Since 1997, Medicare beneficiaries have been forced to manage their therapy needs with monetary caps limiting their access to treatment including physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Most patients had to ration their use of the $2,010 throughout a full calendar year or be left worried they may not be able to afford to continue much needed intervention for diagnosis that require intensive treatment.
Recently, Congress has passed a permanent repeal of these problematic caps for therapy services, and for the first time in two decades, patients and therapists can work without the dark cloud of insurance limitations on achieving patient’s goals and improving overall quality of life.
What does this mean for our patients?
If you are a Medicare beneficiary, your therapy won’t be limited by a monetary cap and you will be allowed to continue treatment as deemed medically necessary by your therapists and MDs for a variety of conditions including strokes, surgeries, chronic illness, Parkinson’s, fractures, balance impairments, arthritis and many more. You don’t have to spend the year rationing your treatment and hoping to avoid injury or surgery because you have used your allotment earlier in that year. By using treatment to avoid injury due to repetitive stress, declining health and fall risks, patients can reduce their need for costly and dangerous surgical interventions.
What does this mean for our therapists?
It allows therapists the ability to treat patients until their individual impairments are resolved and goals have been met. For many years, PTs and other disciplines have been forced to end plans of care early because of limits set by insurance companies despite patient’s continuing to have pain, weakness, limitations in range of motion, inability to perform household chores, ambulate community distances and generally having a poor quality of life.
Dr. Nichole Chaviano is on staff at ProFysio Physical Therapy. She specializes in manual therapy, concussion management and integrative dry needling. If you or someone you know needs physical therapy, call us today. We are a participating provider with Medicare.
