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The 110th Congress is considering numerous bills that are of importance and concern to the respiratory therapy profession and the pulmonary patients we serve. The following is a recap following legislation and issues. Each issue is linked over to our Capitol Connection site where the issue is explained further and a message on the issue can be emailed to your members of Congress.

Face to face advocacy with members of Congress and/or their staff is key to securing support. An important component to lobbying legislative issues is providing the Member or the staff with short briefing papers, outlining the issues and points of concern and supporting data. While the AARC is involved with numerous legislative issues, we have focused intense efforts on 3 legislative issues: HR 3968 and S 2704 - the Medicare RT Initiative; HR 552/S 329 - the pulmonary rehabilitation bills and HR 621/S 1484 - the home Oxygen Protection bill.

Below each of these aforementioned bills you will find a link that will take you to the documents you can print out and use as talking points and ultimately leave with legislators or their staff.

Respiratory Therapy Initiative HR 3968 and S 2704
This key issue for the profession will revise the Medicare law to permit qualified respiratory therapists to provide certain respiratory therapy services, such as smoking cessation, asthma management, MDI device and medication education, while under the general supervision of a physician (e.g. without the physician having to be physically present or on site). A bill, HR 3968, has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Mike Ross (D-AR). A bill (S 2704) has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mike Crapo (R-ID). We applaud the leadership of these members of Congress and ask you to write to your Representative and Senators to ask for their co-sponsorship on these bills.

Writing Letters to Congress

Resource Materials

Letters of Support

Studies
These studies support the need for greater intervention for patients with lung problems

The Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehabilitation Act (HR 552 and S 329)
This legislation will clearly establish that pulmonary rehabilitation (and cardiac rehab) is a covered Medicare benefit, paving the way for the development of one consistant national coverage policy. This would put an end to the current erratic and inconsistent policies that have left many individuals without access to these important services.

Resource Materials

  • Backgrounder
  • S 329
    A copy of the Senate bill.
  • HR 552
    A copy of the House Bill
    Estimated Prevalence of Lung Disease
    This document is the annual compilation by the American Lung Association that lists, state by state, county by county the prevalence of lung disease broken into various conditions. This is a terrific lobbying tool as it brings how to each member just how many people in the district or state suffer from some form of lung disease.

Writing Letters to Congress

To thank members of Congress who have co-sponsored:
There has been great support for HR 552 (over 150 co-sponsors in the House) and nearly 40 co-sponsors in the Senate for S 329.

To avoid repeated requests to these legislators who are already co-sponsors of the legislation, we would request the that you consider sending a thank you email to them that will also ask that the member support the inclusion of the bill's provisions in any Medicare package. The links below will take you to the Capitol Connection site that has the House and Senate message of thanks.

To find out if your member has already become a co-sponsor and thus a thank you is in order follow these steps:

  • Go to the Thomas website.
  • In the box Search Bill Text put in HR 552 (or S 329)
  • The next page will pull up the title of the bill with a link on the bill number Click on that link
  • That page will have the text of the bill and several boxes above it. Click on Bill Summary and Status
  • This next page will also have a box that says Co-Sponsors
  • When you click on that the entire list of co-sponsors will be listed

Thanking your member for his or her support and then asking them to see the process through by actively supporting the inclusion in the Medicare package the provisions of the legislation will strengthen our cause

The links below will take you to the Capitol Connection sites where you may send the thank you message.

House of Representative Co-Sponsor Thank You and Request

Senate Co-Sponsor Thank You and Request
You may find that one of your Senators has co-sponsored S. 329 and but the other Senator has not. So as not to thank a Senator who has not co-sponsored, this particular Capitol Connection Message is set up in two parts. Click on the about thank you Senator link. There are further instructions how to make sure you are only sending your thank you message to the Senator who has co-sponsored the bill.

 

The Home Oxygen Patient Protection Act of 2007 (HR 621/S 1484)
 These bills will repeal the current Medicare provision that requires Medicare beneficiaries to assume ownership and responsibilities for their oxygen equipment. The AARC is also adamantly opposed to the Administration’s 2008 Budget proposal to decrease to 13 months, down from the current 36 months the time at which ownership will begin. More information.

Backgrounder
A background paper on AARC's support for these bills.

S 1484
A copy of the Senate bill.

HR 621
A copy of the House bill.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (HR 1108 and S. 625)
 These bills will finally give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulated the manufacture and sale of tobacco products. Go read about the issue and contact you members of Congress.

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