclusion in AOTA’s official letter to CMS. Please email your feedback to rrpd@aota.org by November 30, 2009. The Federal Register public comment deadline is December 8, 2009 if you wish to submit your own comments.
Please also note that RTI wants to hear from settings that bill Medicare Part B and are interested in volunteering as a pilot location to collect data using the above instruments. AOTA is advocating for settings with good occupational therapy representation to volunteer to be part of this project. The results of the data collection are likely to affect reimbursement for Part B services in the long term. Please note that for purposes of the pilot, data collection with this assessment instrument will not replace any other assessment instruments you may use in practice, but rather will be a supplement to what you are already using.
Volunteer with RTI as a Part B Data Collection Site