This is it! The long-awaited weekend during which we can move the clocks ahead an hour has finally arrived. I always look forward to chasing away “The Big Dark” and enjoying the longer, lighter evenings. It’s a time to celebrate and feel a renewed sense of hope for the future.
Will the longer days help shed some light on the impact of impending healthcare reform on PTs and PTAs? Comprehensive insurance coverage should benefit every man, woman, and child in the U.S., allowing them unfettered access to all manner of tests and treatments. But how will this be regulated? Medicare, as an example of a government-run healthcare program, has its own set of challenges with its continually changing therapy caps and exceptions process. Right now, the cost of Medicare accounts for 20% of all healthcare spending, which is sure to rise with the aging of the population — but it’s hard to imagine that there will be unlimited access to healthcare without fixed structural caps. So where will the boundary lines for physical therapy care be drawn?
The economic stimulus plan proposes spending $20 billion on conversion of paper medical records into an electronic format, a move that is gaining mixed reviews from physicians. According to a recent Medscape article, it appears that specialists love the idea but generalists hate it: Primary care physicians maintain that the cumbersome format and need for detailed data entry is cutting into their patient care time. When will PTs have to comply with electronic medical records? Who will pay for it? How will this affect our productivity?
Apparently, President Obama’s proposed $634 billion healthcare reserve fund will be paid for in part by “flesh wounds” in the form of cuts to MDs, hospitals, insurers, and other providers — does this include ancillary services such as PT? Where might our cuts be made?
There are so many things to consider. For now, it’s enough to dream of what positive change might look like as the President assembles his task force to tackle healthcare reform. But since it looks like the Congress will be in charge of developing the details of a comprehensive healthcare reform plan designed to increase insurance coverage, improve healthcare services, and control costs, this could be a good chance for PTs and PTAs to contact their representatives and offer their thoughts.
So as we spring forward into the future, I'm going to try to be a more active participant — our very future, and that of our patients, is at stake. Maybe I’ll use some of my extra time in the evenings to formulate my congressional input.
What will you do with your time?
Anne Ahlman, MPT
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