To Ron and the OTList,.....the PTs are coming!...The PTs are coming.....
I'm open minded and perhaps too trusting of my beloved PT colleagues but do
people really think that the PTs are out to put all us OTs out of work and take
over the world?. Is there really a vast PT conspiracy? and is it a deliberately
hostile take-over? or is it more of an innocent trend towards broadening the
treatment options in order to be all things to all people within the healthcare
environment? If there is a true hostile strategy, there any evidence besides
these practice act issues to refer to and examine...please steer me to more
info.
One person on the OTList mentioned the PT fixation on getting Doctorate
Degrees. Most of the older PT's I know think this concept is ridiculous and a
wast of time. Someone mentioned they could go around being called "Doctor" and
therefore they would get more respect and referrals. This could be true but
most of the people taking the time and money to get a doctorate are probably
wanting to work in specialty areas like sports medicine or elite atheletics, or
outpatient orthopedics. These are not areas where PT and OT complete or the
sole and precious referral.
I don't see a lot of sole practice OT's out there on the street corners....it
is a business model that needs more product development and brand identity
growth. If there are successful practices out there (besides hands and peds)
please let me know!
Most PTs (I'm generalizing) don't want to address ADL if they can avoid
it....especially if it involves toileting, bathing, dressing...they don't like
the smell and the mess and the nudity involved. And PT's often look down their
nose at cooking shopping and household tasks as intervention areas.
With the SNF inpatients, the OT/PT/SLP triad need eachother due to the
Medicare PPS RUGS category thing in which the higher $$$ reinbursement
categories require multiple discipline providing MDS minutes. If there are
fewer disciplines, less $$$ and that wouldn't be a good way for PT to take
over the healthcare world...or will PPS go away with the PT contre coup?
At a SNF setting, there is a ramant PT shortage, its hard to find PTs that even
want to work in that setting for some of the reasons I mentioned above...some
people with a doctorate don;t want to change the diaper of a 90 year old
Alzheimer patient with a broken hip in the middle of treatment.. The Doctor
factor is interesting. Most of the PT Doctors want to open their own Outpatient
Clinic and have direct access to patients without a M.D. referral (even though
medicare and insurance companies might still require a MD order...in my
hometown of Bradenton Florida there is a OP PT clinic on practically every
corner..they keep opening and closing and the atmosphere is completive.
You see a lot more PT's in homehealth which is where I see the fighting between
OT and PT being heated...because home health is more appropriate for the OT
skill set that PT. And as most people know you need an PT to open a HH case for
an OT or SLP to get involved. Who made that rule? This is a specific issue that
is worthy of our anxst, energy and advocacy.
In pediatrics, I'm not sure, but another where there's not a lot of competiion
for clients and a more mutual benefit from collaboration.. correct me if I'm
wrong. A lot of OTs own peds private practice and they are awesome...
So I may be naive but I see minimal opportunities for PTs render us OT
eliminated from the healthcare world...But we should stay focused getting
better at doing and defining what we do and giving the consuming public
evidence of our value and skill set.
Submitted with a certain bite of humor and satire but respectfully (no offense
intended)
Food for thought my friends,
Brent Cheyne OTR/L
Sorry to be so longwinded!
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