#1 - HR3968 - Respiratory Therapy Medicare Initiative and #2 - HR552/S329 - Pulmonary Rehabilitation Reimbursement

As promised we are activating the 435 plan. This e-mail is also being broadcast via the HOD-Presidents List Serve in order to ensure the broadest communication of this activation.

ACTIVATION GOAL:

The primary goal of this activation is to bring about a heightened state of awareness of our legislative agenda by members of Congress prior to the PACT trip to Washington D.C. The primary legislative agenda that needs to be communicated is #1 - HR3968 - Respiratory Therapy Medicare Initiative and #2 - HR552/S329 - Pulmonary Rehabilitation Reimbursement. I would encourage that all the legislative issues be communicated, but the top 2 as listed above must be the minimum that gets communicated during this activation.

ACTIVATION COMMUNICATION MEANS:

The activation is a general one that is asking you to have members of the 435 plan contact their Members of the House and both Senators. We would also ask that you activate any internal communication system within your state to get more than just the 435 plan members contacting their Representatives and Senators. We want as many rank and file RT's and even patients writing. We are asking that the primary means of communication come through e-mails sent via Capitol Connection (http://capwiz.com/aarc/home/). We also would encourage other forms of communication as you see fit. As an example, I am creating form letters for my pulmonary rehab group to fill out and send since most of them don't have e-mail. When you hear of this type of communication being done, please feel free to communicate this.

ACTIVATION TIME FRAME:

This effort needs to be a concerted one between today (2/19/08) and the day of our presence on Capitol Hill on March 11th. It would be a good idea if each PACT committee within the states comes up with a plan that communicates not only the activation, but some sort of a ramp up and sustained effort through March 11th. It is imperative that this is not just a bump for the next week or two and then nothing the week before/during our visit. This is in essence a 4 week long activation.

I will begin tracking the use of Capitol Connection and will report how things are going during this activation. When you want to communicate results of things you have done within your state, please contact the member of the AARC Federal Government Affairs committee that is assigned to your state (I have attached this list). If there is anything you need from me please contact me directly at frank.salvatore@danhosp.org. Thank you once again for not only what you do for our profession, but a big thank you on behalf of the patients whose lives we work to improve with our advocacy.

Regards and a BIG GO TEAM,

Frank

Frank R. Salvatore, Jr., BS, RRT, FAARC
Danbury Hospital

The pulmonary Rehab bill HR552/S 329 is co-sponsored by the entire Arkansas delegation (Lincoln, Pryor, Ross, Snyder, Boozman, and Berry).

The bill allowing RT's to participate in Medicare Part B (HR 3968) only has Rep. Mike Ross signed on. We need to get Reps. Snyder, Boozman, and Berry. There is not a bill in the Senate yet but Senator Lincoln has agreed to sponsor one; we need to write both Lincoln and Pryor about sponsorship.

Please share this with all of our members and try to get our general membership active in supporting these issues.

Respectfully,

David Gibson