RE: Direct Access

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure if I know what you mean by 'true' direct access? In WA, there

are some but not many 3rd party payors who will pay for treatment without a

referral. There are others who will pay for an eval but no Rx. I can only

speak from a P.P. point of view, but the biggest benefit has come from the L

& I end. We have been successful in marketing to large companies, who run

their own L & I program insurance, for direct access to their injured

employees. Briefly, the injured employee is given the option of seeing an

M.D. first or they can come straight to our office. If they choose to see

us first, they always have the option to see an M.D. later. Sometimes we

refer them to an M.D. after the initial eval if there are things that need

further medical clearance (radiology, labs, etc...) before attempting a plan

of treatment. We typically average 30-40+ referrals a month from this area

though I remember it as high as 90 one month. For these companies, we also

do quite a bit of inservicing and ergonomics consulting. Since our direct

access was limited by the few payors who would reimburse our services

without referral, we found a niche that would serve the purpose of direct

access. It's been a great thing for us and the companies are very happy as

well with overall cost savings and positive feedback from those who were

injured and received our services.

Dean Myers, MS, PT

DeanM@...

Direct Access

For those in true direct access states, how has this benefited your

practice? What about hospital based vs private practice. Equal benefit?

Do 3rd party payors recognize your treatment without a referral as a covered

benefit?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Todd Cepica, P.T.

Assistant Director

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

University Medical Center

Lubbock, Tx 79417

Ph: Fax:

ntc@...

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