As a concerned constituent, a Lewes resident, a physical therapy practice manager in Rehoboth and the president of the Delaware Physical Therapy Association, I am writing to ask your readers to contact their elected officials to repeal the "hard Medicare therapy cap" by Feb. 8. The therapy cap impacts Medicare beneficiaries who need rehabilitation services the most - for example patients who suffer from a stroke, or have Parkinson's disease, amputations, spinal cord injuries or osteoporosis. On Jan. 1, a hard Medicare therapy cap returned on Medicare beneficiaries since Congress failed to act.
In 1997, Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act, which created an annual financial limit on physical therapy and speech-language pathology services, and a separate cap on occupational therapy for Medicare beneficiaries. This action was not based on data, quality-of-care concerns, or clinical judgment; its sole purpose was to save resources needed to balance the federal budget. Since 1997, Congress has acted 16 times to prevent implementation of the cap. Historically, Congress has passed short-term extensions of the therapy cap exceptions process along with the sustainable growth rate extension. In the 2015 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, the SGR formula was permanently repealed, while the therapy cap only received an extension through Dec. 31, 2017 - which has now expired.
To end this pattern of yearly extensions and repeal the hard cap after 20 years, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, House Ways and Means Committee, and Senate Finance Committee announced a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to end the hard cap on therapy services. This policy needs to be voted on as soon as possible in order to prevent the further disruption in care to thousands of patients who need it most. Without your action, the most vulnerable will continue to endure a hard cap on their services and be unable to live their fullest life. I urge you to contact senators Carper and Coons along with Rep. Blunt Rochester, and urge them to immediately repeal the hard therapy cap by supporting the bipartisan, bicameral policy that has been agreed upon before Feb. 8.
Dr. Philip M. Allen, PT, DPT
president, Delaware Physical Therapy Association
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