< public policy

ATRA Public Policy Platform Statements
Archive - 2000 - 2001 . 2002 . 2003 - 2004

2004 Federal Public Policy Platform Statements
Approved by the ATRA Board of Directors April 2004

• Seek a Congressional directive to amend the list of core services that inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and units must provide, so as to include recreational therapy.

• Seek Congressional support for a regulatory change that would require a facility to furnish recreational therapy services, as needed, in order to qualify as a psychiatric hospital.

• Seek a statutory change- or in the alternative, a Congressional directive for CMS to change the regulations – to the Medicare law that adds recreational therapy to the list of “extended care services” that are covered when furnished in a skilled nursing facility.

Areas to Monitor
• Medicare mental health partial hospitalization coverage.
• Federal funding in higher education settings for professional preparation AND support Work Force Initiatives Funding.
• Federal funding for efficacy research and outcome-based results in recreational therapy
• Mental health insurance parity
• IDEA reauthorization
• Healthy People 2010 and the World Health Organization programs and initiatives
• Funding in the Department of Educational Rehabilitation Services Administration
• Medicare coverage for Adult Day Services
• Medicare Outpatient Services
• Homebound definitions and restrictions
• Stop Stroke legislation
• American Hospital Preservation Act