Local respiratory therapist lobbies Washington for better health care

Tue, 05/12/2015 - 9:15am

ROCKPORT - Last month, Keith Siegel, BS, RRT, traveled to Washington, D.C. with over 120 other respiratory therapists and patients to request members of Congress to support the Medicare Telehealth Parity Act, legislation that would expand patient access to telemedicine technology and provide pulmonary patients with access to the telehealth services of a respiratory therapist.

Siegel is the Director of Respiratory Care and Neurodiagnostics at Pen Bay Medical Center and lives in Union.

"Using telehealth services to remotely monitor and manage the clinical condition of the patient and intervene proactively will help avoid a costly hospital admission or re-admission,” said Siegel in a news release. 

Reducing hospital readmissions is a key Medicare priority. As part of the provisions of the Medicare Telehealth Parity Act, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) living in rural or remote regions of the country where there is no easy access to medical facilities would be eligible to receive respiratory therapy telehealth services from a qualified respiratory therapist.

In addition to easing the burden on the Medicare beneficiary, telehealth services are an efficient use of limited clinical resources which helps maximize care coordination across a wide range of clinical sites.

Siegel met with Senators Collins and King, as well as Representatives Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin to ask their support for the Medicare Telehealth Parity Act. 

Siegel is a member of the Political Advocacy Contact Team (PACT), a nationwide group of respiratory therapist and patients organized by the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) and the Maine Society for Respiratory Care to spearhead grassroots level advocacy efforts.

Pen Bay Healthcare is a not-for-profit family of services which includes Pen Bay Medical Center, a Leapfrog Group 2014 National Top Rural Hospital and the largest community hospital in Midcoast Maine, as well as Pen Bay Physicians & Associates, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice, Quarry Hill Retirement Community and the Knox Center for Long Term Care. Through these organizations, and with a staff of more than 100 outstanding physicians and more than 1,500 healthcare professionals, we are able to provide the people of Midcoast Maine with a continuum of both routine and specialty patient-centered medical services. Pen Bay Healthcare is a member of the MaineHealth system. For more information, visit penbayhealthcare.org.