Your Cards and Letters Pay Off: Pulmonary Rehab Bill Introduced into the House of Representatives
March 8, 2005
AARC members who wonder whether all the hard work and effort they put into writing their members of Congress about important respiratory legislation pending in Congress ever really pays off need look no further than recent developments on Capitol Hill.
Earlier this month, Congressmen Charles “Chip” Pickering (R-MS) and John Lewis (D-GA) introduced HR 4824, a companion bill to the Senate’s S 1440, the Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehabilitation Bill of 2005.
Both bills—worded exactly the same—call for Medicare to issue comprehensive and clear guidelines on the provision of outpatient pulmonary rehab services.
“With the introduction of the companion bill into the House, the odds that we will see this important legislation pass Congress have greatly increased,” says Cheryl West, AARC director of government affairs. “We want to thank our many, many AARC members who have written to their legislators in support of this vital bill.”
S 1440, explains West, was first introduced into Congress last year by Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) in response to intense lobbying by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and other groups interested in improving access to pulmonary rehabilitation for Medicare beneficiaries.
ATS Director of Government Relations Gary Ewart credits the bill’s introduction to a community wide effort on the part of the ATS, American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR), National Association of Medical Directors of Respiratory Care, the AARC, and most specifically, the U.S. COPD Coalition, an organization made up of health-related groups and organizations, including the ATS, AACVPR, AARC, and others.
“They were the brainchild behind this legislation,” says Ewart. “They developed the policy infrastructure to get the bill drafted.”
Members of the Congressional COPD Caucus supplied the final push. “I think the entire pulmonary community owes a great deal of thanks to Senators Crapo and Lincoln in moving the Senate language forward,” continues Ewart. “Now we are fortunate that Representatives Lewis and Pickering have taken up the challenge of the House legislation.”
The AARC’s role in the whole process has been one of support, and Ewart says it’s been invaluable to the process. “The AARC deserves a lot of credit for delivering the grassroots pressure…when you have been up on the Hill you’ve made a big impact.”
That was clearly evident at last month’s Capitol Hill event sponsored by the AARC. S 1440 was a key talking point for Political Advocacy Contact Team (PACT) members from across the country—including Karen Sicard, RRT, and her group from Georgia, who met with Rep. Lewis’s legislative health assistant, Michaeleen Crowell, JD, and Jerry Bridgers, AASD, CRT, LRCP, and his colleagues, who lobbied in the office of Rep. Pickering.
Sicard says it was the second meeting her group had had with Crowell. “We met with Ms. Crowell last year and discussed the respiratory therapy profession, the COPD Caucus, and both HR 964 (the home health bill pending in the House to include respiratory therapists under the Medicare Home Health Benefit) and S 1440. This year Ms. Crowell was already well versed on our profession and on the pulmonary rehab bill when we met.”
The group reiterated how important it is for pulmonary patients to have ready access to pulmonary rehabilitation programs, emphasizing that these programs increase quality of life, decrease hospital readmissions for pulmonary complications, and ultimately decrease costs to the Medicare system.
“We will continue with follow up letters from our community and Georgia State Society members,” she says.
Bridgers says he and fellow PACT member Javis Knott—both of whom are veteran Capitol Hill day participants—also benefited from previous meetings they had had with Rep. Pickering’s staff. This year they met with health assistant Mary Mills Ritchie, reiterating messages they had delivered last year about the importance of the bipartisan Congressional COPD Caucus and the need for both the respiratory home health and pulmonary rehabilitation legislation.
“I looked Mary in the face and said, ‘Mary, you don’t know how much good it does our hearts to see this bipartisan effort put together this COPD Caucus which deals with pulmonary rehab,’” says Bridgers. Then he asked her to implore the Congressman—who was already co-sponsoring HR 964—to consider introducing a companion bill to S 1440 in the House. “She said, “well, let me see what I can do about it.’”
He believes his delegation’s efforts—combined with the efforts of the ATS, AACVPR, and all the other organizations involved—helped to drive home the point. “She obviously twisted his arm pretty darn good and they came up with this 4824 bill.”
Clearly, pushing important health care legislation through Congress is a group effort, one that benefits from a wide range of support across the industry. HR 4824 is a shining example of what can happen when respiratory therapists work side by side with their colleagues in medicine and other fields to educate legislators on much needed changes in Medicare law that will ultimately benefit so many patients.
“I hope this most recent success will inspire more therapists to join their colleagues in support of not only S 1440/HR 4824, but also HR 964,” says Cheryl West, reminding everyone that the AARC is still seeking sponsorship for a companion bill to HR 964 in the Senate. “The more e-mails, faxes, and other communications your legislators receive, the better the chance these bills will ultimately be signed into law.”
So if you haven’t written your legislators yet in support of the pulmonary rehab and home care legislation pending in Congress—or even if you have—visit the AARC’s Capitol Connection today and throw your support behind these important bills.