- July 26, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
Respiratory service vendors have seen a boom in business due to the pandemic, with respiratory therapists sometimes filling in when COVID unit staff on a nursing home campus became scarce.
RTs became indispensable when facilities were experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, and continue to be needed to treat virus “long-haulers,” administering high-flow oxygen without having to transfer a resident to the hospital.
But specialty services like respiratory therapy still aren’t eligible for direct reimbursement at a nursing home, vendors say.
The ‘ugly stepchild’ of reimbursement
Instead of being assigned a code linked to a particular fee per encounter, like a primary provider, cardiologist or nurse practitioner, RTs are usually compensated on a salaried or per shift basis in a nursing home.
“There’s no [direct] reimbursement from Medicaid, Medicare insurance for respiratory therapists for the labor or the equipment….
