Advocating for Access: Supporting MiCR’s Push for Cardiac Rehab Legislation

A stack of binders and notebooks is on a table. One says "ADVOCACY" on the spine. Also on the table is a paper with line graphs and bar charts, an ink pen, and a pair of dark-rimmed glasses.

BMC2 and MISHC have joined MiCR, the Michigan Society for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation’s (MSCVPR’s) Health Policy & Reimbursement Committee, and partner CQIs in advocating for increased access to cardiac rehab care for patients across the country. 

HR955/S.1849 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Adrian Smith (R-NE) and James McGovern (D-MA), and in the Senate by John Hoeven (R-ND) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). The bill would improve Medicare beneficiary access to certain hospital outpatient department (HOPD) services, including pulmonary/cardiac rehabilitation, by providing an exception to the current

Medicare payment for certain off-campus outpatient department services when payments to physician specialists (under the Medicare physician fee schedule) did not exceed $2 million during the previous year.

HR 1406/S. 3021 was introduced in the House of Representatives by John Joyce, MD (R-PA) and Scot Peters (D-CA), and in the Senate by Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Marsha Blackburn (RTN), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). The Sustainable Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Services in the Home Act would improve patient access to cardiopulmonary rehabilitation services by permanently allowing Medicare patients to receive cardiopulmonary rehabilitation services via virtual telecommunications technology (real-time, audio-video) in the beneficiary’s home.  The home would serve as the originating site – wherever the home is located throughout the country – including when those services are furnished by hospitals as distant site providers. Virtual direct supervision by physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, or clinical nurse specialists would be allowed through two-way audio-visual communications technology.

You can read the letter of support on the MiCR website. The co-signing partner CQIs are Healthy Behavior Optimization for Michigan (HBOM), the Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons Quality Collaborative (MSTCVS-QC), and the Michigan Value Collaborative (MVC)

We welcome other organizations and individuals to join us in supporting this important legislation. You can download the CR Legislative Advocacy Packet to learn more.