AARC Goes to Bat for Pulmonary Rehabilitation
January 4, 2007
COPD patients and others with chronic lung disease who could benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation may soon find it easier to take advantage of these life-sustaining programs.
During the final days of 2006, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) inched a step closer to issuing a national coverage policy for outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation by formally requesting comments on a range of issues regarding the service.
The AARC is working overtime to make sure the government has the information it needs. Association leaders are currently in the process of submitting extensive comments on everything from an appropriate definition of pulmonary rehabilitation to medical evidence on health outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation in the Medicare population.
The effort has been many years in the making.
“The AARC has, for well over 20 years, vigorously advocated that the Medicare program issue a national coverage policy for pulmonary rehab,” says AARC Director of Government Affairs Cheryl West, noting the current patchwork system of local coverage policies is not only inconsistent but has also left some patients without access to the service at all.
Historically, the work focused on CMS, but when efforts that seemed promising in 2003 failed to produce a policy, the Association joined other groups and organizations in promoting legislation to require the agency to issue a clear policy.
That work came to fruition last year with bills in both the House and the Senate.
“The AARC has been firmly behind and supportive of this legislation, and the passage of the bills has been a key legislative priority of the AARC,” says West. “We have lobbied in Washington, DC, on them and had many thousands of members send e-mails to their Congressional delegation to support the pulmonary rehab legislation.”
She believes growing Congressional support of the legislation spurred CMS to issue the call for comments. “The call for input by CMS is a major first step towards finally resolving the issue of Medicare coverage for outpatient pulmonary rehab.”
West says the AARC will continue to work closely with the key physician organizations, the American Thoracic Society, American College of Chest Physicians, and National Association for Medical Direction of Respiratory Care, as well as the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, to push for a resolution on pulmonary rehab coverage.