If ever there was a case besides Virginia Mason’s example in savings in healthcare, it is this one from the guru’s themselves-Mayo Clinic.
Patient’s don’t go to traditional primary care because it is inconvenient, located poorly, long wait times, etc. etc. Set up convenient centers in strategically located areas and Voila! This customer service expectation is carried out in most PT practices.
Now, if only Mayo staffed these convenience centers with PT’s for direct access of musculoskeletal concerns and left the mid-level practitioners to do what they can do well they would really have the ultimate solution.
It is interesting that enlightened systems and companies are finding out the best solutions are those that allow practitioners to act within the scope of their own license and standards of care. Sure wish the PT beaurocrats and CMS, out of some misguided sense of paternalism, would learn the same thing instead of imposing “protective” rules and regulations that are clearly out of synch with licensure and economics of health care.
