08/30/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/30/2024 12:18
APTA resources help you easily share comments on the proposed fee schedule and policies relating to PTA supervision and plan of care rules.
For another year, the budget-neutral Medicare Physician Fee Schedule has led to proposed payment cuts threatening all clinical specialties paid under the fee schedule, including physical therapy. But there is cause for celebration in the form of two big wins for the profession relating to physical therapist assistant supervision and plan of care requirements - both proposals that APTA has aggressively advocated for. Share your comments by Sept. 9 to bring these two proposals over the finish line.
Want to read or learn more about how the 2025 proposed fee schedule would affect the physical therapy profession and the people you serve?
For more insight on these issues, listen to this APTA Podcast episode with staff experts Andrew Amari, JD, and Rachel Miller, MPH.
We know your voice matters - and CMS knows it, too. CMS' 2025 proposed rule directly quotes some of the feedback submitted by members who used our comment tool last year.
In recent years, CMS has made it clear that a single compelling comment can carry more weight than a thousand identical generic comments, Amari says. (Still, signing your name on a template letter is better than nothing - strength in numbers matters!)
Another reason your voice matters: APTA will be sharing our feedback on the fee schedule in our own comment letter, but it's not possible for us to capture the perspectives of all our members.
"We can cover more ground together, make more compelling arguments together, and show significant investment from our community when it comes to establishing and understanding policy changes," Amari explains.
Now that you know the why, here's the how.
APTA's award-winning comment tool has guidance built in, but APTA staff experts have created lots of other resources to help you through this process.
APTA advocacy staff developed seven steps and considerations to help you draft a personalized comment letter. These steps are:
In this five-minute video, Amari walks through the seven steps you can follow to draft a personalized comment letter.
If you want to see examples from fellow APTA members, we've got three examples of submissions from previous years written by:
These articles not only share the PTs' letters but also offer commentary on why these letters are so effective.
Now that you know the what, the why, and the how, you have all the tools you need to submit your own comment letter to CMS.