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| Boosting Heart/Pulmonary Rehab; Wilson Pushes for Addition of Medicare Benefit |
April 23, 2007 |
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By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Journal Staff Writer
Health professionals say a bill pending in Congress could require Medicare to pay the cost of rehabilitation services for patients with severe heart and respiratory diseases.
Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., is among 61 co-sponsors of the bill, which would create a specific Medicare benefit category for cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation.
"The current Medicare regulations are vague," Wilson told supporters of the measure at Presbyterian`s Healthplex, a cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation center in Albuquerque owned by Presbyterian Healthcare Services.
The legislation would clarify that cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation are covered by Medicare, she said. Wilson is among 61 co-sponsors of the bill.
"There is not a specific Medicare statute that mentions cardiac rehab," said Pam Haines, pulmonary rehabilitation coordinator for Presbyterian Healthcare Services.
Instead, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services are among a wide variety of secondary services available to cardiac patients, Haines said. That gives Medicare contractors wide discretion to approve or reject rehabilitation costs, she said.
Congressional support for the measure could prompt Medicare officials to draft regulatory changes this summer that would provide Medicare coverage for cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services, Haines said.
Congressional budget officials have estimated the change would cost Medicare $160 million over five years, she said.
Rehabilitation clinics provide many services, including exercise therapy, dietary instruction, medicine and oxygen management and cholesterol testing. They also help patients manage risk factors such as weight, stress and substance abuse.
Those services ultimately will save money by cutting patients` risk of costlier medical emergencies, said Dr. Richard Leuker, medical director of New Heart, an Albuquerque rehabilitation clinic.
"You can prevent people from going back into the hospital at incredible savings," Leuker said. |
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