[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10325]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             ACCESS TO INPATIENT REHABILITATION THERAPY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, coordinated medical 
rehabilitation provided in an inpatient rehabilitation setting is 
crucial to Medicare beneficiaries with injuries, disease, disabilities, 
or chronic conditions.
  Unfortunately, beginning in 2010, the Centers for Medicare and 
Medicaid Services began placing limitations on what types of therapy a 
beneficiary could receive, despite the professional judgment of a 
treating physician. This ties a physician's hands, and it limits 
recreational therapy from being prescribed, despite it being medically 
necessary in many cases.
  These services are often prescribed to assist an individual in 
transitioning from the rehabilitation hospital to the home, helping 
patients recover their functions and decreasing the chances of costly 
readmissions. CMS, the Medicare agency, should not have put in place 
barriers for physicians and their patients when determining the best 
course of action for recovery.
  This is why I introduced the bipartisan Access to Inpatient 
Rehabilitation Therapy Act of 2014 with my colleague, the gentleman 
from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).
  I encourage my colleagues to lend their support to this commonsense 
bipartisan measure, H.R. 4755. It has zero cost, yet will empower 
doctors and patients to gain access to the most appropriate mix of 
therapeutic rehabilitation services.

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