 |
| Wilson Introduces Legislation to Improve Medicare Therapy Services |
September 08, 2006 |
| |
| Legislation Focuses on Quality Outcomes
Washington — Congresswoman Heather Wilson today introduced the Medicare Outpatient Therapy Value-Based Purchasing Act of 2006. The legislation would establish quality measures in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology.
“Medicare is establishing quality measures in many areas, including hospital care, nursing home care, and physician services,” said Wilson. “This legislation would, for the first time, establish quality indicators for the therapy services and compensate providers based on the effectiveness of their care. This is the direction of health care, and it’s natural that therapy services would follow suit.”
Therapy services are particularly well-suited for quality measurement because much care can be quantified through improvement in functional status. The legislation would encourage providers of therapy services to provide the highest quality care in the most efficient way possible, using evidence-based methods of rehabilitation. The legislation aims to use Medicare resources more efficiently and effectively, while improving care for patients.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 established an annual payment cap on the therapy services provided in Medicare. The cap was a reaction to some therapy providers billing Medicare for unnecessary visits, although it has the effect of arbitrarily limiting access to needed therapy services for some patients in need of more extensive therapy. In this legislation therapy providers would be compensated based on their performance compared to national benchmarks for a given condition, eliminating the need for the Medicare therapy cap. “This approach fosters the delivery of care based on need and payment based on results,” said Wilson. “The end product is higher value for the Medicare dollar spent.”
The legislation would establish the value-based purchasing program in 2010, and a transitional program eliminating the therapy cap for providers who participate voluntarily before 2010. The effort would not reduce Medicare spending, but would make spending on therapy services more efficient.
Quality measures for each therapy provider would be stored in a national database and available to the public so consumers can make informed decisions when choosing therapy providers.
“The legislation would improve quality and provide more information for consumers, while expanding efforts already under way to make Medicare spending more accountable for results,” said Wilson. “This expands access to quality therapy services for seniors and the disabled on Medicare.” |
|
|
|