March 18, 2025
McKnight's Long-Term Care News
Skilled nursing providers and clinicians are criticizing Congress’ short-term spending bill signed by President Trump on Friday, which notably omitted the reversal of cuts in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. They believe sector instability will be a residual effect.
Congress’ continuing resolution will fund key government initiatives through Sept. 30. But long-term care leaders expressed grave disappointment in the inaction regarding the MPFS cuts, which went into effect Jan. 1. They’re now urging lawmakers to reconsider.
“While the current 2.83% MPFS cut remains in effect for now, the physical and occupational therapy community is cautiously optimistic that the House of Representatives will address the cuts in the reconciliation package it is developing …” leaders from the Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation said in a Monday press release.
Alliance Executive Director Nikesh Patel added that clinicians such as occupational therapists and physical therapists have long been warning lawmakers of the consequences of increased costs and decreased reimbursement, a trend he cited as unsustainable.
Therapists aren’t the only ones discomfited by the exclusion. Other post-acute care professionals are, too.
Alex Bardakh, senior director of advocacy and strategic partnerships at the Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association, told McKnight’s on Monday that legislation to address the MPFS cuts was in the original continuing resolution that passed during Congress’ last session in December. But that and other efforts fell flat.
“There is a bipartisan bill — the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act — that we were hoping would be included in this CR. There was actually an amendment that would have made this a reality, but it failed by one vote,” he said.
A possible bright spot in the resolution was an extension of telehealth benefits that LTC providers had been urging Congress for months to consider.
The benefit is one that operators have grown accustomed to and was first authorized during the pandemic. It allowed Drug Enforcement Administration-registered practitioners to write prescriptions for patients without an in-person medical evaluation.
Keeping its promise
This political scenario will replay itself and take up unnecessary time, possibly creating an unstable, unpredictable and volatile system, Bardakh stressed.
And what extensions and acknowledgements that providers did get, could enjoy a temporary celebration.
“Telehealth was only extended for six months and many practice groups rely on this service for their service line,” Bardakh noted.
For now, Patel is hoping that Congress makes good on its promise to address the cuts and provide relief for Medicare providers when it revisits the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act.
Bardakh advises providers and LTC advocates to continue rounding up co-sponsors for legislation that upholds quality care. This could be one of the most effective ways in ensuring already low Medicare reimbursement rates don’t dwindle further, he said.
“Its not sustainable to keep talking about this year after year. We need a stable program that practices can rely on so that we can move on to talk about providing quality care and address other issues,” Bardakh said. “This is a bipartisan issue and partisan politics standing in the way of common sense approaches to fixing issues is not an acceptable way to move quality of care forward.
