I’m very excited to give you the first PT Page legislative update! These legislative updates will be reoccurring just like the research highlights. If you missed the first research highlight I dropped back in June, you can read it here! Keeping up with legislative changes can be a bit tricky. There’s a lot of misinformation out there and with complicated government jargon it can be hard to understand. My hope is these legislative updates will keep you current on what’s happening in physical therapy at the governmental level, know how bills affect us, and how you can help push the PT profession agenda. You can expect recent legislative wins, recent updates on current or new bills, or anything legislative in nature that can affect our patients or the profession! Let’s get to it.
#1. ) Arizona Expands Imaging Privileges
Arizona was one of the most recent states to allow PTs the ability to refer for x-ray. Well, the efforts of AZ APTA just got a huge legislative win. Arizona expanded PT imaging referral privileges from only x-rays to all imaging. The images must still be interpreted by a qualified health professional. The PT must also report results to the patient’s primary care physician. A great expansion of access to healthcare for patients and opportunity for PTs to practice at the top of their license! Congrats AZ!
#2.) Rhode Island Joins PT Compact, Minnesota to Hopefully Follow
In June, RI became the 39th state to join the PT compact. They will hopefully be able to start issuing compact privileges within the next year!
In May, Governor Walz of MN signed a bill into law allowing MN to join the PT compact. Unfortunately, the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee added some wording that differed from what was presented in the PT Compact bill. This caused the PT Compact Commission to withhold acceptance of MN into the compact, at least for now.
Megan Urick, APTA MN Chapter President, has said they are actively working to enact the necessary changes that would solidify MN’s acceptance into the compact. However, we know nothing in government moves fast. We can only hope MN will be able to join sooner rather than later.
#3.) Mississippi & Alabama Lift Severe Restrictions to Direct Access
Mississippi and Alabama were the last two states operating under a limited direct access model. When I say limited I mean LIMITED. Well that is no longer. Recently, both states moved to a much more expansive provisional direct access model similar to many other states. Consequently, ALL STATES now have at least provisional direct access. This is a HUGE milestone for the profession and is definitely something to celebrate. Not just for PTs, but also patients seeking our services! You can read more about it here on the APTA website.
#4.) SAFE Steps for Veterans Act and SAFE Act
A couple of developments in some primary care PT related news. The SAFE Steps for Veterans Act (S. 4556) was recently introduced to congress. The act proposes the development of a Falls Prevention office within the VA Health Administration. It also requires annual fall risk assessments. PTs will be the ones completing these assessments. The goal of the bill is to identify individuals at risk and prevent falls and subsequent injuries.
Closely related to this is the SAFE act (H.R. 7618). The SAFE act would allow preventive fall screenings and referral to PT services for new Medicare beneficiaries at their Initial Preventive Physical Examination a.k.a. their “Welcome to Medicare” visit. It would also allow current Medicare holders who participate in an annual wellness exam to be referred for a separate fall risk assessment by a PT. This bill has already been sent to the appropriate house committee, but needs a push to move up in line and more co-sponsors. If you want to help support this bill, reach out to your house representative to co-sponsor the bill. If your representative happens to be part of the House Energy and Commerce Committee you can also lobby for its markup.
Personally I think it’s a little ridiculous we have to make government bills that allow us to complete fall screens that actually get covered by Medicare . . . but it’s a step in the right direction. Both these bills go back to some sentiments and ideas I suggested in a previous blog post on primary care PT. So, I’m happy to see those coming to fruition! If Medicare approves this my hope is other insurances will one day follow suit and we can really get a handle on fall prevention on a national level.
#5.) Permanent Auth Providers of Telehealth in Medicare Programs (H.R. 3875/S)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, CMS approved telehealth visits for allied health professionals, but this was only temporary. The Expanded Telehealth Access Act lobbies to make these changes permanent.
One positive outcome from the pandemic is it gave the opportunity to prove telehealth does have a place in the healthcare system. Now, I don’t think I’d be very good telehealth PT, or enjoy it. BUT plenty of other PTs are good at it. It allows for better access to healthcare for SO many people, especially for those in rural areas. The House of Representatives has actually already voted unanimously to approve the extension for another two years. It hasn’t reached or been approved by the Senate. If you want to help get this bill approved in the senate, contact your Senators on voting in favor or even co-sponsoring the Expanded Telehealth Access Act.
#6.) Proposed 2025 Home Health Cuts Continue at 1.7%
For the third year in a row, CMS has proposed cuts to home health services. The said reasons behind the cuts is to rebalance the Patient-Drive Groupings Model (PDGM) to make it budget neutral. Overall the changes will result in a 1.7% decrease in reimbursement to home health physical therapy.
CMS is also planning to enact two requests for information (RFIs) to help make future laws and decisions. One, when both therapy and nursing are ordered for home health, CMS is considering allowing PTs to complete all the initial and comprehensive assessments. Two, CMS is looking into concerns that home health agencies are prioritizing profits over individualized patient POCs based on their needs. Basically CMS is trying to make sure the agency doesn’t just keep taking new evals and starts of care if the agency can’t back up the follow-up visits and meet the plan of care. For those of you working in home health what do you think about these? Good ideas of CMS or not worth looking at? What may be the repercussions of looking into these?
APTA and several other professional organizational institutions plan to fight the cuts. APTA also plans to give PTs a chance to submit comments. I’m going to try to stay on the lookout for that and share with you. The APTA action center will likely also have a spot to send thoughts to representatives to lobby to against the cuts. (Don’t roll your eyes at me for mentioning APTA action center. It really is VERY easy to use!)
This article from Home Healthcare News on the proposed 2025 cuts is also worth the read. Hard hitting and does a great job explaining how cuts and other changes CMS is proposing are ultimately going to harm care for patients.
What do you think about these updates? Five out of the six updates were largely positive! Which one makes you the most excited and why? Looking into PT legislative updates can be kind of heavy or the information feels dense. However, I enjoyed it because overall there are a lot of positive things happening and exciting ideas making it to the congress floor. It made me excited to see what’s to come. Want to make sure you don’t miss any more legislative updates? Or anything from The PT Page in General? Make sure to hit the subscribe button below! And don’t to follow on Instagram and Threads @the_pt_page!
Leave a Reply