I am a respiratory therapist (or student, or pulmonary patient, etc.) and I’m from (your town and state). I’d like to ask Senator_________ (or Representative________) to support the Medicare Respiratory Therapist Access Act.

This legislation will provide coverage of “pulmonary self-management education and training services” for Medicare beneficiaries who suffer from COPD, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis and cystic fibrosis.  Most important, it gives greater flexibility for a physician’s office to hire respiratory therapists who have the skills necessary to teach pulmonary patients how to self-manage their disease.

By recognizing and reducing symptoms and triggers of their disease through proper education, Medicare beneficiaries, working with respiratory therapists, will have the tools they need to practice wellness and prevention strategies, slow progression of their disease and lower  costs by preventing exacerbations that lead to unnecessary hospitalizations or readmissions.

Please become a supporter of the Medicare Respiratory Therapist Access Act.