President's Message: Feb 2016

2.25.2016

President’s Message February 2016

 

Greetings fellow CTAPTA members!  As I’m flying back from APTA Combined Sections Meeting in Anaheim I wanted to take a moment to inform you all of happenings both nationally and locally at the state level.  2016 marks 10 years since the changing of our practice act to allow the public to seek physical therapy services without a referral.  I moved to Connecticut in 2006 and while there are still persons who do not know that it exists, we as an association need to continue to inform the public that they have that option.  To commemorate this 10 year anniversary, we are having Physical Therapy Day at the Capitol in Hartford March 1st.  This will be a chance for us to highlight to congress the specialties within the profession and engage then about who we are and what we do.  If you’re interested in attending please contact the CTAPTA office via the website.  We have a legislative agenda this year including an opportunity to add physical therapists to the list of healthcare providers within the state who can return athletes to play after a concussion.  We will be holding a lobby day in Hartford later this year to inform our legislators about the training and expertise we can bring to the public in this area.  Did you know the ATPA has a PTaction App on apple store and google play?  From the app you can email your congressman directly as well as get updated information on federal issues.  In January, the APTA has added a state section to the APTA PT Action App where you can keep up to date on state issues as well! 

There have been many issues recently with the additional of a new utilization management company moving into Connecticut, American Specialty Health.  Patient authorizations, which are supposed to have a 48 hour turn around, have been being delayed multiple weeks, causing patients to have difficulty accessing care.  If you are a clinician who is experiencing issues with utilization management, please contact CTAPTA.  We, along with the help of the APTA are collecting data to give back to the insurance companies about these issues that we are seeing and your feedback is needed.  If you have patients who would like to help, please have them call their insurance company directly or call OIC in Hartford. 

As many of you know, the Alternative Payment Model have been pushing forward and is the process of being evaluated by the AMA in something called the RUC process.  This process will determine the relative value of the three new evaluation codes and should be completes sometime in July, with an implementation of the three eval codes for Jan 1, 2017.  It will take the effort of the entire association to reach all members and non-members.  Starting in September we will have information sent to clinicians about the definitions and wording for the codes.  In addition to the three eval codes, the Alternative Payment Model workgroup will be continuing their work on the treatment codes, with a plan for implementation of those in 2018.  Medicare is also phasing out the PQRS in 2017 for a new program called MIPS which will be implemented for physical therapists as early as 2019.  Stay tuned for more information

APTA is currently in the pilot phase of the outcomes registry.  The registry will be a way for therapists to track outcomes across all settings and track patients longitudinally through the lifespan.  This is a VERY large undertaking and is part of a bigger push to show our value to the healthcare system.  While the registry will have a cost associated with it, so do others such as FOTO, and this database will have the ability to link with any practice setting and most EMR systems, reducing burden on the therapist.  If you’d like to read more about registry or volunteer to pilot, please visit outcomesregistry.apta.org

Did you notice anything different about the website recently?  It’s been updated again with links for facebook and twitter to make it easier to find and follow.  We’ve added updated information for some of the SIGs and Committees and thanks to input for numerous PT members we’ve developed a new logo!  As you can see, it’s been a very busy start to 2016!  We are still looking for more members to take on leadership roles and get involved.  If you think you have an interest in being on our legislative/public policy committee or our advisors to the student SIG please contact CTAPTA.  We are looking forward to a great start to 2016 with the PT Day at the Capitol and continuing our momentum from 2015, but we can’t do it without your help. 

 

Michael Gans, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT

President, Connecticut Physical Therapy Association

Please keep up to date with all our events on the website, facebook, and twitter! 

 


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