by Marius Ged, on Aug 15, 2022 3:15:06 PM
Keep up with the latest physical therapy news and insights from the industry’s trusted legal partner, Ged Lawyers. Here is an overview of what happened in the physical therapy field this month.
What’s New in FL Physical Therapy
1) GRAND OPENINGS: Coastal Orthopedics Moves to Two New Buildings
In an event held on May 24th at their East Manatee facility, Coastal Orthopedics celebrated opening their two new facilities in Florida. The first facility is an 88,000-square-foot facility in East Manatee at 8000 State Road 64. It opened its doors on May 23rd. This facility serves as Costal Orthopedics’ new headquarters.
The second is a 34,000-square-foot facility in West Bradenton, north of Blake Hospital at 17th Ave. W. This facility opened its doors on May 16th as a replacement for another West Bradenton facility. It houses the following spaces:
- Physician’s office
- Fluoroscopy suites
- A physical therapy gymnasium
- MRI suite
The facility offers comprehensive orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, spine care, pain management, and physical therapy services.
In addition to the new Costa Orthopedics facilities, Melissa Nell, a Registered Herbalist by the American Herbalist Guild, has opened a herbal apothecary with over 100 healing plants in Sarasota at 1940 Northgate Blvd., Suite B-2. The apothecary, Cypress Pillar Healing Arts, is open from 5 pm to 8:30 pm on Tuesday through Friday.
Nell, who earned her accreditation through 800 hours of education and 400 hours of clinical work, is also available to see clients and equip them with wellness plans and complete herbal-based nutrition to support their health.
Learn more about these developments here.
Industry Updates
1) APTA Helps Shape Bill Supporting Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy in Medicaid
A new bill supported by The American Physical Therapy Association in the U.S. House of Representatives could majorly boost the importance of postpartum pelvic health and the role of pelvic health physical therapy.
The bill, H.R. 8181, was described by taskforce chair Gail Zitterkopf, PT, DPT, as “an excellent opportunity to educate and advocate for all patients through their pregnancy and recovery journey, and a way to help communities and health providers better understand the role of pelvic health physical therapy.”
The bill pushes physical therapy to be part of the pelvic floor services covered under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Additionally, the bill advocates for the following:
- The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to develop and issue guidance on best medical practices, financing options, and diagnostic codes, among others
- The HHS to educate and train health professionals and postpartum women on the benefits of pelvic health and pelvic health physical therapy.
2) Psychological Resilience Linked to Improved Walking after Hip Fracture
A group of researchers spearheaded by Germine Soliman, M.D. from Waterbury’s St. Mary’s hospital in Connecticut recently published a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that provides revolutionary insights on the relationship between psychological resilience and improved walking after hip fracture.
The study found that higher psychological resilience levels often correspond to greater walking speed and distance in older adults weeks after a hip fracture.
Following these findings, Dr. Soliman and colleagues suggest that facilities should assess and develop psychological resilience in community-dwelling older adults before starting hip-fracture rehabilitation.
You can read more about these findings here.
Growing Your Practice
1) 5 Reasons Why You Should Embrace Social Media Marketing in Physical Therapy
Social media marketing and digital marketing, in general, are changing how businesses go about marketing. This is true for physical therapy clinics too.
This article stated that physical therapy clinics in Florida incur huge losses from delaying integrating social media marketing into their current strategy. It provides reasons why every physical therapy clinic should embrace social media marketing.
The reasons include:
1. Promoting Your Brand
With most of your prospective clients spending most of their time on social media, having a social media presence can give your business valuable visibility. You should start with a plan, conduct proper market research and then build your social platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
2. Enhancing Lead Generation
Your business's primary marketing strategy aims to gain as many leads as possible. Marketers globally have acclaimed the effectiveness of social media marketing in lead generation.
To get more leads from this tried and tested method, establish a solid social media presence and nurture your leads with tailored physiotherapy content.
3. Building Community Relationships
Building customer loyalty is the key to long-term business success, and building community relationships is pivotal.
Social media provides many means for physical therapists to communicate with their customers. The standards range from streaming live videos, sharing stories, using DMs, etc.
4. Running Multi-channel Campaigns
Different generations of shoppers use other channels, thus necessitating multi-channel marketing campaigns. You should utilize each social media platform your business is on for maximum results to host your campaigns. Through multi-channel marketing, you can boost website traffic by directing leads from different sources to one collective place – your website.
5. Nurturing Your Networks
Social media platforms allow you to come into direct contact with your prospects. You can gain valuable insights into your customers' interests by conversing with them and requesting feedback on your business’ offerings.
Why NOT Signing A POA Costs Medical Providers Time And Money
Personal injury protection claims can be a disorganized and inefficient pursuit. Ged Lawyers requests physical therapists to sign a Power of Attorney Agreement (POA). A POA assigns the legal team the mandate to communicate with insurers and act within the scope of the POA, which is usually limited to recovering unpaid and underpaid insurance claims.
Since the PIP recovery process requires access to treatment files, not signing a POA would require you to be in the middle of every communication between your legal team and the insurance companies as we request document mailing.
By signing a POA, we can handle claims from start to finish and provide your practice with extra income without you needing to spend extra staff hours and money to pursue the claims.
Tip: Hire HIPAA Compliant Experts who Protect Your Patients’ Data
GED lawyers puts data security and privacy at the forefront of our operations. We are conversant with managing protected health information (PHI) and meticulously test our IT infrastructure to ensure that that information stays private.
Get started with Ged Lawyers today by scheduling a free consultation at your convenience. You can also reach us via call at 867-4765 or toll-free at 844 - 4GEDLAW.
