Other Threats

A GREATER THREAT TO OUR PROFESSION THAN POPTS

There is widespread concern in our profession that the proliferation of POPTS is one of the greatest threats to our professional autonomy and professional longevity. One cannot pick up a professional journal without editorials or references to this perceived crisis. This is an emotional issue, especially to those private practice practitioners who have experienced a decline in referrals because a local physician group has made a decision to bring physical therapy services in-house.

The EPTA strongly believes that a far greater threat to our profession than POPTS is the alienation of physicians, both as a restriction of their scope of services (preventing physician groups from providing physical therapy), and by trying to eliminate the referral process through national direct access campaigns. Physicians are viscerally upset that the very discipline they helped to create and have supported since its inception is now attempting to alienate and isolate them from that profession. Quite frankly, they believe physical therapists are biting the hand that fed them and continues to feed them to this day.

The irony of this approach to restrict physician involvement in physical therapy is that physicians will continue to provide those very services in their offices without employing physical therapists. They will replace physical therapists with athletic trainers, exercise physiologists, P.E. majors, and on-the-job trainees. Physical therapists will be unemployed, and more importantly, their patients will receive a far less standard of care than that rendered by physical therapists.

Is it legal for the physicians to do this?? Absolutely, yes. They can provide their CPT treatment procedures in their office under the “physical medicine and rehab” 97000 codes. They can call it anything but physical therapy, such as rehab, physical medicine, restoration services, sports medicine services, etc. The only codes they cannot bill for would be physical therapy eval and re-eval.

For the physicians, they would have half the expenses and essentially the same revenue, with far greater profit margins, without us. If physicians truly only cared about the dollar they would already be providing these services without physical therapists. EPTA is already aware of physician groups that will continue providing services without physical therapists if physical therapists are restricted from working in those environments.