OASIS Alert

Published on Sun Dec 05, 2004 PDF

Therapy can bring you more than extra dollars.

If your patients or physicians resist occupational therapy because the patient does not need an occupation, it's time to help them move into the modern world.
 
Unless you break away from the "hip, knee and stroke" model of therapy, you are undermining your patients' success and your agency's, suggested Cindy Krafft, director of rehabilitation for Peoria, IL-based OSF Home Care.
 
"There really is no such a thing as a 'therapy patient'" - instead, many patients with many diagnoses need therapy services for a wide variety of reasons, Krafft told listeners in a Nov. 17 Eli Research teleconference, "Effective Management of Therapy Services in Home Health."
 
A diagnosis may be a clue to therapy needs, but therapy referrals shouldn't be diagnosis-driven, Krafft says. Clinicians should primarily look at "the functional impact of the diagnosis," she advises.
 
Once you begin looking at therapy as a way to enhance the quality of your care, you will be able to look beyond concerns about the 10 therapy visit threshold and focus on how therapy can help, Krafft counsels. Depending on your therapists' skills, therapy can participate in almost any outcome you are addressing, she adds.
 
Agencies that understand how therapy services can affect patient outcomes will find many situations where a therapy referral will benefit both the patient and the agency, Kraft instructs.
 
Physical therapy can: