AAPM&R Members Take Action Against the Proposed IRF Review Choice Demonstration

AAPM&R has recently achieved a win in the fight against the proposed IRF Review Choice Demonstration! AAPM&R members recently wrote to their members of Congress, via a grassroots campaign, asking them to support a bipartisan letter from the United States House of Representatives, led by Representatives Kustoff (R-TN) and Sewell (D-AL), opposing the IRF RCD. This bipartisan letter gained 47 signatures!

Late last week, the letter was sent to CMS Administrator Brooks-LaSure urging CMS to entirely withdraw the IRF RCD, particularly in 2022. The letter asks that if the RCD is implemented thereafter, CMS should be fully transparent in sharing data, details and information derived from the demonstration with IRFs, Congress and other IRF stakeholders. Finally, the letter asked that CMS ensure adequate safeguards are incorporated into the demonstration, such as opportunities for IRFs to provide direct feedback to CMS and MACs pertaining to the education, training and monitoring components of IRF RCD.

On December 15, 2020, CMS announced the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Review Choice Demonstration (RCD), which would require a 100% audit and review by Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) of all Medicare fee-for-service IRF claims in certain states, beginning with Alabama, Pennsylvania, Texas and California and expanding out to 17 states, three U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. This proposal would dramatically increase physician burden in a field already subject to onerous documentation requirements and serve as an unprecedented intrusion by CMS contractors in the exercise of independent physician judgment. Additionally, we believe the RCD will compromise patient access to IRFs. Please click here for more background on AAPM&R’s participation in this issue in 2021.