Medicare Part B Therapy relief legislation introduced in the US House of Representatives

• By: Nadine Grosso
• On: 10/14/2021 12:05:11
• In: Legislative/Government Affairs

Last week, U.S. Representatives Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) and Jason Smith (R-Mo.) introduced new bipartisan legislation to support Medicare beneficiaries' access to physical and occupational therapy services. The Stabilizing Medicare Access to Rehabilitation and Therapy (SMART) Act H.R. 5536 would delay and mitigate the impact of a looming 15% cut to the Medicare reimbursement rate for physical and occupational therapy assistants. 

Specifically, the legislation would exempt therapy assistants in rural and medically underserved areas from the pay cuts, reduce burdensome requirements for direct supervision of therapy assistants in private practice settings, and delay the reimbursement cuts for non-exempt providers to January 2023.

If this legislation is not enacted, these pay cuts are set to go into effect in January 2022.

Staff contact: ngrosso@mehca.org