| OSRC's PACT Representatives Visit Washington! |
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The AARC's Political Advocacy Contact Team made its 8th annual trip to Washington, D.C. March 9-11. Representatives from 46 states and the District of Columbia attended the Lobby Days this year, including Karen Gregory, Jacki McAffrey, and Ken McAffrey from Oklahoma. Also attending were representatives from the AARC, including Sam Giordano, Toni Rodriguez, Tim Myers, Anne Marie Hummel, and Cheryl West.
Karen, Jacki, and Ken met with Congresswoman Mary Fallin and Congressmen Dan Boren and Frank Lucas. They also met with legislative assistants to Congressmen Tom Cole and John Sullivan and Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe. They ran into the Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett at a local restaurant during their lunch break. For pictures and highlights from this year's Lobby Days, please Click Here.
A lead story with additional pictures are available on the AARC website - click to view:
PACT Takes Respiratory Message to Capitol Hill.
URGENT!!
Please contact your legislators ASAP regarding the following bills:
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The Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative Act of 2007, HR 3968, S2704.
This legislation would revise the Medicare statute to permit certain qualified respiratory therapists to provide services within their scope of practice to Medicare beneficiaries under the general supervision of a physician, resulting in greater access to RT services such as smoking cessation, asthma management and inhaled medication device selection and patient education.
The Pulmonary/Cardiac Rehab bills HR 552 and S 329.
These bills will establish clear Medicare coverage for pulmonary rehabilitation services. Currently, coverage of these services are at the discretion of local Medicare policy decision makers. The result is that some Medicare beneficiaries will have access to the services while beneficiaries in other states will not. In addition, those that may cover pulmonary rehab services can vary in terms of what services are covered and for how long. HR 552 and S 329 bills would require Medicare program to establish national regulations so all Medicare beneficiaries would have the same access to and coverage of pulmonary rehabilitation services.
Click Here to view an example of how your letter should look.
Click Here for further information from the AARC regarding both the above mentioned bills.
To Contact Your Legislators:
Please contact your legislator by using the AARC’s “Capitol Connection”. If you have never used the “Capitol Connection” to contact your legislator, get started today by using this link. http://capwiz.com/aarc/home/