The AARC Advocacy and Government Affairs team aggressively advocates for the recognition of respiratory therapists and the profession as a whole in treating individuals who suffer from acute and chronic respiratory disease. Most importantly, we establish a legislative agenda each year to inform and educate Congressional leaders about the profession and how respiratory therapists improve the lives of their respiratory patients through their expertise and skills.
AARC Advocacy Agenda Page
OSRC Advocacy Posts
- TAKE ACTION NEW Senate Bill for Pulmonary Rehab November 20, 2023
House Bill gets Senate Companion S 3021
AARC has helped to raise awareness on Capitol Hill about the need for a permanent virtual cardiopulmonary telehealth benefit. During our annual Washington, DC Respiratory Fly-in respiratory therapists met with over 200 Congressional offices asking for their support to make this a permanent Medicare benefit. After our Fly-in their was a legislative hearing in the House of Representatives and in November the Senate has introduced what is called a companion piece of legislation. Now is the time to reach out to your Senators to let them know that CMS has no flexibility to permit permanent continuation of virtual cardiac and pulmonary rehab services to Medicare beneficiaries in their homes and that Congress must act to make this happen.
U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced the Sustainable Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Services in the Home Act (S 3021). This bipartisan legislation needs to gain co-sponsors in the Senate. We need your help to gain co-sponsors for this legislation. Please send this action alert to your Senators to request cosponsors for this important legislation, which will ensure that patients continue to have access to in-home cardiac and pulmonary rehab services.
Thank you! AARC Appreciates your advocacy
- Veterans need access to respiratory therapists March 14, 2023
Veterans need access to respiratory therapists
Ask Congress to help by placing report language in the Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill
Each year, Congress passes appropriations bills that allocate federal spending for each department and agency in the government. In conjunction with these bills, Congress adopts accompanying reports that provide federal agencies with more specific instructions on implementing the programs within their jurisdiction. Submitting report language is an effective way to have Congress weigh in on important issues without passing separate legislation.
This year, AARC is submitting report language to address staffing issues for respiratory therapists at the Veterans Affairs administration. Approximately 25 percent of veterans are impacted by COPD, which makes it critical that respiratory therapists be available to veterans at VA hospitals. Furthermore, last year Congress passed a bill called the PACT Act, which expanded coverage for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic exposures. The bill included a list of presumptive conditions that make veterans eligible for coverage, which includes respiratory conditions such as COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung disease, and bronchitis. This will further increase the demand for the services of respiratory therapists who can provide education to patients with respiratory conditions on the trigger and symptoms of their disease to prevent acute exacerbations.
Currently, there are gaps in coverage of respiratory therapists in the VA system. However, the VA does not have an effective way of evaluating staffing needs for respiratory therapists within their hospital systems. AARC has validated time standards that measure the work provided by respiratory therapists, which are called the Safe and Effective Staffing Guidelines. These guidelines could be used by the VA to evaluate staffing needs for respiratory therapists.
The report language directs the VA to evaluate the staffing needs for respiratory therapists using a validated data system, such as the Safe and Effective Staffing Guidelines, and to report back to Congress within 180 days on gaps in staffing for respiratory therapists.
We need your help to reach out to your members of Congress in support of including this report language in the report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Please send this action alert to your members of Congress to ensure that veterans with respiratory conditions have appropriate access to respiratory therapists.
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The American Association for Respiratory Care