AACVPR has requested a grass-roots effort to endorse legislation that would move cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation out of the benefit category of “incident to physician services†and into distinct benefit categories of their own. As you may know, the AACVPR and 3 other pulmonary medicine societies (American College of Chest Physicians, the American Thoracic Society and the National Association for Medical Direction of Respiratory Care) funded a cost estimate from a private economic consulting firm to determine the impact such a move would have on Medicare. The cost estimate was favorable, therefore Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced bill S.1440, with Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) as original co-sponsor, requesting formal legislation to accomplish the above goal.
It is very important that you contact Senators Grassley and Harkin immediately, asking them to sign on as co-sponsors to S.1440. Click on the emails below to send a letter. Do not sent letters via US postal service - they will take several weeks to arrive as the mail in Washington is screened heavily since the anthrax scare.
If you like, you can fax your letters, preferably on your hospital's letterhead:
Senator Grassley's fax: (202) 224-6020
Senator Harkin's fax: (202) 224-9369
We have provided a sample letter for you to download and use in drafting a letter on your hospital letterhead that is personal and to the point. We want the letters to come from program directors and medical directors. Scripted phone calls and form letters are less meaningful than a note from the heart that is very personal. Please send an email or a fax of your letter promptly. Grassley told reporters that scripted phone calls and form letters are less meaningful than “a handwritten note or a note from the heart…that’s very personal,†so add something that will be personally from you as an Iowa constituent.
After you send the email/fax, call your Senator’s office and request a face-to-face meeting with the Senators or their legislative assistant when they are back in Iowa during their break in August.
Please notify Janie Knipper or Candy Steele when you have sent your email or fax to Senators Harkin and Grassley. Please notify us of any face-to-face meetings or phone calls as well. If you are aware of program directors/medical directors that are not IACPR members or do not have email and would not have received our email alert, refer them to this web page.
Thank you for your support of this important issue.
Sincerely,
Janie Knipper, RN, MA, FAACVPR, IACPR Reimbursement Committee Co-Chair jane-knipper@uiowa.edu
319-356-8396
Candy Steele, RN, MA, FAACVPR, IACPR Reimbursement Committee Co-Chair steelec@covhealth.com
319-272-2269
