"APTA
stands for fair and honest practice in health care and appreciates the work and
findings of a recent report produced by the US Government Accountability Office
(GAO)," says APTA President Paul
Rockar Jr, PT, DPT, MS, in a statement on the "shocking" rates
of self-referred imaging services compared with non-self-referred services.
The
report, which was released last week and reported on in News
Now, found
that self-referred magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) services increased by
approximately 84% from 2004 to 2010, whereas non-self-referred MRI services
only increased by roughly 12%. For computed tomography (CT) over the same
time period, the number of services performed by self-referrers increased by
approximately 107%, in contrast to an increase of roughly 30% by
non-self-referrers.
Also of
significance is the finding that providers who began self-referring in 2009,
known as "switchers," increased MRI and CT referrals by an average of
67% in 2010. The GAO concluded that "financial incentives for
self-referring providers were likely a major factor driving the increase in referrals."
"The
GAO report, the first of a series that will scrutinize the use of the IAOS
exception and self-referral, including in physical therapy, clearly shows that
such practices only serve to exponentially increase spending and, more
important, raise risks to beneficiaries," says Rockar.
A
consortium of physical therapy groups including Evidence In Motion, E-Rehab,
BreakThrough Physical Therapy, PT Development, the Physical Therapy Business
Alliance, Private Practice Section, Physical Therapy Provider Network, and a
host of individual physical therapists (PTs) around the country are leading
relief efforts to help PTs and physical therapy clinics devastated by Hurricane
Sandy.
The
group's relief project, HelpingPTs.org, is collecting donations,
equipment, and supplies to help colleagues quickly recover from the devastation
so they can get back to treating people affected by the storm and patients.
Donation checks also
can be sent to HelpingPTs.org, 13000 Equity Place, Suite 105, Louisville,
Kentucky 40223.