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ASHA's National Outcomes Measurement System (NOMS) has been named as one of four patient assessment tools suitable for testing by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the development of Medicare Part B outpatient payment policies. This recommendation was part of the Outpatient Therapy Services Pilot Report 2006 (PDF format) which was recently released by CMS' contractor, Computer Science Corporation (CSC).
NOMS, developed exclusively for speech-language pathology services, was found to be the only patient assessment tool proposed by CSC for a pilot study that contains a dysphagia assessment. Swallowing disorders represent nearly half of the Medicare outpatient speech-language pathology population.
As part of its contract, CSC was tasked with assessing and recommending which outpatient therapy patient assessment tools currently being used by practitioners could provide CMS with more accurate data on a beneficiary's need for therapy. The report also provided CMS with recommendations on pilot activities that CMS could immediately implement to not only refine current payment policies but also to begin development of long-term solutions to the therapy caps.
Although CMS is not required to act on the CSC's recommendations, ASHA is actively working with both CMS leadership and Congress to advance the recommendations contained in the report. For additional information, please contact Ingrida Lusis, ASHA's Director of Health Care Regulatory Advocacy, at 800-498-2071, ext 4482 or via e-mail at ilusis@asha.org.
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