New Year, New Rules: Policy and Advocacy Updates for OT Practitioners

_{ALL SESSIONS ARE CLOSED CAPTIONED AND WILL BE RECORDED AND MADE AVAILABLE TO REGISTERED ATTENDEES WITHIN 24-48 BUSINESS HOURS.}

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Each year, CMS and other payers create new policies impacting reimbursement for occupational therapy services for the coming year. Learn what new policies are in store, how those policies will impact the day-to-day delivery of OT services, find out where AOTA’s advocacy priorities will be focused in 2024 and how your advocacy can help improve policies for the future.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Participants will understand impact of new policies on delivery of occupational therapy services across settings
• Participants will be able to identify three opportunities to support advocacy efforts 

Earn up to 1.50 Contact hours.

SPEAKERS

Sharmila Sandhu

Sharmila Sandhu, JD is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA).  She received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her legal degree from the American University Washington College of Law.  She has extensive experience in working with healthcare organizations and associations to achieve their public policy objectives. Ms. Sandhu’s role at AOTA focuses primarily on Medicare and commercial insurance payment and coding issues, in addition to regulatory compliance for the profession of occupational therapy.   

She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association, the American Health Lawyers Association and a Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP) Scholar with the American Society of Association Executives.

Kim Karr

Kim Karr is an occupational therapist with 22 years of experience in acute and post-acute care settings. Through clinical and managerial roles, Karr has developed extensive experience in occupational therapy coding, payment policy, and documenting for payer compliance. She currently works for AOTA’s Regulatory Affairs department as the manager for coding and payment policy. Karr’s role at AOTA focuses primarily on Medicare part B policies, coding issues across payers and coding advisor participation in the American Medical Association coding development and valuation process. She is a member of the National Association of Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) where she holds certification as a certified professional in healthcare quality (CPHQ) and the American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing (AAPACN) where she holds certification as a certified Resident Assessment Coordinator (RAC-CT).

Heather Parsons

Heather Parsons is the Vice President of Federal Affairs at AOTA where she oversees AOTA’s federal lobbying efforts, AOTPAC, and AOTA’s grassroots advocacy program. In her role as a one of AOTA’s Congressional lobbyists, her focus has been on expanding the role of occupational therapy in mental health, improving the Medicare Part B payment system for occupational therapy practitioners, and advancing innovative programs that include occupational therapy. Before coming to AOTA she was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Congressman Brad Miller of North Carolina. She has a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. 

Andrew Bopp

Andrew Bopp is a Senior Legislative Representative with AOTA with a primary focus on lobbying Congress on federal healthcare policy including the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, the use of telehealth to provide occupational therapy in Medicare, and home health policies.  He was the lead lobbyist on legislation that was enacted in 2020 that enabled occupational therapists to open Medicare home health therapy cases which was a long-term goal of AOTA. He has been with AOTA since 2017 and has worked on several Congressional campaigns in the past.  He has a Journalism degree from West Virginia University.