Critical observations of health, science, and the physical therapy profession.
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.
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…
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.
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.
What are you doing to help? I think if you just stop and notice, it is a start.
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.
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!
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 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!
My fear of having non-fitness personnel take up the profession of Wiihab is coming closer to fruition as Nintendo has announced a Fitness package which will include a balance board. Nintendo itself is spearheading the effort into the fitness industry.
The APTA is very typically all excited about this gimmick and announced their new love affair in this week’s news:
"Look
for an upcoming article in the May issue of PT Magazine about PTs who have used the Wii as part of
patient care."
How many people in the world can do Wiihab without having to spend time getting a doctoral degree? Exactly! So should this be something physical therapists do? This is very similar to going to see a physical therapist and getting put on an exercise bike for a half hour. Yes, within our scope of practice, but not good practice. If I was a patient and hurt my shoulder only to be put on a Wii-regimen…well, I’m not coming back.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
ERIC
