Submitting Comments to CMS on the proposed payment of navigation services –Deadline for comments is September 11, 2023. You probably received the email from AONN+, or you have seen the announcement on the Facebook page about the proposal by CMS for payment of navigation services. It is very important that we comment on this proposal. The AONN+ Policy & Advocacy committee has been hard at work reviewing all 936 pages of the proposed rule. We have several topics that we are going to focus on, and we will put these into the discussion board. Yes, we want to hear your comments, but CMS must also get these comments. Please do not feel that you must write a long letter in order to comment. CMS needs to hear your navigation stories and thoughts on how this proposed rule would affect
your practice and
your patients. That may require just a sentence or two, and that is fine. Here is a brief how-to for submitting comments. The easiest way to submit a comment is online, so follow this link to get to the proposed rule[url]
www.regulations.gov/document/CMS-2023-0121-1282
[/url]When you arrive at this page, You can see the button to click for comments in the lower-left corner of the header. (If you want to see other people’s comments, you can click to view related comments. See what other people are saying about the rule.)Once you click the comment button - it will take you to the form you can fill out with your comments. There are only 3 required fields:
- Your comment (you are allowed up to 5000 characters)
- Who you are (individual, organization, anonymous)
- That ‘I’m not a robot’ reCAPTCHA.
The rest of the fields are not required, and you don’t need to complete them unless you want to:
- Comment Category (this appears to be a list of where they may receive comments from)
- Attach Files (If your comment exceeds 5000 characters, you can upload it as a document.)
- Email Address (This is for confirmation of the comment submission)
Some tips for commenting:● Make sure you understand what you are commenting on. AONN+ Policy and Advocacy committee pulled out a few major themes that we think are important to navigation. Please read these sections so you understand. ● Make sure you identify the section that you are commenting on. AONN+ P&A will provide the section numbers so that you can do this. ● If you disagree with something, please suggest an alternative with reasoning as to why your suggestion may work better. Please make sure that your comments are constructive.● If you comment on an area where you have relevant personal or professional experience, please share your experience. However, your comment should NOT include any personally identifiable information, such as your name, email, or phone number.Again, please comment on this rule before September 11, 2023. Your comment is not a vote, but it is important that CMS understand how we navigate and how this rule may affect us, as navigators, and our patients, either positively or negatively. If you find submitting your comment technically challenging, please contact someone from the AONN+ Policy and Advocacy Committee, we are glad to help you through this process.Stay tuned for some focused posts on parts of the proposal we find of special interest.
When commenting, please also reference file code CMS-1784-P
AONN+ Policy & Advocacy Committee
