Advocacy

Giving Rehabilitation Businesses a Voice

As rehabilitation providers much of our focus is on providing the best care possible to the patients we serve.  While devoting our time and energy to quality care we can lose sight of the ever-changing regulations effecting our reimbursement and the delivery of care to patients. We need someone who is looking out for our best interest and the best interest of our patients. Thus NARA created a Political Action Committee (PAC) and Government Affairs Committee. Through the legislative efforts of the NARA PAC and Government Affairs Committee, NARA serves as a voice in the political arena and fights for patient access, reasonable compensation, reduction of administrative burden, streamline of processes between payers for the success of rehabilitation businesses.

NARA PAC

NARA Advocacy Action Center

What Bills is NARA Tracking?

Legislative & Regulatory Priorities

The National Association of Rehabilitation Providers and Agencies (NARA) represents the interests of rehabilitation providers by promoting policy and regulatory initiatives designed to support the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care. Our 2025–2026 priorities focus on expanding access, modernizing payment, advancing digital care, and reducing administrative barriers.

1. Ensure Patient Access to Rehabilitation Services: NARA supports legislation and regulatory action that:

• Expands access to medically necessary therapy across all care settings by eliminating outdated restrictions.
• Fully integrates physical, occupational, and speech therapy providers into all value-based care models, including ACOs, bundled payments, and population health initiatives.
• Aligns Medicare Advantage requirements with Traditional Medicare to reduce delays, administrative complexity, and inequities in access and reimbursement.
• Permanently authorizes telehealth services for therapists, with payment parity and no geographic or originating site restrictions especially in rural and underserved communities.
• Expands direct access to therapy and removes unnecessary referral requirements that do not improve outcomes.
• Ensures equitable reimbursement and addresses systemic payment disparities.
• Includes school-based and early intervention therapists in broader healthcare policy discussions, to support continuity of care for children with complex needs.
• Promotes interoperability by ensuring therapy providers are included in health information exchanges, improving care transitions, and outcome tracking.

2. Modernize and Stabilize Payment Systems: NARA advocates for payment reforms that:

• Reflect the actual cost of delivering therapy services, including the impact of inflation, workforce shortages, and administrative pressures.
• Sustain fee-for-service models as a foundation for innovation in post-acute and outpatient settings.
• Incentivize value-based care models that reward quality, functional outcomes, and patient satisfaction - not just volume.
• Strengthen reimbursement for acute care therapy services, recognizing their role in reducing hospital length of stay and supporting safe discharges.
• Address Medicare Advantage payment shortfalls and ensure parity with Traditional Medicare.
• Enact structural reforms to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) to promote long-term stability and sustainability.
• Advance payment methodologies tailored to the unique care delivery needs of pediatric and school-based providers - particularly for Medicaid-enrolled children.

3. Expand Access to Telehealth and Digital Health: NARA strongly supports:

• Permanent inclusion of PTs, OTs, and SLPs in Medicare’s telehealth benefit and other federal programs.
• Expansion of remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) and other digital tools that extend care beyond the clinic.
• Payment parity and removal of geographic and originating site limitations for virtual services.
• Interoperability initiatives that include therapy providers, ensuring access to shared clinical data across care settings.
• Technology-enabled care coordination and real-time data exchange to improve outcomes.
• Elimination of financial and regulatory barriers that limit the adoption of practical digital health innovations.

4. Reduce Administrative Burden and Promote Transparency: NARA is committed to reducing provider burden by advocating for:

• Simplified documentation requirements that remove duplicative or non-clinical mandates.
• Prior authorization reform, including clear criteria, standardized timelines, and reduced documentation requirements, to prevent unnecessary delays in medically necessary care.
• Transparent and consistent audit protocols across payers, with clearly defined standards for medical necessity.
• Alignment of Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare policies to reduce variation and minimize claim denials.
• Regulatory relief that enables providers to focus on delivering high-quality care, reducing burnout, and enhancing workforce sustainability.

Click here for a 1 page summary of NARA's Legislative and Regulatory Priorities. 

The NARA Political Action Committee (PAC)

The NARA Political Action Committee (PAC) serves as a way to allow individuals, providers, corporations and unions the opportunity to share a common political goal and voluntarily contribute money to affect change in the national political landscape. NARA's PAC serves as a separate fund that is established by NARA, and you can contribute as much as you like. Contributions should be made via personal checks.*

NARA's PAC is made up of our members and other individuals who want to affect positive change in the rehabilitation industry and for the industry’s patients. The purposes of NARA's PAC are to:

• Give donations to candidates for national office and elected officials who demonstrate their support for the rehabilitation industry, practitioners and patients. These donations are given without consideration of political party affiliation.
• Increase and improve Congress’ awareness about national issues that impact the rehabilitation industry and patients.
• Establish an active and effective mechanism for NARA membership in affecting the federal government policies on NARA issues.
• Raise money through voluntary contributions of NARA members and using that money to positively affect the national political process.

Contribute to NARA’s Advocacy Effort

Whether you’re interested in learning more about NARA’s legislative priorities or making a donation to NARA's PAC, you can get involved with NARA by calling 866-839-7710.