A Call for Occupational Justice: Amending Medicare Policy

Abstract

This advocacy project titled, A Call for Occupational Justice: Amending Medicare Policy focuses on advocating for increased access to occupational therapy (OT) services for elderly individuals within home health settings and bridging the health equity gap. The student was able to collaborate with the AOTA Federal Affairs Department throughout their capstone advocacy experience. They began the process of addressing Medicare home health policy serving as an environmental barrier for quality of life within this population through preparing to introduce legislation amending Medicare policy. This Medicare home health legislation would allow OT to be recognized as a Medicare qualifying home health service, meaning that OT could provide home health services to Medicare recipients standing alone. The student created a white paper as the final product discussing chronic condition mismanagement, the impact within home health settings and OT’s role in mitigating this crisis through effective chronic condition management with this new legislation. The white paper consisted of a culmination of anecdotes, and evidence from the literature to maximize advocacy efforts to support this legislation. The AOTA Federal Affairs Department will utilize this resource to further legislative efforts toward this bill.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstones-spring2022/1011/thumbnail.jp

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