Are you ÎripeÌ for rehab?

/Home/Professional Resources for Chiropractors/Chiropractic Practice Management

Are you ÎripeÌ for rehab?
September 2007
By Brad Feldner, DC
Chiropractic Economics

Is the time ripe to add rehabilitation to your practice? Do you foresee active-care services and procedures as part of your practice in 2008 and beyond?

Adding rehab is a great opportunity for you to offer additional services that increase the value perception to your patients, as you focus on long-term health and wellness. Fortunately, adding rehab to your practice can be quite easy, but to excel in this area, you will need to focus and plan well and apply appropriate systems.

Here are some questions to assess your readiness to enter into this area:

1. Can you recommend active-care plans to your patients with confidence and certainty?

If you can, this may be the market for you.

As you realize more patients could benefit from rehab procedures in your practice, it is time to develop and understand how you can add these services in a smooth and efficient manner. Communication and confidence are the keys.

2. Does your team understand the value of active care for themselves and the patients in your practice?

Are you willing to do an evaluation and personalize a rehab program for each of your team members to help them create individualized healthcare goals?

When your team members embrace your vision, your patients notice and appreciate the confidence and commitment everyone has in your systems. To realize the full impact a smooth rehab system can have on your practice, this must happen.

3. Can you and your team perform the rehab exercises competently?

When you lead by example with rehab exercises, people will know you are truly talking the talk and walking the walk.

Teach your patient base how to improve flexibility, range of motion, endurance, and strength as you let them realize what a true stretch or how a thorough muscle contraction should feel.

4. Do you have a system to develop written therapy treatment plans?

The importance of having a written therapy treatment plan in place cannot be understated. To excel in this area, it is important to have a system in place as you utilize many different active-care exercises to constantly adapt and build upon each patientÌs progress.

The rehab plan should show patients where they began and where they are now. It should show them how they are progressing with bilateral comparisons of range of motion, flexibility, endurance, and strength.

5. Do you have the proper equipment?

Many of the most important rehab exercises will focus upon proprioceptive training and stability exercises with zero to minimal equipment usage.

A few key exercises will involve abdominal bracing, bridging, planking, and endurance training. To get started, you can equip your rehab department with many low-tech items, such as resistance tubing, stability balls, free weights, balance trainers, and wobble and rocker boards.

As your space allows, you can enhance your rehab department with pulley systems and plate-loaded equipment.

6. Do you have enough space?

You donÌt need 300 square feet (or more) of empty space to accommodate rehab. Active-care codes for one-on-one supervised procedures may be performed easily and efficiently in an area as small as 100 square feet to 150 square feet.

7. Are you prepared to schedule time for rehab?

You will need to adjust your schedule to plan time during your patient visits to perform these additional rehab procedures.

Rehab codes are one-on-one supervised codes, which must be documented and timed accordingly. Therefore, depending upon the functional deficits that are present, the time during each rehab session can vary dramatically from patient to patient.

8. Are you staffed appropriately?

Review your state laws, insurance contracts, and CPT definitions to learn who can assist you with the rehab supervision in your practice. Depending upon your current volume of office visits and staffing, this may involve an additional hire, an associate DC, or even a licensed physical therapist.

9. Is your staff trained to code for rehab?

Learn to create your treatment goals and be very specific when defining the plans and procedures which will correspond with the appropriate code.

10. Have you assessed your market?

Review your current patient base and identify patients you feel would be good candidates for an active-care program. This will give you an idea of how many people you could be assisting with these added procedures and help you visualize what you will create.

Research which businesses, insurance companies, and other contacts could use your rehab services. Verify all insurances you are currently working with to understand the codes, expectations, documentation requirements, and if any specific forms or authorization is required.

If you are ready to develop a rehab department and take your practice to another level, there is no better time than the present to re-energize your message, practice what you preach, and provide people with the same confident recommendations and communication you would give your best friend or family member.

Challenge yourself to begin with the end in mind. Set goals and work with your team, coach, or consultant to explore and own the necessary steps as you enhance your chiropractic practice by adding or expanding your rehab department. Many of the most successful practices are doing this as we speak and you deserve to join the club.