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Action alert: Policy changes & rate restorations in Medicaid Therapy

By Elyse Fulton posted Jul 20,2017 02:53 PM

  

As you know, the 2017 Texas Legislature voted to restore 25% of the therapy rate reductions cut by previous legislators. This small win for Medicaid therapy is now in danger of going unrealized due to the potentially negative effects of proposed policy changes.

Earlier this week, the Health & Human Services Commission held a public hearing on the proposed Medicaid payment rates for physical, occupational, and speech therapy providers. Therapy providers from across Texas testified to the negative effects the proposed methodology and policy changes will have on their agency's ability to provide services to medically fragile children.

It is time to tell our State Representatives and State Senators that their intention to restore 25% of previously cut funding to the Medicaid therapy program could be nullified because of the proposed policy changes.



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The policy changes proposed to go into effect September 1, 2017 include a shift from encounter based billing to 15-minute increments for certain services, a reduction in the speech re-evaluation rate, a reduction in the oral feeding therapy rate, and a lowering of the therapy assistant rate to 85% of the rate of therapists. These changes could devastate pediatric therapy agencies and limit the availability of services for our medically fragile children.

Please call or write your state legislators to update their offices on the status of Medicaid therapy in Texas using our action center today!

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