Senator Leahy has signed on as a cosponsor of both S.2704 Respiratory Initiative and S.329 Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab Act. Please take the time to send Senator Leahy a thank you note. 
Your PACT representative in Washington
March 20, 2008
Members of the AARC ’s Political Advocacy Contact Team (PACT) took their eighth annual trip to Washington DC, March 9 –11. While they were there they met with members of the U.S. Congress, discussing current respiratory legislation that will help respiratory therapists help their patients.
“We’ve seen a lot of change in the last eight years,” said Frank Salvatore, chair of the AARC’s government affairs committee. “We’ve made relationships and connections in Washington and our members of Congress are ready to hear us out.”
In general each state society sends two PACT members to the Washington lobby day. Serving a multi-year commitment on behalf of their state societies, these PACT members are knowledgeable about the issues and have made appointments to visit the influential lawmakers in their states. On Day One of the PACT meeting, the group meets together, reviewing the issues, getting tips on lobbying, and prepping for the next day. On Day Two, the teams each go up to Capitol Hill and meet with their members of Congress.
This year several states brought patients with them to meet with their Senators or representatives. “Seeing the individuals who are directly impacted by congressional laws is a powerful message,” said Cheryl West, AARC’s Director of Government Affairs. “We think this kind of partnership between the profession and the patient will bring us success."
There were two primary issues PACT members advocated for in Washington.
Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative (HR 3968 and S 2704)
This key issue for the profession will revise the Medicare law to permit qualified respiratory therapists to provide certain respiratory therapy services, such as smoking cessation, asthma management, MDI device and medication education, while under the general supervision of a physician in settings other than the acute care hospital.
The Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Act (HR 552 and S 329)
This legislation will mandate that the Medicare program explicitly cover pulmonary rehabilitation. Individual services that comprise the program are only covered indirectly as “incident to a physician’s service,” which has led to confusion and variations in interpretation. There is no national coverage for pulmonary rehabilitation and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says it lacks authority to develop such policy even though there is strong medical evidence to support it. This legislation, when enacted, will end the patchwork policies that now exist and end the confusion.
As part of the overall message the PACT delivered was a focus on reimbursement issues, in particular home oxygen coverage. Congress was encouraged to keep the needs of the patient foremost in crafting any reimbursement structure so that it will ensure patients have access to appropriate home oxygen services in all areas of the country.
Faye Bacon, Vermont PACT representative, met with office staff of Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Bernard Sanders, and Representative Welch. Faye reports that the Vermont members of Congress are in support of our legislative issues. Both Senator Leahy and Representative Welch are co-sponsors of The Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Act. She urges all Vermont Respiratory Therapists to write thank you letters to these members.
Learn about the issues The 110th Congress is considering numerous bills that are of importance and concern to the respiratory therapy profession and the pulmonary patients we serve. This AARC site provides a recap following legislation and issues. Each issue is linked over to our Capitol Connection site where the issue is explained further and a message on the issue can be emailed to your members of Congress.
Find your Congressional members, House and Senate, just go to the AARC’s Capitol Connection and put in your zip code. Please note that in very populated and large cities there may be more then one member representing the citizens in the general zip code. If this is the case for you, you'll have to enter your 4 digit zip code extender to narrow it down to the correct member. The Capitol Connection system will assist you with this.
