A complete therapy team– including Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy– is vital to the success of your therapy program as well as the success of your reimbursement under Part A, Part B, and Medicaid.
With regards to quality patient care, providing all disciplines of therapy provides a more thorough assessment and intervention program for your patients. From fall prevention to pain management, dysphagia monitoring to ADL’s, each discipline of therapy provides a unique set of offerings to benefit patients.
Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapists should not only be present in your facility daily, but should be available to your staff and patient families for in-services and training to ensure individualized patient care. Timely screens should be conducted by all disciplines prior to Case Mix assessments to determine if there have been changes in function that would warrant therapy, thus increasing CMI regardless of payor source.
Part A reimbursement is greatly impacted by availability of therapists as treatment minutes provided over the 7 day window are most easily maximized when all warranted disciplines are involved. Absence of one or more discipline can leave patient needs unaddressed and Part A money on the table.
Part B revenue can best be increased by having a full team actively participating to improve early identification of patient issues and reduce risk of falls, wounds, contractures, aspiration pneumonia, and the like.
Therapists who sporadically fly in and out of facilities are not able to detect mild changes in patient function in order to proactively address patient needs — often costing facilities revenue due to recurrent hospitalization, need for equipment, increased dependence on staff and the potential of other illness related to regression.
Knowledgeable, available, and involved therapists are critical to maximizing your Part A RUG rate reimbursement and Part B revenue and Case Mix Indices. Therapy Center provides geriatric-focused therapists of all disciplines to its partner facilities ALL day, EVERY business day. Does your therapy provider?
For more information on Therapy Center’s programs, contact us today!
Kristi Fredieu
kfredieu@therapyctr.cbm.codes
337-384-9791
