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AOTA asks members to speak out on 75% rule

Rehab Regs, December 9, 2005

With Congress meeting to discuss the 75% rule, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) is asking members to contact their local Congressmen to ensure that the final reconciliation bill includes the Senate language for inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

The House of Representatives and the Senate completed their respective budget reconciliation bills last week. While the Senate included a hold on the implementation of the 75% rule in their package of Medicare and Medicaid reforms, the House of Representatives did not include any Medicare language, according to an AOTA press release.

The Senate language would freeze implementation of the 75% Rule on inpatient rehabilitation hospitals at the 50% level while Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services study the impact of the restriction.

Congress has a limited timeline this month to reconcile the two budget reconciliation bills in conference. The House of Representative went into session for two weeks on December 5, and the Senate is scheduled to be in December 12 for one week.

AOTA has expressed concern about current implementation that many arthritis-related conditions were not included in the "75%" list, that the list did not reflect current trends in rehabilitation, and that ultimately the narrowing was in direct conflict with what practitioners see as a need for more utilization of rehabilitation hospitals.

AOTA recently sent a letter to the Senate and House sponsors endorsing the new legislation, saying that the legislation is essential to the occupational therapy profession, the continued viability of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and units, and is necessary to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries and others continue to have access to intense rehabilitative care in the appropriate inpatient setting.

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