Couldn't make it to the Combined Sections Meeting (CSM)? Get a sense of being there by watching APTA's collection of short video dispatches from San Diego.

Included in the series are reports on APTA's "Beyond Vision 2020" open forum, PT-PAC's 40^th anniversary celebration, the Foundation for Physical Therapy's Log 'N Blog campaign, the "Going Beyond Borders" session on international collaboration, the Student Caucus on physician-owned physical therapy services, and more.

It's impossible to capture everything that occurs at CSM, with 4 days of educational programming and countless networking events, but this series provides a glimpse of the wide range of opportunities.

Osteoarthritis/joint disorders and back pain rank among the most common conditions for visits to health care providers, according to a new Mayo Clinic Proceedings study.

The Mayo team used the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a unique, comprehensive medical records linkage system, to track more than 140,000 Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents who visited Mayo Clinic, Olmsted Medical Center, and other Olmsted County health care providers between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2009. Researchers then systematically categorized patient diagnoses into disease groups. The top disease groups include:

• skin disorders
• osteoarthritis/joint disorders
• back problems
• cholesterol problems
• upper respiratory conditions (not including asthma)
• anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder
• chronic neurologic disorders
• high blood pressure
• headaches/migraine
• diabetes

"Surprisingly, the most prevalent nonacute conditions in our community were not chronic conditions related to aging, such as diabetes and heart disease, but rather conditions that affect both genders and all age groups," says Jennifer St Sauver, PhD, primary author of the study.

The authors say their finding of skin and back problems as major drivers of health care utilization affirms the importance of moving beyond the commonly recognized health care priorities such as diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. "Our findings highlight opportunities to improve health care and decrease costs related to common nonacute conditions as we move forward through the changing health care landscape," they write. 

The Department of Health and Human Services recently launched 2 websites to educate stakeholders and consumers about the health insurance exchanges, which now are referred to as the Health Insurance Marketplace (Marketplace).

The stakeholder website offers users a resources toolkit, talking points, an overview of consumer research, and survey results about low-income parents' experiences with their children's health insurance coverage and awareness of and attitudes toward Medicaid and CHIP programs. The consumer website offers basic information on the Marketplace, such as who is eligible, and links to websites that describe each state’s Marketplace efforts thus far. The consumer page will have more information about the states' health plans in October.

Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is effective for treating stress urinary incontinence (SUI), say authors of an article published in International Urogynecology Journal. There is no apparent add-on effect of biofeedback (BF) training in short-term follow-up, they add.

Women with SUI were randomized to PFMT with BF (BF group, n = 23) or without BF (PFMT group, n = 23) for 12 weeks. As primary outcome measures, subjective symptoms and QOL were assessed by the King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) and International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF). A voiding diary, 1-h pad test, and measurement of PFM strength were secondary outcome measures. Changes in the primary and secondary outcomes were assessed before and after 12 weeks of exercise training.

Of the 9 domains of the KHQ, the scores of 5 significantly decreased in the PFMT group; the scores of 7 significantly decreased in the BF group. All ICIQ-SF items and the total score significantly decreased in both groups after therapy. The number of incontinence episodes significantly decreased in the PFMT group, and tended to decrease in the BF group, but this was not significant. The leakage volume in the 1-h pad test tended to decrease in both groups, but was not significant. Maximum vaginal squeeze pressure significantly increased in both groups. There were no significant inter-group differences in the changes in any of the parameters assessed.

In a new APTA podcast lead investigator Gail Jensen, PT, PhD, FAPTA, and coinvestigators Jan Gwyer, PT, PhD, FAPTA, and Terry Nordstrom, PT, EdD, describe the history and background of the study Physical Therapist Education for the 21st Century (PTE-21).      

The PTE-21 research team, which also includes Laurita M. Hack, PT, DPT, MBA, PhD, FAPTA, and Elizabeth Mostrom, PT, PhD, is in the process of conducting 4 site visits aimed at uncovering and examining the crucial dimensions of excellence in physical therapist education across academic and clinical settings.

The group will issue a final report on the first phase of the study in the fall of 2013. Also in 2013, Jensen and colleagues will begin fundraising for the second phase of the study that will include an additional 6 sites. 

Phase I of the study is funded by a 2-year APTA award of $50,000. The funding is the result of a request for proposal (RFP) for "Innovation and Excellence in Academic and Clinical Education Funding" developed by APTA and announced in November 2010. The RFP was targeted at stakeholder groups throughout the profession.  

Measuring patients' vital signs, wellness coaching for cancer survivors, genetics and stroke, and lean health care are just a few of the topics covered in today's CSM Daily News. Thursday's issue also summarizes the 16th annual Pauline Cerasoli Lecture.

Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) started referring to state health insurance exchanges as "marketplaces" in an attempt to rebrand the central component of the Affordable Care Act, says an article in The Hill.  

A press release issued January 17 by HHS announced new grants to support states building health insurance "marketplaces." The agency also revamped HealthCare.gov to reflect the name change. 

Opponents of the health care law say the name change shows the administration is "failing" at getting support for the state-run programs and won't make any difference.

According to The Hill, supporters of health care reform say the name change wasn't meant to assuage political opposition to the health care law. They say that "exchange" simply isn't a very good description. States have come up with their own names for their exchanges. Massachusetts', which predates the federal health care law, is called the "Connector." California named its exchange "Cover California."