November filings (ok, hashtags #):
#Governmentatwork. CMS contracts CSC for a multi year contract to put together Short Term Alternatives for Therapy Services (STATS) and develop recommendations for improving outpatient therapy payment policy in the short term. The workgroups consisted of representative professionals. Think any of the short term recommendations were accepted? Think again. MPPR wasn’t recommended or contrived by anybody in the PT world.
#Inconsistency APTA has a policy for credentialed residencies and Fellowships that they cannot train physical therapists who work in referral for profit situations. Why do they allow these same PT’s to be members of APTA then? Side note: If a hospital employs orthopedists and their buyout and compensation is based on ancillary utilization isn’t that referral for profit? Are hospital based PT’s whose institutions employ physicians forbidden from credentialed Residencies or Fellowships?
#PTunnecessaryforpoorpeople. It appears that the State of Washington thru executive order has eliminated physical therapy as a benefit for their state’s medicaid system as of 1 Jan 2011. I am a little surprised that there isn’t more outrage. On the other hand, the reimbursement is below cost for private practices that it might be a raise. From my standpoint, the precedent is bad, very bad for our industry. PT is NOT a zero sum game and the amount that Washington spends on physical therapy will not drop to savings.
#YogiBerra. “The more things change, the more they stay the same”. Physical therapy cap, moratoriums, exceptions process, extension to the exceptions process, SGR, delays.
#TSAstrategyidea. Hire internal medicine docs during peak seasons for TSA. No worries about pat downs or touching passengers.
larry@physicaltherapist.com
