There's still time to submit your comments on the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) plan to dramatically change payment for home health services beginning in 2019. And if you feel like you need to get up to speed on just what those changes entail, APTA has you covered.

September 25 is the deadline for comments to CMS on its proposal to shift from 60- to 30-day episodes of care and to launch a new case-mix adjustment model that removes physical therapy visit thresholds, among other changes. Combined, the fully implemented proposal could result in a $950 million payment reduction, according to CMS.

To make it as easy as possible for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants to share their concerns with CMS, APTA has created a customizable template letter that allows individual authors to included details of their own practice circumstances while delivering a shared message: that the proposal "severely devalues the clinical importance of physical therapy." APTA will submit comments to CMS by the September 25 deadline.

APTA also has made it easy to learn more about the details of both the CMS proposal for 2019 as well as the proposed 2018 payment system, by way of a recorded webinar now available for viewing. The session includes a question-and-answer session with participants in the live session, and viewers of the recorded session also can see text comments that were entered at the time. To view the webinar, visit the APTA webpage on Medicare home health policies, and click on "Recorded Webinar 'Overview of CY 2018 Home Health PPS Proposed Rule.'"