On February 9, 2018, the United States Senate and House of Representatives passed H.R. 1892 – “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018” and President Trump signed the bill into law at approximately 8:30am ET on February 9, 2018. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 71-28 and passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 240-186. This legislation contains several important implications that will have an impact on outpatient therapy services provided by physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and speech-language pathologists. This legislation changes the following regarding outpatient therapy services: Annual outpatient therapy

On February 9, 2018, the United States Senate and House of Representatives passed H.R. 1892 – “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018” and President Trump signed the bill into law at approximately 8:30am ET on February 9, 2018. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 71-28 and passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 240-186. This legislation contains several important implications that will have an impact on outpatient therapy services provided by physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and speech-language pathologists. This legislation changes the following regarding outpatient therapy services: Annual outpatient therapy

On February 9, 2018, the United States Senate and House of Representatives passed H.R. 1892 – “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018” and President Trump signed the bill into law at approximately 8:30am ET on February 9, 2018. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 71-28 and passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 240-186. This legislation contains several important implications that will have an impact on outpatient therapy services provided by physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and speech-language pathologists. This legislation changes the following regarding outpatient therapy services: Annual outpatient therapy

In the early morning hours of February 9, 2018, the United States Senate and House of Representatives both passed legislation that repeals the outpatient therapy cap; however, changes payment rates for services provided by a physical therapist assistant and/or occupational therapy assistant to Medicare beneficiaries receiving outpatient therapy services. In addition, the legislation also makes changes to the Home Health Agencies and Part A home health services. President Trump signed the bill into law early Friday morning. The therapy cap repeal is effective with dates of services on and after

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, on November 1, 2017, finalized their proposed rule to remove total knee arthroplasty (TKA) from the inpatient procedure only (IPO) list and allow Medicare beneficiaries to have their knee replaced on an outpatient basis beginning with dates of service on and after January 1, 2018. This procedure will be paid under the outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS). Removal of the TKA from the IPO list does not preclude a Medicare beneficiary from having a TKA as an inpatient. The decision whether to have a TKA as an inpatient or an outpatient will be

The House of Representatives and the Senate have failed to act to pass legislation to either repeal the outpatient therapy cap or to extend the therapy cap exception process for Medicare beneficiaries receiving outpatient physical and/or occupational therapy as well as speech-language pathology services in calendar year 2018. So what does this mean for providers of therapy services and their Medicare beneficiaries who started receiving outpatient therapy services the first week of 2018 and continue those services this week (week of February 5, 2018) and may exceed the $2010.00 hard therapy cap? Here is the latest! If a Medicare beneficiary

A question I receive is can speech-language pathologists (SLP’s) bill CPT codes 97110 (therapeutic exercise), 97112 (neuromuscular reeducation) and 97530 (therapeutic activities) instead of CPT codes 92507 (treatment of speech, language, voice, communication, and/or auditory processing; individual), 92508 (treatment of speech, language, voice, communication, and/or auditory processing; group) and/or 92526 (treatment of swallowing dysfunction and/or oral function for feeding)? According to the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI)

With the 2018 therapy cap now beginning its 5th week, I am still receiving many questions concerning the therapy cap. In this article, I will answer the following questions: What is the 2018 therapy cap dollar threshold? How is the amount that is applied to the annual therapy cap dollar threshold calculated? How does the annual Part B deductible impact the annual therapy cap? What is the current status of the therapy cap exception process (ie. use of KX modifier)? What is the current status of the $3700 manual medical review threshold? What settings does the therapy cap apply to?