Capitol Hill Day
Today, hundreds of physical therapists, members of the APTA’s Othopaedic section, and members of AAOMPT, are spending the day on Capitol Hill meeting with as many legislators as we can.
In today’s rapidly changing healthcare arena, the timing of this event couldn’t be better. Providing input from the physical therapist’s perspective is important as so many decisions are about to be made. The day has started out well, with some excellent breakfast at the Russell Senate Office Building. Present were the leadership of representative organizations. Left to right: Jay Irrgang (APTA-Orthopaedic section) Scott Ward (APTA) and Bob Rowe (AAOMPT).
I'm back and so here's a link
General apologies and regrets for the long delay between posts. One of the things I was up to was presenting at the annual APTA Conference in Baltimore with Tim Noteboom. I thought it might be nice to direct all those folks who I coerced into subscribing to my blog by way of a how-to demo to the slides from the presentation.
Here they are posted on my Physiopedia Page.
APTA Programming Satisfies Members
I've already talked about my experiences at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) on my other page, so I won't re-hash that, but I thought it pertinent to recap just how awesome the programming was. CSM is the premier confernce of the year for the profession, and there is just a ton of programming available. You could learn about almost anything you could think of…
Physical Therapists Move Forward
By far, the most exciting event at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting in Las Vegas was the launch of a new brand for the profession. The brand itself is pretty slick, but the exciting part lies simply in the fact that this is the first time in the history of the profession that such a monumental effort to define physical therapy has been undertaken.
World Cancer Day: My Two Perspectives
Today, February 4, 2009 is World Cancer Day. Head over to the website for the Internation Union Againt Cancer to view a striking video and to find out more about their campaign to help promote a healthy, active lifestyle. It seems I've never stopped to take note of World Cancer Day before, but this year it seems more than appropriate.
- Livestrong Blog – This site is awesome, by the way. Check out their new campaigns and aggressive social media strategy.
- Seattle Cancer Alliance – Who Can Benefit From Physical Therapy?
- Breast Cancer Physical Therapy Center – Linda Miller, PT
- APTA – Physical Therapists provide early diagnosis of breast cancer
- Oncology Section Public Resources – Good list of web resources on this page.
What are you doing to help? I think if you just stop and notice, it is a start.
Does the APTA get Web 2.0?
Insurance Report Cards
Recently the American Medical Association (AMA) issued a report card on the nation’s health insurance providers. The report indicated that 14% of physicians’ total revenue was spent to collect their claims. Not paying at the contracted rate was a big problem, with United Healthcare leading the way.
"Physicians are spending 14 percent of their total revenue to simply
obtain what they’ve earned," said Dr. William Dolan, an AMA board
member.
I wonder if physical therapists created the same report, would that 14% number be much higher simply because they "earn" much less than physicians. If it takes 2 office staff to submit and collect claims, and they are paid similarly in physical therapist and physician offices, and the PT bills $100 per patient, but the physician bills $200 per patient…well?
If that case is true, then physical therapists should be under more pressure to upgrade to more efficient record and claims systems, in addition to the everlasting battle to gain more leverage in negotiations with insurance providers.
I would love to see the APTA report card on insurance! Perhaps, in conjunction with next year’s AMA report.
Where Did the APTA Go?
The entire APTA website has been down for more than 30 minutes! Yikes. How do I know what The Bottom Line is if I can’t log in?
Here’s a call to have login at the PT Journal live at the PT Journal website. I hate the 5 step process requried to log in to the PT Journal site. And why does the APTA not automatically direct me back to my intended content at PTJ? It makes me tell it again where I was headed with the "Click here to continue" or "Click to go the the home page" option. Obviously the website knows what I wanted, just give it to me!
Marketing The Profession?
If any readers of this blog do not read the Evidence in Motion blog, go read this post for some thoughts on how to, and how not to market the profession.
My two-cents can be illustrated in two additional links.
The first, at BEAPT.ORG, is the video embedded below.
Obviously, this is an APTA marketing video designed to attract people into the profession. While I admit I skimmed through some of it (10 min was just a bit too long), I was careful to look for anything that remotely resembled a PT treating low back pain. I did find it at about the 5th minute for 10 seconds or so, without being specifically mentioned. I don’t know why I thought it would be. We never treat low back pain, and most physical therapists are not employed in outpatient orthopaedic settings, right?
The second example is a little more on target. It is an opinion letter written by APTA President, Scott Ward on the USA Today website. In the piece he mentions high-value issues for our profession and, in plain language, promotes the physical therapists. This is good grass-roots marketing, though perhaps one without great reach.
ERIC
Stanley Swims, Floats Research
Stanley Paris, swimmer extraordinaire, is undertaking an attempt to become the oldest person ever to swim the English Channel at the tender age of 70. Details of the swim and his training can be found on his blog, Paris on La Manche. You’ve just got to love the swimming cap!
Dr. Paris is swimming in support of the Foundation for Physical Therapy, and so by donating some $$ you can help further research efforts for the profession. [Link via APTA]
Paris, the founder of the University of St. Augustine, one of the founding members of AAOMPT, expert functional anatomist and physical therapist can hopefully add this new feat to his long list of interesting and notable accomplishments.
Good Luck, Stanley Paris!
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