In a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont) urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to maintain the exceptions process to Medicare Part B therapy caps.

"I write today to allow the exception process to remain in place until Congress acts to extend the moratorium and reinstate the exception process," Baucus says. "Alternatively, I ask that you delay processing claims for therapy services provided to beneficiaries subject to the cap. With strong bipartisan support, Congress has consistently acted to prevent therapy caps from going into effect and is on the verge of doing so again."

Baucus also requested that the exception process be extended for seniors who require therapy services beyond the limits.

"HR 6331 contains an 18-month extension of the exception process," Baucus says. "I respectfully request that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services maintain the exception process to the therapy caps or delay processing relevant claims until Congress has the opportunity to act following the Independence Day recess."

Outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services provided in practice settings other than hospital outpatient departments are now subject to a financial limit, or "cap," of $1,810 as of July 1, 2008. There are no longer moratoriums on the cap or an exceptions process in place to be used by patients who require these services.

More than 700,000 Medicare beneficiaries will exceed their limit on Part B outpatient therapies this year because therapy services provided during the first 6 months of this year are included in the cap even though the services were provided under the earlier exception. This will force patients to pay out of pocket for therapy services or even to postpone or neglect getting the treatment they need.

"Physical therapists thank Senator Baucus for his strong leadership in fighting an arbitrary financial limit on therapy services that do not account for the patients' clinical needs," says R. Scott Ward, PT, PhD, American Physical Therapy Association president. "This arbitrary limit would have the greatest impact on those patients who need the care the most to recover and rehabilitate from injuries, impairments, and disabilities."