Congress has introduced new legislation, the RECOVER Act (H.R. 8386) which could help SLPs working in teams of providers fight back against unfair payment cuts. Medicare's flawed Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction (MPPR) policy arbitrarily and inappropriately reduces payment for essential speech-language pathology services. MPPR applies a 50% reduction to the practice expense of the second and any subsequent therapy services provided to a patient on the same day, even when a patient is receiving care from multiple therapy disciplines. The RECOVER Act would repeal MPPR, increasing access to care for patients. 

Unfortunately, MPPR does not just impact Medicare providers. ASHA has advocated to protect SLPs from the impacts of MPPR across the country and implementation of this policy by different payers for years. Some states, such as Colorado, have even passed state laws preventing this type of reduction by other payers, like Medicaid. The Colorado Speech-Language-Hearing Association worked with ASHA and the Colorado TriAlliance (ST/OT/PT) to avoid proposed legislation that would have put MPPR in place.

Please join us in urging your members of Congress to cosponsor this important piece of legislation.