How does this effect social workers?
As you may know, NASW has been instrumental in the introduction of legislation that will allow Clinical Social Workers to receive reimbursement from Medicare for mental health services provided to residents of skilled nursing facilities. The legislation, the Medicare Social Work Equity Act (S.847), was introduced by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and currently has 10 Democratic sponsors. Because it is nearly impossible to get a single, free-standing bill passed in Congress, NASW is trying to get the language from the Medicare Social Work Equity Act attached to Medicare legislation that has a chance of passing. In order to do this, we need your help in getting Republicans to sign-on to the legislation. Without Republican sponsors there is little chance that our language will be attached to a Republican Medicare related bill. We are targeting Senate Finance Republicans for telephone calls. This is a simple call to make. Speak to whomever answers the phone and say…
"Hello, my name is ____________. I live in __________(town) and I am a voting constituent of Senator ___________. I would like him/her to know that I support the MEDICARE SOCIAL WORK EQUITY ACT and I would like Senator_________to cosponsor this bill.
They may ask for your address and the spelling of your name and that’s it. You are done!
If you live in the following states, please call the US Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121and ask them to connect you with the following:
Even if you don’t practice in the nursing home setting, please call. This issue could effect the future of reimbursements of clinical social workers in other practice areas. SOLIDARITY!
For more information, please contact:
Wendy Royalty, MSW
Congressional Lobbyist, NASW – 1800-638-8799 X 237