Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Thanks to rehab providers' tireless lobbying efforts, they can kiss the much-maligned therapy caps goodbye - at least for the next two years. The Medicare reform bill includes a moratorium on the therapy caps effective the day the law is enacted through calendar year 2005. Other therapy-related provisions of the Medicare reform bill are as follows: The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission will study the feasibility of allowing Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries direct access to outpatient physical therapy services. Rural providers will see payment increases. There will be an 18-month moratorium on the self-referral whole hospital exemption for new specialty hospitals, during which time MedPAC will examine the situation.