Federal Legislation on Medicare Reimbursment - HR 1052 - Very Important for all PAs!

NDAPA Members,

Another bill, HR 1052, has been introduced into the US House of Representatives that addresses Medicare reimbursement for PAs. HR 1052, is another potential huge step in furthering our profession and is a major part of the Optimal Team Practice (OTP) policy adopted by the AAPA and the NDAPA. This is an issue that we cannot fix in state law and needs to be done at the federal level.

This bill, if passed, would require Medicare to directly reimburse PAs for their work. This doesn’t mean the money goes directly to you, but you will be “given credit” for the work that you already do that is currently billed under your supervising physician. The way things are now, it is difficult to gauge exactly how “valuable” a PA is to practice, hospital, or health system.

Please contact your U.S. House of Representative (Rep. Kelly Armstrong in ND) and encourage them to co-sponsor and support this legislation. Below is a link to the AAPA release and in the last paragraph, a link to the AAPA Advocacy Action Center where you can easily send a letter to your Representative. You need to be a member of the AAPA to use their system of sending a letter. If you are not a member, I encourage you to become one. You also can simply send one of your own as well (see attached for recommended wording, however, PLEASE add a personal touch about where you live and practice in ND).

Please let us if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Jay Metzger, NDAPA President

Direct Link to the AAPA Advocacy Action Center

Email link for Rep. Kelly Armstrong: https://armstrong.house.gov/contact/email-me