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This past weekend, Congress passed H.R. 6111, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, which included a provision to stop the scheduled 5% cut in the Medicare fee schedule for audiologists and other providers. The legislation puts in place a one-year freeze on the conversion factor in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for 2007. President Bush is expected to sign the legislation in the near future.
At ASHA's urging, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) appear to be moving closer towards revising their payment philosophy for audiology and speech-language pathology services.
ASHA recently received a letter from Herb B. Kuhn, Acting Deputy Administrator of CMS, stating that the agency would consider professional work values for Medicare services provided by audiologists and speech-language pathologists. This positive communication is another step forward to ensuring that proper valuation of these services would be recognized for the professional, rather than technical, nature of the procedures. CMS wrote that it will advise the American Medical Association Relative Value Update Committee (RUC) and the RUC Health Care Professionals Advisory Committee "that if the committee recommends the use of work values for these codes, CMS will consider their recommendation." ASHA will be working with the RUC and convening other professional organizations to develop a methodology and process to determine appropriate professional work values for these services.
ASHA repeatedly submitted comments on and met with CMS about the impact on audiology services resulting from the upcoming elimination of the non-physician work pool, a cluster of procedure codes that were insulated from revisions in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. The non-physician work pool will be phased out over four years, greatly impacting many audiology and speech-language pathology codes, unless the valuation process is revised to shift the services from a technical component to the more appropriate professional component.
For further information on ASHA's legislative efforts, please contact Elizabeth Mundinger, ASHA's Director of Federal and Political Advocacy, by e-mail at emundinger@asha.org or by phone at 800-498-2071, ext. 4473. For more information concerning coding and reimbursement, please contact Steve White, ASHA's Director of Health Care Economics & Advocacy, by e-mail at swhite@asha.org or at 800-498-2071, ext. 4126.
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