I had a struggle with something similar a few years ago. A vendor selling equipment that had not been approved for our program was making cold calls door-to -door, putting equipment into people's homes and giving them my number at work to call to get 'the government' to pay for it. The sales people were 'just following orders' and really had no idea they were doing anything wrong. The kicker here is that we do the ordering under Alberta's program and often have suppliers install equipment or provide wheelchairs on trial as part of the evaluation. Prior approval of both need and equipment is not the easiest process to explain when 'the nice man said I really needed it' and 'He said I should phone you to arrange it all'. You need the backing of AOTA, your local (state or provincial) association or, if it is part of your work situation, union to deal with this. You are potentially vulnerable to a lot of pressure not least of all from clients who are vulnerable as well and whose needs you want to serve. On the other hand you don't want to lose your licence and you need to know if that is a possibility. At least in this jurisdiction the client is personally responsible to pay for any equipment supplied by a vendor prior to evaluation by a therapist. Joan
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mary Alice Cafiero Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 12:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [OTlist] ethical wheelchair question As an OT who does wheelchairs as a primary part of my practice, this whole scenario just makes me cringe! The DME company has set you up to be such the bad guy! No, it is not ethical! Also, who knows if the wheelchair the client has is the appropriate one for them to have?? Why is the DME company even having a therapist do an eval now? Rules didn't change until very recently. Unless they have not billed until recently, and are trying to cover themselves, there should not be a reason to have a therapist eval. (Of course I think every client getting a chair should have a therapist eval. I'm just saying it was not a requirement until recently. And still technically isn't in a lot of ways!) I would stay a long way from this as a therapist. I would also seriously consider letting Medicare know about this situation. Mary Alice On Feb 5, 2007, at 10:37 AM, Jenny Daup wrote: > Here is an ethical question for all of you. > > -DME company dispenses a number of wheelchairs to clients with the > promise > that medicare or insurance will pay for them. > - DME company then requests that an outpatient clinic send a > therapist to > evaluate clients for the wheelchairs that they already have and > then file > paperwork for medical necessity. > > Here is the clincher...the patients have had their wheelchairs for an > extended length of time, anywhere from 6 months to 18 months! Many > of the > clients are openly hostile to the OT because they don't see a > reason that > she is there to do a "wheelchair evaluation". They are afraid she > is going > to take their wheelchair away. > > What do you think? Is it ethical to perform the eval "after the fact"? > > > > -- > Options? > www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com > > Archive? > www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > ********************************************************************** > **************** > Enroll in Boston University's post-professional Master of Science > for OTs Online. Gain the skills and credentials to propel your career. > www.otdegree.com/otn > ********************************************************************** > **************** -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] **************************************************************************** ********** Enroll in Boston University's post-professional Master of Science for OTs Online. Gain the skills and credentials to propel your career. www.otdegree.com/otn **************************************************************************** ********** -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] ************************************************************************************** Enroll in Boston University's post-professional Master of Science for OTs Online. Gain the skills and credentials to propel your career. www.otdegree.com/otn **************************************************************************************
