National Physical Therapy Month Idea of the Week

Invite local television reporters to interview you at your facility about the physical therapy profession and healthy computer use. See the NPTM PR Kit in the June issue of PT Magazine for tips about working with the media and talking points. Give the reporter a copy of the brochure included in the kit, a copy of APTA's consumer magazine, For Your Health, and other appropriate APTA brochures such as "What You Need to Know About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" or "The Secret of Good Posture." Television is a visual medium, so be sure to wear NPTM clothing and hang NPTM banners. Please remember to take pictures and send descriptions and photographs of your NPTM activity to APTA public relations!

New Advanced Clinical Practice Opportunities Featured

Because the practice of physical therapy is constantly changing—and because your patients’ welfare and your livelihood depend on your knowledge and skills—it’s critical to integrate current perspectives into your clinical practice.

The new Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) Series focuses on evidence-based approaches to patient evaluation and intervention. These courses are intensive learning experiences consisting of lectures, case studies, and hands-on labs. Enrollment is limited to provide ample time for interaction with instructors. Choose from three upcoming courses that will change the way you practice physical therapy. For more information, visit www.apta.org/education/continuing_education/acpseries.

Don’t Miss the Latest Installment of “Evidence in Practice”

Does the presence of ideomotor apraxia affect the prognosis of functional recovery in a woman who has had a stroke? Be sure to turn to page 916 in the September issue of Physical Therapy for the next installment of the Journal’s innovative feature “Evidence in Practice” as Lisa Riolo, PT, PhD, NCS, uses Ovid Online to access MEDLINE to seek answers to this clinical question.

This installment and an archive of previous articles in the “Evidence in Practice” series can be found on the Journal Web site. 

Footnote: What’s New in the Literature

In the study, 40 patients were discharged directly home from an acute hospital and visited by a physical therapist an average of 4.6 times. Forty-one control subjects were discharged to a rehabilitation center for daily physical therapy services for an average of 36.2 days. Researchers concluded that 5 visits by a physical therapist in the patient's home yielded better results in ambulation ability than 1 month of conventional institution-based rehabilitation.

View an abstract of the study at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12194626&dopt=Abstract.

Site Watch

RehabTrials, www.rehabtrials.org/Trials/trial_list.shtml, reports on ongoing rehabilitation clinical trials. The site lists the study’s principal investigator, funding source, objective, design, and methods. An Advanced Search Utility allows users to search the entire RehabTrials.org site, or restrict the search to specific sections.  

RehabTrials.org is a project of the Kessler Medical Rehabilitation Research and Education Corporation, a subsidiary of the Henry H Kessler Foundation.

Site Watch provides readers with links to Web sites that may be of interest. Provision of these links does not imply endorsement by APTA.

Study Says Changing HIPAA Standards Biggest Obstacle for Providers

The largest roadblock to HIPAA compliance comes not from budget constraints or other internal circumstances but from difficulties in understanding and interpreting changing legal requirements, says a new survey conducted by Phoenix Health Systems and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

Respondents to the survey included providers (70%), payers (16%), clearinghouses (2%), and vendors (12%). Providers pointed to interpretation of requirements and training staff on rules that “may or may not change” as the most difficult obstacles to compliance. The survey also says that 7% of respondents indicated that they would meet the original October 16, 2002, deadline. Eight-four percent said that their organizations have or will apply for a 1-year extension to comply with the transactions and code sets rule.

To learn more about your obligations involving HIPAA, consider attending APTA’s 1-day Get Hip to HIPAA Seminar for PTs, PTAs, and administrators. Go to www.apta.org/products_services/online_shopping/hipaastepspt for information on APTA’s HIPAAstepsPT compliance tool. 

PTs in the News

Sue Falsone, PT, recently was featured in an article in The Sporting News about Trace Armstrong, a defensive end for the Oakland Raiders, and his ongoing rehabilitation for a torn Achilles’ tendon. "He definitely uses anything he can," says Falsone in the article. "He'll definitely go beyond conventional treatments. He's very different from a lot of other athletes."

A letter to the editor by John Fraser, PT, MS, was published in Medscape’s Family Medicine, Volume 2, Number 2. Fraser wrote to comment on the study "Manual Therapy, Physical Therapy, or Continued Care by a General Practitioner for Patients With Neck Pain. A Randomized, Controlled Trial,” which was published in the July 2002 Family Medicine Journal Scan. In his letter, Fraser describes the scope of physical therapy and criticizes the study’s limitations, saying, “I believe the authors of this study misrepresented physical therapy when limiting intervention exclusively to exercise in this study.” 

Free registration is required to view articles on Medscape.

APTA Updates Group Therapy Code Information

APTA has expanded the information on its Web site regarding use of the CPT Code 97150 [Therapeutic Procedure(s), group, (2 or more individuals)] and how it can be applied to different situations. APTA members can go to www.apta.org/reimbursement/codinghandlingdenied/code97150 for updated information on use of the code, including examples.

APTA Chief Executive Officer Frank Mallon is quoted in today’s New York Times about a transmittal issued in May by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which clarified existing regulations about use of the group code. In the article, Mallon says that "the group-billing rule had been accepted practice by the Association since Medicare first announced it in the Federal Register in 1994 and repeated the ruling in 1996." For a related story on the group code, see the Aug 30 issue of PT Bulletin Online.

To help members learn about the best possible methods to deal with changing regulations in coding and reimbursement, APTA offers Coding and Reimbursement for Outpatient Physical Therapy Services, a one-day seminar. For dates and registration information, go to www.apta.org/meetings/codingseminar.

APTA’s Campus Competition Is on the Move!

APTA’s annual student membership contest—Campus Competition—is moving from Fall 2002 to Spring 2003. From February 1 until April 15, physical therapy students will compete to recruit nonmember classmates to join APTA. Those classes (eg, class of 2003, 2004) with greater than 90% APTA membership will be entered into a drawing for one of two $500 APTA Cash grand prizes.

Students and select program directors will receive information about the contest in January 2003. For preliminary contest information, please visit www.apta.org/membership/informationstudents/campus_competition or contact Amy Szczepanski in APTA’s Marketing Services Department at 800/999-APTA, ext 8577, or amyszczepanski@apta.org.

Advisory Bulletin Provides Guidelines for Offers of Gifts

Offering patients gifts and remuneration including waiving copayments and deductibles, in order to influence provider choice, raises concerns about cost and quality of care, according to a special advisory bulletin recently issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG).

Providers may perform unnecessary services or substitute cheaper or lower quality services to offset the cost of offering gifts to patients, OIG says in the bulletin. Also, small providers often are put at a disadvantage when large providers with greater financial resources offer giveaways and favors to patients.  

The advisory also provides guidance regarding offers of remuneration to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. According to the bulletin, unless a provider’s practice of gift giving fits within the five statutory exceptions, or is the subject of a favorable advisory opinion, any gifts or free services to beneficiaries should not exceed the $10 per item and $50 annual limit.   

For ongoing information about the latest wrinkles in reimbursement rules, check out APTA’s bimonthly newsletter Reimbursement News. It offers explanations on various reimbursement policies and problems, new regulations, and complex legislation. 

Brush Up Your Skills with New APTA Home Study Courses

Two new APTA courses, Business Skills in Physical Therapy: Legal Issues and Topics in Physical Therapy: Neurology can contribute to your quest for lifelong learning and allow you to earn needed CEUs.

Legal Issues dispenses the expertise of Kathy Lewis, PT, MAPT, JD, to arm you with the basics—from licensure and torts to hiring decisions and risk management—in this first installment of APTA’s new series of practical courses on managing your business. It includes case studies, a glossary of terms, and a final exam worth .6 CEUs to those who pass the course. APTA member price is $79; nonmember price is $139. To order, go to www.apta.org/Products_services/online_catalog?&cat[1]=336&id[1]=27834.

Also, APTA and the Section on Neurology have published Topics in Physical Therapy: Neurology, an 11-lesson course that features in-depth information on patient/client management consistent with the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice. Lessons include managing patients after stroke or with traumatic brain injury, vestibular dysfunction, peripheral nerve injury, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; motor learning; and an update on Parkinson disease. Pass the final exam and receive 3.0 CEUs. APTA member price is $229; nonmember price is $399. To order, go to www.apta.org/Products_services/online_catalog?&cat[1]=336&id[1]=27652.