President's Message

Posted: June 27, 2023

I am going to use my message today to invite you to provide feedback and guidance to our leadership, and to ask you to prepare for a significant advocacy effort on behalf of the Academy, our industry, and our profession.

First, APTA Home Health’s delegates, Eva Norman and myself, are holding a virtual House of Delegates Town Hall this Wednesday, June 28, at 8 PM EDT(Members must register). We will brief you on this year’s slate of candidates for APTA Board of Directors and Nominating Committee as well as several of the twenty-eight proposed motions. You can read those motions here. We will then open the “floor” for your comments and questions about anything around the APTA House of Delegates. I look forward to speaking with many of you then!

I expect CMS to release the 2024 Home Health PPS proposed rule in the next 10 days or so. After last year, we are expecting yet another significant cut in reimbursement through the “behavioral adjustment”. Once the rule is released, our Government Affairs committee, along with APTA Regulatory Affairs staff, will analyze the proposal and provide a mechanism to comment. This will likely be different than in previous years, as CMS has caught on to our use of templates. Keep an eye out for time-sensitive emails about this.

Additionally, our friends in the Senate, Susan Collins (R-ME) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) have introduced the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2023 (S 2137). This bill serves to reduce CMS’ authority to utilize “behavioral adjustments” and reverse the “behavioral adjustments” of previous years. Expect to see an e-mail from APTA Home Health later this week asking you to reach out to your Senators and Representative to support this bill.

Thank you for your support of APTA Home Health and our industry through your advocacy efforts! We can’t win these fights without you!