AHCA: "Landmark Legislation"

November 26, 2003
Calling the pending Medicare prescription drug bill “landmark legislation that helps seniors and vulnerable long term care patients and brings Medicare into the 21st century,” the American Health Care Association (AHCA) endorsed the bill.

Charles H. Roadman II, MD, CNA, President and CEO of AHCA, said partially federalizing the administration of the drug benefit for those who are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, which is included in the bill, “is a good first step and will benefit seniors because it takes some pressure off states that are struggling with growing deficits and higher Medicaid costs.”

Roadman also said the one-year extension of the moratorium on limits on the amount of many therapy services that are covered under Medicare for skilled nursing facility patients “provides some breathing room, but we must still work towards the essential goal of repealing the caps for good.”

Said Dr. Roadman: “Therapy caps threaten patients by denying Medicare beneficiaries who have suffered strokes, broken hips, and other injuries the physical, occupational and speech-language therapy they need and deserve to fully recover their health.”

Dr. Roadman also praised the inclusion of two regulatory reforms in the bill: First, the bill will ensure nursing home inspection appeals are decided in a timelier manner and penalties that could impact patient care are adjudicated in expedited fashion.

Second, AHCA has long supported background checks to screen prospective employees in health care settings to protect vulnerable patients, and the bill contains a new federal background check provision “that will show that the program can be implemented and funded in an manner that minimize potential problems,” he said.

"This historic legislation will help improve the health care and quality of life of the nation’s most frail, vulnerable senior population, and Congress and President Bush can be proud of this monumental achievement,” Roadman said.

The American Health Care Association is a federation of 48 affiliated associations, representing nearly 12,000 non-profit and for-profit assisted living, nursing facility and subacute centers that provide care to more than one million elderly and disabled individuals nationally.