Comment on CMS-2026-2377-0001
Beka DollarOpposeBusiness
Summary: The commenter, a clinic owner in South Alabama, opposes the proposed changes to pediatric speech therapy reimbursement (specifically code 92507). They argue that the proposed time breakdowns do not account for the intensive labor required for medically complex children and that reduced reimbursement rates would threaten the clinic's ability to stay in business.
The problem with 92507 and pediatric speech therapy services isn’t the 60 minute time frame. It’s the breakdown of the 60 minutes. 5 minutes is not enough prep time and 5 minutes is not enough time to review the session with caregiver, clean up and get ready for the next kid. In pediatric clinics we are often working with medically complex children that require physical and mental energy to regulate and treat all while continue to educate or coach a parent through the session and that in itself is hard work. Our treatment time cannot be reduced but also cannot be treated the same as an adult speech therapy session. There is so much more work that goes into managing behaviors with children that often goes missed or not considered. Reducing reimbursement rates is another conversation. I own a clinic in South Alabama where I pay $8,000.00 a month in rent, not including utilities. That rent is going up annually all while reimbursement are potentially dropping? How are we supposed to stay in business to serve these children. My clinic is one of a few in the area and we get dozens of referrals daily. We cannot afford to be paid less. We can barely keep up as it is. Please consider this when dealing out values. We are worth more than what we get currently.