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Virtual Lobby Week Will Support Patient Access to Respiratory Care

Contact: Sherry Milligan
972-243-2272
milligan@aarc.org


Dallas, TX (February 19, 2012) The American Association for Respiratory Care is holding a Virtual Lobby Week beginning Feb. 27, leading up to the March 6 Lobby Day on Capitol Hill for over 100 respiratory therapists.

They will be visiting Washington, DC, from all states and asking their members of Congress to support the Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative.


This is the 13th year that AARC has sponsored the Lobby Day. They will be joined by patients from the Alpha-1 Association, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, the COPD Foundation, and the Alpha 1 Foundation.


During Virtual Lobby Week members of the AARC, consumers visiting YourLungHealth.org and anyone interested in lung health will be asked to write to their members of Congress via the AARC’s online letter-writing system, AARC Capitol Connection. Their letters will help pave the way for the in-person visits the first week of March.


“That support helps open doors for us when we’re in Washington,” said Frank Salvatore, chairman of the AARC’s government affairs committee. “They know who we are when we get there, because they’ve been flooded with letters from respiratory therapists and patients.”


The Medicare Respiratory Therapy Initiative has already been introduced in the House of Representatives as HR 941. This legislation will provide greater flexibility for a physician’s office to hire respiratory therapists who can provide specific respiratory services such as smoking cessation, asthma and COPD management, oxygen assessment and equipment selection to patients with pulmonary disease.

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About the AARC

The American Association for Respiratory Care, headquartered in Dallas, is a professional association of respiratory therapists that focuses primarily on respiratory therapy education and research. The organization’s goals are to ensure that respiratory patients receive safe and effective care from qualified professionals as well as supporting respiratory health care providers. The association continues to advocate on behalf of pulmonary patients for appropriate access to respiratory services provided by qualified professionals. Further information about the AARC and how to become a respiratory therapist are available at www.AARC.org.


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