Ending Medicare's Therapy Penalties: A Call for Congressional Action

For more than ten years, rehabilitation therapy providers have struggled under an obsolete Medicare payment framework that disincentivizes essential patient care. While the Removing Excessive Cuts to Outpatient and Vital Essential Rehabilitation (RECOVER) Act, H.R. 8386, offers a definitive solution to this long-standing issue, its success depends on OUR support.

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The Core Issue:

The Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction (MPPR) Since 2011, the MPPR policy has consistently lowered Medicare reimbursements for therapy. Under this rule, if a patient needs multiple therapy services in a single day, full reimbursement is only provided for the initial service. Every subsequent service faces a 50% cut to the practice expense component, which represents approximately 45% of the total value of the service. This reduction applies even when distinct therapists utilize different clinical resources and equipment to treat a single patient, such as a stroke survivor needing both speech and physical therapy.

Impact on Powerback and Our Partners

Clinicians and providers in long-term care and outpatient settings—including PTs, OTs, and SLPs—rely on a coordinated, interdisciplinary model to serve complex Medicare beneficiaries. By penalizing same-day services, MPPR creates a financial barrier to the comprehensive, clinically appropriate care that enables seniors to avoid hospitalizations and regain their independence more quickly.

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The Economic Burden

These challenges are further compounded by a 15% reduction in therapy assistant services and a cumulative 9% cut to therapy reimbursement since 2020. Together, these policies have led to a systematic undervaluation of therapy programs based on arbitrary criteria that Congress itself has admitted lack a foundation in actual clinical or cost data.

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