On Monday, the therapy cap with an exceptions process went into effect for outpatient hospitals. In addition, the manual medical review exceptions process for claims exceeding $3,700 became effective for phase I providers. Originally, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had announced that providers would know the dollar amount that their patients accrued toward the therapy cap on October 1. Due to some systems challenges, this information was not available. CMS announced this week that the information will be available October 8 through eligibility inquiries. Physical therapists (PTs) should check with their Medicare Administrative Contractors to determine the best way to obtain the dollar amounts accrued. When the data is available on October 8, PTs can then determine whether there is a need to seek an exception to the therapy cap.

To help PTs with the implementation of the cap and the manual medical review exceptions process, APTA has created a Medicare Therapy Cap Resources webpage. This webpage compiles relevant information available from APTA and CMS in 1 place.