Let's see if the 'bright lights' shine favorably on physical therapy.Queen Latifah is signing on to play in a Hollywood movie about a physical therapist falling in love.Queen Latifah has played some authoritative roles: Matron "Mama" Morton in 'Chicago' and Charlene Morton in 'Bringing Down the House'.She seems likely to bring a strong voice to the role of a physical therapist helping to Visit link: Physical therapy in the Hollywood spotlight

Terminator was a warning: a warning against technology, the government, big corporations and our own proclivity to self-destruction.Terminator Salvation (#4) is due out in theaters 21 May 2009.Why is a story about human-like, murderous robots relevant to physical therapists and health information technology (HIT)?Maybe because health care is the biggest part of the US economy that has resisted Continued here: Health Information Technology: Salvation or Termination?

How do you 'justify' your physical therapy?How do you 'prove' that your patient needs physical therapy and is benefiting from your care.Many physical therapists think that the patients verbal statements "I feel better!" placed in the written chart is sufficient to justify services to Medicare patients.Many therapists use a simple outcome measure to show progress and demonstrate need.Is one simple Go here to see the original: Justify your Physical Therapy

Miss Edy still can't kneel down.She told me today in physical therapy.Miss Edy has been a physical therapy patient before for short courses of PT that have, thus far, ended with a surgical procedure.She has, at various times, received therapy for her right hip, knee, low back and neck.In that time span, she has had her right hip replaced and has had rods-and-screws implanted in her spine.Her Visit link: The Episode of Care that Cost More

I 'fired' United Health Care today.United is the lowest paying insurance company in America,  for many physical therapist private practices like mine.We kept United for many years mainly because their members are my friends, neighbors and fellow small business persons in my community.Two years ago United paid me $40 per patient per day.I was able to keep my doors open because I "cross subsidized" Read the original here: United 'fired' by physical therapist

One of the missions of this blog is to help physical therapists make better decisions diagnosing and treating your patients.Physical therapists aim to be doctor-level decision makers but what are the differences in how physicians and physical therapists decide?Are there similarities, too?What are they?This chart shows the process physicians use to decide which Evaluation and Management (E/M) code See the article here: Do you make doctor-level decisions?

Physical therapists wrestle with clinical competence the way teenage girls look at themselves in the mirror and ask..."Am I pretty enough?"Newly graduated physical therapists come armed with knowledge of tests and measures that can answer painful clinical questions and help patients get better, quicker.We have available free resources - outcomes scales like OPTIMAL, DASH and LEFS that only 48% of See original here: Compliance and competence

Outpatient physical therapists don't often deal with life and death issues.We may help patients with...back and neck painwalking difficultystiffnesssports injuriesbalance problems...to name a few.We make decisions, however, that affect patients' quality of life based on their self-reported activity limitations and their performance on standardized tests and measures.That's why I was surprised Excerpt from: 'Fancy Theory' in Physical Therapy

Bulletproof Decision Making started out as my own professional exploration of Medicare chart compliance for my private practice physical therapy clinic.(note: you can sign up for Bulletproof at the bottom of this page)I wanted to make a better compliance plan for my Medicare charts and notes.My starting assumption was that good clinical documentation is completely related to competent clinical Go here to read the rest: Is Medicare compliance related to clinical competence?