Physical therapists are likely to find themselves responding to patient questions about how the Affordable Care Act will affect their health care. Are you prepared to help point them to the answers they need?

Despite the government shutdown that began October 1, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) remains unaffected. But as the ACA continues to rollout major features—most recently, the marketplace system—the public remains largely uninformed.

A September 28 tracking poll from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that as late as last month, 51% of all Americans felt that they lacked adequate information on the ACA. Most feel that current news coverage on health reform focuses more on political wrangling than on providing information, and more often than not, respondents stated that they don't know where to turn for accurate, unbiased information on the changes.

Many public uncertainties remain, according to the poll. These include worries about cost (19%), confusion about where to find an easy-to-understand, unbiased summary of the ACA (18%), a need to know how the ACA will make things better (7%%), impacts on specific groups (6%), personal/family impacts (5%), questions about insurance marketplace plans (5%), and questions about the impact on currently-held insurance (4%).

You may not need to know all the answers to these questions, but helping a patient find resources is important. The federal government has published a series of fact sheets on the ACA, and on October 1 the Kaiser Foundation released a series of consumer resources that aim to answer the most common questions.

Of course, physical therapists have plenty of questions about how ACA will affect their work. Answers can be found in APTA's "10 Things You Need to Know on October 1" guide on the Expansion of Coverage webpage.

A recently-released study cites a dramatic rise in the number of children being treated for traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in emergency rooms, but the cause for the increase may be harder to pin down. Increased public awareness of concussion symptoms and treatment, however, may be one important reason behind the rise.

The study, available in the October issue of Pediatrics, found that while visits for TBI rose by 92% between 2002 and 2011, the rate of hospitalization remained relatively unchanged—about 10%. Researchers involved in the study point to a variety of possible reasons for the rise, including wider involvement in sports activities and an increased intensity of those activities by children who are generally bigger and faster than previous generations. Researchers found that skateboarding, inline skating, skiing, and sledding were the activities with the highest admission rates.

The findings also contained some good news. Because the study also showed that injury severity actually decreased as visits increased, authors theorize that the biggest reason for the rise may be due to a better-educated public, able to recognize the potential signs of concussion and aware of the need for quick treatment.

Physical therapists can access a range of information on concussion, including the advocacy work being taken on by APTA, by visiting the APTA website.

The federal government began a shutdown today that will affect daily operations of most federal agencies. At the time of writing, congress has yet to reach an agreement on a federal budget, leaving both duration of the shutdown and the final outcome of the budget for the next fiscal year uncertain.

Payment for services provided to Medicare beneficiaries should not be impacted in the near term, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which stated that Medicare Administrative Contractors will continue to perform all functions related to Medicare fee-for-services claims processing and payment during the shutdown. Additionally any ongoing Medicare provider enrollment applications, revalidations or changes to enrollment will also continue to be processed.

Members of APTA who are employed by the federal government should check with their agencies to find out about individual impacts. The Washington Post has published a helpful interactive guide on agency responses to the shutdown.

Staff at APTA will continue to update members regarding congressional negotiations to resolve the budget impasse.

Physical therapists (PTs) can be particularly effective at helping dancers recover from injury thanks to the unique matrix of evaluation, intervention, and communication skills they bring to their approaches, according to a recent study in the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science.

The study, conducted by Megin Sabo, PT, DPT, LMT, OCS, describes the challenge of treating an injured dancer, whose rehearsal and training time is extensive, and who typically wants to return to full function as soon as possible with a minimum of missed practice. Treatment that fails to recognize these elements will tend to be less successful than approaches that are based in an understanding of the dancer's world, a willingness to incorporate modified dance techniques to encourage adherence to "relative rest," and sensitivity to the importance of communicating in ways relevant to the performer.

Sabo's qualitative study incorporated interviews from PTs who had provided care to dancers and dancers who had received rehabilitation after a dance-related injury. Dancers were asked to recount their experiences and share the positives and negatives of their rehabilitation, while the PTs were surveyed on the range of approaches used.

The results showed a high level of agreement among PTs and dancers that the most successful interventions involved in-depth reviews of technique—not just to correct potentially damaging habits but to identify ways for the dancer to incorporate periods of relative rest while minimizing missed rehearsal. Equally important, according to the study, is the PT's ability to understand dance vocabulary and to communicate with dancers in ways that demonstrate this understanding.

APTA members can find the full text of this article in Open Door—choose Open Door's OneSearch Feature, go to Advanced Search, change Keyword to Title in the first field, and type in the article title, "Physical therapy rehabilitation strategies for dancers: a qualitative study."

Some of the biggest parts of health care reform launch today. Are you ready?

Get up to speed fast with 10 Things You Need to Know for October 1, an APTA resource document that highlights some of the main issues affecting physical therapists in practice. The guide provides relevant information on how reform elements such as Health Insurance Marketplaces and Medicaid expansion may impact you.

"10 Things You Need to Know for October 1" is the first in a series of many new resources that will be posted on our Health Reform: Expansion of Coverage page. Coming soon: A feedback form that will allow you to share how health reform implementation is working in your area and the challenges you are facing in this changed landscape. Until the form is posted, please e-mail your questions and concerns to advocacy@apta.org.