Speech Therapy

A Message From NARA's President: Reflections on Inter-Professional Practice, ASHA, and PDPM

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has been making a concerted effort to build partnerships between their Speech Language Pathologist members and SNF therapy providers.  I had the privilege of sitting on a panel last week representing NARA and skilled nursing rehabilitation providers at the ASHA Healthcare Connect conference in Chicago, Il.  Monday,... Read More

You’ve completed one more semester of school – congratulations! This means you’re one step closer to your dream of working in the rehabilitation industry. Depending on your program or where you’re at it in school you could still be in class or clinical but we hope you have some time off to recharge for your next semester! So if you do have a summer break, are you wondering how you should spend it or make the most of it? We have some tips for you!

Take this time... Read More

NARA Spring Conference 2016 May 4 - 6, 2016 Renaissance Washington DC Hotel - Dupont Circle Major changes are in store for the health care sector which will have a profound effect on providers and their patients. The elections in November will bring a new President, determine which party will control the House and Senate, and usher in new leadership for regulatory agencies such as HHS and CMS. Federal agencies will take significant steps to implement new payment methodologies to replace the physician... Read More

On April 14th, by a vote of 92-8, the Senate passed H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which had passed the House over two weeks ago by a wide margin. Eight Republicans voted against the bill: Senators Cruz, Lee, Perdue, Rubio, Sasse, Scott, Sessions, and Shelby. Six amendments were offered to the bill and all were defeated, including Sen. Cardin’s amendment to repeal the outpatient therapy caps. The bill will now be sent to the President who has already stated that he will... Read More

One of the hot-button issues in the rehabilitation industry, as far as legislation is concerned, is the ongoing battle to get a full repeal of the Medicare Therapy Caps introduced as a result of the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) in 1997.  This act has caused headaches for providers and patients alike. In part-one of this two-part series, we gave a big-picture view of the Therapy Cap and what it all entailed.  In part-two, we plan on giving a little more insight into what that actually means and the... Read More

As almost everyone in the rehabilitation industry is well aware, there was legislation enacted back in 1997, under the Balanced Budget Act, that placed an annual cap on rehabilitation services under Medicare.  While this legislation was intended to prevent organizations from taking advantage of the system, the harmful effect of denying patients the care they desperately need has more than overshadowed the “good” of that original intent. Therapy Cap Background The Balanced Budget... Read More