WASHINGTON, DC – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services today announced that it would move forward to implement and enforce the flawed “75% Rule.”  This rule will negatively affect rehabilitation hospitals throughout the country.  Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland), who has led the effort to reform the rule, expressed her disappointment with CMS’s actions.  Lowey issued the following statement:

“The ‘75% Rule’ was first created in 1984 and hasn’t been significantly updated since.  I’ve pushed and pushed for CMS to acknowledge that medical practices have changed over the last 20 years, yet it still insists on implementing this flawed rule.

“Last year, I successfully fought for a study by the General Accounting Office (GAO) on the detrimental effects of the ‘75% Rule.’  While the GAO recognized that additional study of this issue is needed, its report failed to provide a substantive examination of the problem or solutions. In February, I wrote to GAO to urge site visits to Burke Rehabilitation Center and other similar facilities to ensure a thorough, firsthand review of the devastating impact of the proposed rule on our local rehab hospitals.”

“I’m going to continue to work to update this misguided rule and force CMS to take the last 20 years of medicine into account.  The ‘75% Rule’ is 100% wrong – we can’t let it hurt patients or rehabilitation hospitals.”