Be The Match receives partial funding from Congress, and also advocates for positive changes in health care legislation.
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Appropriations campaign
The CW Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program provides funding to support the Be The Match Registry®. And the National Cord Blood Inventory provides funding to support the collection and maintenance of cord blood units used for transplant.
Each year, Congress must decide whether it will continue to fund these programs, making it necessary for Be The match to conduct social media campaigns to urge it's advocates to communicate their support to congressional representatives.
Goal: 1,400 comments submitted to Members of Congress, 5% more than 2016
Result: 3,810 comments submitted, a 193% increase over FY16
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Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems campaign
Current Medicare rates do not cover the total costs hospitals incur when providing a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. The financial losses incurred by transplant centers when treating Medicare patients threaten their ability to continue to provide these transplants.
Be The Match used social media to educate their advocates to press Congress to make changes in how Medicare reimburses these procedures.
Goal: 848 comments submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a 5% increase over FY16.
Result: 1,462 comments submitted to CMS, an 80% increase.
This resulted in a positive final Hospital Outpatient Reimbursement Rule that reversed proposed coding changes that would have meant significantly less reimbursement for transplant centers and a barrier to access for patients with Medicare.
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