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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the proposed 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule which would increase the recertification period for speech-language pathology services from 30 to 90 days under the Medicare therapy standards and requirements section. CMS wrote, "We propose that the physician (or non-physician practitioner [NPP], as appropriate) would continue to review and certify the initial plan of care as soon as possible, but that the certification would apply for an episode length based on the patient’s needs, not to exceed 90 days and would be recertified every 90 days thereafter."
By making this change, CMS believes it will protect the patient’s access to needed treatment "when the certifying physician or NPP is not available at the 30-day interval, reduce the administrative burden on providers, suppliers, physicians, NPPs, and Medicare contractors, and provide an appropriate timeline for monitoring the necessity of continuing therapy services."
Additionally, CMS wants all therapy personnel qualifications to be consistent across provider settings. This change will have a minor impact on SLP qualifications due to previous CMS rulemakings. The education and experience requirements for SLPs across provider settings will continue to be the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP) as granted by ASHA.
A comprehensive analysis of the proposed 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule will be sent to ASHA members in the near future. Final approval is expected by the end of October. For questions or further information, please e-mail reimbursement@asha.org.
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