RE: Referral for Profit is a Medical Kickback Scheme: StopPOPTS.org

[Guest guest]

Armin --

Interesting allegory, Armin. The time has come for concerned therapists to

read " The Road to Serfdom " by Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek.

No one -- no profession -- can really count on the docs (or anyone else) to

make decisions in their interest. Eventually, they become enslaved, either

directly or indirectly. In that case, we'd be better off making the

decisions which affect our own profession (or our own family). We have to

stand upon our own two feet.

We as therapists should understand better than ANYone else why being

dependent in any way is less desirable and more handicapping than being

independent, both at the physical and the philosophical levels.

Once independence is lost, is is exteremely difficult to regain, but it IS

possible!

Dr. Dick Hillyer

Cape Coral, Paradise

_____

From: PTManager [mailto:PTManager ] On Behalf

Of Armin Loges

Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 2:29 PM

To: Name missing - PTManager@yahoogroups_com

Subject: Re: Referral for Profit is a Medical Kickback Scheme:

StopPOPTS.org

There was once, long long time ago a people that lived happy forever after.

Their entire village sat in a mountain of gold.

These people were nice and looked up to help everybody.

However, they never noticed the mountain of gold they sat on.

All they new was the air was clean and fresh, the breeze smelled like

flowers, the water that ran trough the village was clear like crystal and

everything they planted flourished in abundance.

They were not shy about sharing or telling the world how anyone was welcome

to stop by for as long as they care to stick around:

- " sure! drink some of our fresh water! it will refresh you! " they would

say...

- " by all means, take some of our crops, it will help the hungry " ...

But the riches of their land certainly did not go unnoticed for long.

Although the simple villagers felt blessed for the praise of their land and

the fruit of their labors would be given time and again, outsiders soon

realized this simple folk had no idea they sat in this rich mountain of

gold...

First, a few outsiders arrived with a couple of shovels. They excused

themselves to some of the dirt under the village and took the a lot of gold.

Not long after that more came, with heavier machinery.

The villagers not quite understanding, never tried to stop anybody, as

nature had always provided them with everything they needed and nothing ever

was in shortage.

A few years later, the gold was nearly gone...the creek was no longer clean

and clean water was in shortage; the harvest was poor and the air polluted.

A few voices shouted from the village that their lair had been

invaded....that we needed to protect what was hours or there would be no

mountain or gold left for the next generation of villagers...that their

paradise would be gone!...some of the villagers themselves made the case

that these invaders were here to stay. They not only welcome them, but they

showed the the routes to the left over gold...they claimed we could not run

the invaders away, therefore we needed to join them , even if as slaves...

Like any traitor, they were getting paid off to turn their brothers into

slaves, so they could get some of the gold themselves....

....

For the last few decades, PTs have sat in this very lucrative industry, like

innocent uninformed simple folk villagers, we allowed any and everybody to

take turns at our mountain, unaware of our own riches and the riches of our

folk...

First were the hospitals...

Then came the " Corporate " PT industry...

The orthopedic surgeons were an obvious close following as they learned

quickly from the previous two how to make riches off physical therapists...

All along we are being fed the high demand for physical therapy jobs, all

the way from our government statistics, to our PT schools, to the ones that

" represent us " ...

Not long after the chiros too saw the gold mine and they too started taking

a piece of the mountain.

Many PTs are happy to work for the physician...after all, gold will not be

there forever, one might as well capitalize on the times...right?

Some may even corporatize the very POPT practice from the inside of physical

therapy, after all " POPTS are here to stay " ...right?

The family practice and the internal medicine, the podiatrist...none of them

would like to miss the action, so they too started to take a slice of the

pie.

Not long go and the EPA claims that all this mining is causing

pollution....that the gold is of lesser carat and quality and there come the

fines against the villagers...and their own product is downgraded...

Physical Therapy utilization is on the rise. Fraud and abuse by " physical

therapy " (not by physical therapists) is on the raise as well.

Ultimately we are the ones blamed for and certainly the ones that will be

left with the consequences.

What was once a prized landscape, is now becoming a useless unprofitable

wasteland...little by little.

The villagers, many times tried to call for help to the next villages...but

the neighbors would ague they don't see the bad... they don't see the

danger...

Now, when this gold mountain is gone and the pestilence is all there is

left, these villagers will have to leave...they will migrate to the next

village, to live with their neighbors.

REMEMBER:

Physical Therapy is not medicine [chiropractic, podiatry, orthopedics, etc

etc etc].

Medicine [chiropractic, podiatry, orthopedics, etc etc etc] is not physical

therapy.

If we don't gather together - folks from every village - we will all be left

with a used up waste land, foraging for scraps, just to see the invaders

move on to the next best deal with their pockets full from the riches of our

own profession...

There is no time like today to start a cultural revolution.

Respectfully;

Armin Loges, PT

Tampa, FL

They were motivate

From: JHall49629@... <mailto:JHall49629%40aol.com>

Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 4:04 PM

To: PTManager <mailto:PTManager%40yahoogroups.com>

Subject: Re: Referral for Profit is a Medical Kickback Scheme:

StopPOPTS.org

All

About a decade ago I had a client in lin, PA that ran up against this

issue. He was competing against POPTS and Hospital Owned therapy clinics

(not to mention poor reimbursement rates by the state in general). This

particular client was able to fight back through local cable TV ads that

didn't cost him a lot of money to produce. In this particular case, his town

had about 10,000 people in it (if my memory is holding) and about 50,000

people in the county. The message in his cable TV ad was that if you need

physical therapy, then you have a choice to make. He didn't put down the

competition, he just pointed out that even though the physician could

recommend PT, it was up to the consumer to choose where they wanted to go to

receive it. These ads went out over a wide variety of cable TV stations and

at all hours of the day. I believe the production of the commercial cost him

less than $1,000 and the monthly cost of running these ads was under $500

per month.

A couple of points to make-the commercial spoke to the consumer. The

therapist in this instance didn't have to try and secure time with a doctor

and " market " for their referral. Another plus is that these commercials

reached not only patients, but doctors, their receptionists and many other

physician support personnel..., so the therapist did not have to fight to

get an appointment. The biggest news is that this client's case load doubled

to tripled on most days. The therapist could not account for anything they

did to create the increased case load other than these commercials. An

interesting side note is that people that are sick or in pain while quite

often stay up at nights cable surfing. So his ads were meeting an audience

that was interested and motivated to change their physical well being.

Most consumers do not know what physical therapy is. The ones that do are

the ones that have had to use it. And their experiences are varied based

upon what type of physical therapy they receive. If they received massage

every time they went in for treatment, then PT is nothing more than massage

therapy (i.e., their perception is their reality). I believe that many

people reading this will might become angry with this message. But truly, if

you want people to know, then you need to raise your voice in your

community. You can speak to organized groups. You can fight to speak with

the doctors in your town. You can take charge of the radio and TV airwaves

and produce a commercial. I do know that this therapist in lin, PA had

video of his clinic, staff, workout areas and facilities. I also expect that

people who had been to see him pointed his commercials out to their friends

and neighbors. He was tired of letting Physicians dictate his case load, so

he abandoned the usual forums and instead went to the air (waves).

I hope this post helps,

Jim <///><

Referral for Profit is a Medical Kickback Scheme:

StopPOPTS.org

Referral for Profit is a Medical Kickback Scheme!!

There is no other issue that is more important for our Profession

Visit www.STOPPOPTS.org today

Donate to support our colleagues in California fight the good fight!

Kovacek, PT, DPT, MSA

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