FOTO Rehab Outcomes

The planning has begun! The FOTO Family has begun planning for the 18th annual Outcomes Conference! Save the date! This year the conference is from September 27-29th in Denver, Colorado.

The majority of my practice consists of older adults. Over the last couple of years, I have seen an increase in the number of older adults prescribed topical creams and gels for their knee osteoarthritis. I've wondered if this cream is placebo or beneficial. Have you?

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recently published its March report. Within the report, one section addressed the failing MIPS (merit-based incentive payment system). MedPAC offered a different route for determining quality which was based on group data versus individual clinician data.

As I was reviewing the American Hospital Association and AVIA Executive Report on the Digital Innovation Survey results, I can see that the collective healthcare "we" are really scrambling to improve what we do on a day to day basis.  Executives along with providers truly need data to help in making decisions and to improve care pathways. One of the biggest factors driving information technology needs is a higher amount of value based payment contracts.

As the FOTO Team has been working on Data Trends in U.S. Healthcare and Patient Rehabilitation, it is quite clear that a substantial amount of patients receive rehabilitative services for low back pain.  I decided to use the data in this report to help fine tune information for blog posts so that maybe what I share is more helpful to the majority of you who use FOTO.

Since I know clinicians treat a lot of patients who have low back pain, I thought this article might have clinical relevance.

It won't happen to me. That is how I've felt for many years. Yesterday I spent 3 hours working on a spreadsheet of patient outcomes that was the result of a utilization company poorly categorizing the quality of care I provide. As of yesterday, I felt the sting of poor risk adjustment.

I'm sitting on pins and needles just waiting for the recent article on what happens when outcomes are not risk adjusted to be published ahead of print in Journal of  Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy. I'm told it should be any day now.... 

Professional conferences revolve around a common interest.  Although the common interest is the reason for the gathering, so much more than the sharing of content and ideas can happen. 

 As you begin thinking about the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association, it can be overwhelming to go through all the programming. As I was preparing, I reviewed the programming for sessions focused on outcomes, value-based payment models, quality initiatives and developing a quality focused team. One of the most exciting aspects about this meeting is hearing different perspectives than myself. This conference is a great opportunity to learn from others, challenge one's beliefs and to grow.

As I share the Baker's dozen, these sessions will be in the order of their appearance.  I have taken liberties and snagged images from presentations to help provide a single snap shot of what will be discussed during the presentation. Although I did not ask for permission, I hope the speakers approve of the sharing of their session.

With more and more attention being directed toward outcomes, do we have a good working definition of functional outcomes?