Hill Day 2026 Talking Points

Talking points to help legislators understand Respiratory Care:

You should be prepared to talk about YOU!

1. What is a Respiratory Therapist
   1. Why did you get into the field?
2. What do we do?
   1. Where do you work?
3. Why is what we do important?
4. How is your job different from a nurse or PA/doctor?
5. What education do you have that is unique to other healthcare disciplines?

Talking points about the SOAR Act:

1. What exactly is the SOAR Act? (60 sec elevator pitch)
   1. Removes Oxygen from Medicare Competitive Bidding: Creates a new payment system to replace Medicare’s Competitive Bidding Program (CBP) for oxygen, which has limited options.
      1. Expanded explanation:
         1. Ensure Access to Liquid Oxygen: The act removes supplemental oxygen from Medicare’s Competitive Bidding Program, which has historically led to a collapse in the availability of liquid oxygen. It establishes a separate payment rate specifically for liquid oxygen to ensure it remains a viable option for patients who require high-flow modalities.
   2. Ensures Equipment Access: Guarantees access to medically necessary portable oxygen, including liquid oxygen, for patients needing higher flow rates, preventing home confinement.
      1. Expanded explanation:
         1. Ensure Patient-Centric Care: This pillar changes the legal terminology from “home oxygen” to “supplemental oxygen” to ensure patients can access therapy outside their primary residence. It also establishes a Patient’s Bill of Rights to guarantee beneficiaries a choice in suppliers and clear communication about their care.
   3. Protects Respiratory Therapists: Includes reimbursement for respiratory therapists, ensuring patients receive crucial training and support.
      1. Provide Reimbursement for Respiratory Therapists: For the first time, this bill creates a statutory service element to provide adequate Medicare reimbursement for respiratory therapists. This ensures patients have access to professional expertise for education, setup, and clinical monitoring in their homes.
   4. Establishes Patient Rights: Creates an “Oxygen User’s Bill of Rights,” empowering beneficiaries with choice, clear communication, and informed consent.
   5. Standardizes Documentation: Mandates electronic templates for prescribing oxygen to reduce fraud and administrative burdens, relying on clinical inference.
      1. Expanded explanation:
         1. Standardize Documentation and Protect Against Fraud: The act requires the creation of national, standardized electronic templates for prescribing oxygen. By relying on these templates rather than fragmented medical records, the bill aims to streamline the claims process, ensure predictable reimbursement for suppliers, and strengthen protections against fraud and abuse.
2. How does this improve patient outcomes? (SOAR ACT)
   1. TO BE UPDATED
3. What does this cost, and who pays for it?
   1. TO BE UPDATED
4. Who supports this bill?
   1. Bipartisan
      1. 1 Sponsor
      2. 39 Co-Sponsors as of January 2026
   2. Where is this bill currently in House committees – Energy and Commerce; Ways and Means
      1. SOAR Act of 2025 (H.R.2902)
5. How does this affect scope of practice?”
   1. Does this expand RT scope?
      1. No. Respiratory Therapists would continue to practice under the same license. The bill focuses more on education, and who is available to provide the care, not deciding what care is to be given.
   2. Does this replace nurses or physicians?
      1. No. It actually helps to alleviate role stress by ensuring that disciplines can address patient needs within existing scopes of practices. RTs are trained and specialize in the administration and education of oxygen, ensuring patients have access to an RT to help with this will alleviate workload for other disciplines who are currently tasked with this to address other patient needs. 
   3. Does this change licensure requirements?
      1. No. This is still set at the state level.

• Be clear: this is about education, workforce sustainability, and access, not scope creep