Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross Introduces HR 3968:  The Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative

While most of us were working and consciously aware of Respiratory Care week and its celebratory activities, Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross was busy introducing a bill developed to improve patient access to Respiratory Therapists.  Formally called the Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative, HR 3968, if passed, will revise the Medicare law to permit qualified respiratory therapists to provide certain respiratory therapy services, such as smoking cessation, asthma management, and medication education, while under the general supervision of a physician Oxygen patients at home and patients living in rural areas would be among those who could benefit from better access to RRTs.

Respiratory Therapists under current law cannot legally provide services outside the institutional setting (i.e. hospital) without direct supervision of a physician.  That means the physician must be physically present and immediately available to provide assistance to the RT performing services. Under the proposed changes to Medicare, a qualified RT would be able to provide respiratory therapy services without the physician being there, although the physician would still need to be available for consultation by phone.  This will allow physicians a lot more flexibility to treat their pulmonary patients with qualified personnel.  Medicare recognition of the RT services under Part B enhances both the profession and the respiratory therapist.  It expands what the profession can do and it gives visibility to the respiratory therapist that does not exist under current law.   

It has taken months of work by the AARC and the Government Affairs staff.  Miriam O'Day, AARC Lobbyist, has spent countless hours on the hill advocating for this and is still working tirelessly to get a companion bill raised on the Senate side. Sam Giordano has made several trips to D.C. for this and other events raising the awareness of Respiratory Therapy's role in lung disease.  John Campbell, RRT and Arkansas PACT Chair, has been working directly with Mike Ross’s office in order to introduce this bill, and has been talking with Senator Blanche Lincoln for possible sponsorship of a companion bill in the senate.  So now it is important for all respiratory therapists to support this initiative and to help garner support in Congress for its passage.  We need to literally get “thousands” of emails or faxes sent to Congress from RTs, physicians, and patients from all across the country.  It’s very easy and takes only a few minutes to advocate for this initiative.  Each respiratory therapist should visit the AARC’s Capitol Connection web site to learn more about HR 3968 and use the online tools to contact your members of Congress today.  For those RTs in Arkansas who live in Congressman Ross’s district, I would encourage you to send your email or fax thanking him for his support and leadership in the introduction of this bill. 
To learn more about HR 3968, click on the following links:
http://www.aarc.org/headlines/medicare_initiative_faq.cfm
http://www.aarc.org/headlines/07/10/medicare/index.cfm