The Prevent Interruptions in Physical Therapy Act
(H.R.5453) has been introduced. This bill would enable all private practice physical therapists to utilize
locum tenens
arrangements under Medicare. Here’s a
one-pager
on the issue.
Share your
locum tenens
stories
When you need to be away from your practice, does your clinic have enough credentialed PTs to be able to rearrange schedules so that all of your Medicare patients are able to be seen, without delay? If not, then your practice and your patients would benefit if you were able to bring in a
locum tenens
—a qualified substitute PT—to fill in for the short time you are not able to be in the clinic.
In order to support our efforts to secure cosponsors (and possible passage) of the
Prevent Interruptions in Physical Therapy Act
(H.R.5453), PPS needs anecdotes illustrating how the inability to use
locum tenens
negatively impacts patient care as well as the effect it has on PTs themselves as small business owners.
Our goal is to have at least one story from each state. Please send PPS Lobbyist Alpha Lillstrom (
alpha@lillstrom.com
) a brief (up to 200 words) example of how your practice and patient care has been impacted when you or one of your colleagues has been unable to hire a qualified substitute (
locum tenens
) to provide care when you are unavoidably absent because of illness, pregnancy, continuing education, and more. If you are located in a one of the geographic regions where PTs are allowed to use
locum tenens
, please send in an example of when you used this privilege to ensure your Medicare patients had uninterrupted access to physical therapy.
In the past, these stories have been quoted by Members of Congress during debates on the issue. Your contributions to this effort can make an important difference in PPS’s advocacy efforts. Please submit your story
by January 31st
.
BACKGROUND:
As of June 13, 2017, private practice physical therapists practicing in
designated Health Professional Shortage Areas
, medically underserved, and rural areas have been permitted to retain a substitute physical therapist when they need to be absent from their clinic. H.R.5453 would expand the policy nation-wide because, as you know, the need to use a
locum tenens
in order to prevent an interruption in care is based on how many credentialed providers a clinic has and its Medicare patient mix—not the location of that practice.
