Guest guest Posted October 2, 1998 Report Share Posted October 2, 1998 Steve, I do not have OT's whose salaries are out of whack with others due to salary equivalency, but we have done some things to all staff lately that are salary related and meant to control costs. First of all, all PT's and OT's went from exempt status to hourly. Period, no questions asked. Also, we instituted new productivity guidelines that essentially required more efficient work, which amounts to 12-14 scheduled visits per day in inpatient PT and OT and 10 visits per day in outpatient PT-OT. We have also reduced staff, mainly through attrition but also through layoffs, in the realm of professional staff (PT's and OT's) as well as large reductions in support staff (technicians). We have NOT cut salaries, but I have read and heard of large national chains that have done so, such as NovaCare and others. Good luck. Mark Dwyer, MHA, PT Manager of Rehabilitation Services Bethany Medical Center 51 North 12th Street Kansas City KS 66102 (Phone) (FAX) mdwyer1@... OT's managed by PT's >I am sure there are some of you all out there who have inherited or have been >moved into positions where you are the Rehab Director in departments that have >OT's. My concern is that some of the OT's were hired prior to salary >equivalency and PPS reimbursements. Now it seems that the salaries are out of >line with the revenues that the OT's are able to generate. How are you >handling it. Lowering salaries? Changing to hourly? I think I need to be >fair but to be honest I have found some OT's who salaries are no where near >appropriate where they ought to be, especially when some are in the frame of >mind that they can only work with 8 patients a day. > >Help is appeciated! > >Steve Marcum P.T. >Regional Director >American Rehabilitation Group > >______________________________________________________________________ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 5, 1998 Report Share Posted October 5, 1998 I would be concerned about the hourly status in times of low demand for services. Would that not in effect cut salaries/year if you are told not to come in because of low case load? Maybe it would balance out with overtime in times of high patient load? Who knows -- it seems scary to me. ______________________________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 5, 1998 Report Share Posted October 5, 1998 " I would be concerned about the hourly status in times of low demand for services. Would that not in effect cut salaries/year if you are told not to come in because of low case load? Maybe it would balance out with overtime in times of high patient load? Who knows -- it seems scary to me. " _________________________________________ Unfortunately (if you're an employee) that's exactly what would happen. In times of low demand, personnel costs are reduced by having the staff clock out. That is indeed one of the ways to cut annual salaries. If nursing is any indicator, the facility then lags in staffing up to meet demand increases. Managers would be expected to make a concerted effort to minimize any costs which are not instantly profitable. Probably at a 4:1 ratio of revenue to cost. But in our hearts, we understood that... Right? Dick Hillyer, PT ______________________________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 5, 1998 Report Share Posted October 5, 1998 In a message dated 10/5/98 9:29:58 AM Eastern Daylight Time, SCPT@... writes: << I would be concerned about the hourly status in times of low demand for services. Would that not in effect cut salaries/year if you are told not to come in because of low case load? Maybe it would balance out with overtime in times of high patient load? Who knows -- it seems scary to me. >> You are correct in your assuptions that it would lower the annual pay rate. It also places the manager in a position to ask a therapist to " hurry " and get the paper work done and leave, or to become a watchdog of productivity. Steve Marcum P.T. ______________________________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 6, 1998 Report Share Posted October 6, 1998 Hourly status is and will be the preferred method for wages in the future so that staffing can be matched more closely with patient care needs. I've been working with an hourly system now for 2 years and it can work, but it takes staff and managerial adjustment to the new process. Nothing is easy about it because many individuals are concerned as you are and until the system is in place for a while, it will remain so. Somewhere our educational system needs to teach FLSA details so that individuals who become hourly understand how the different overtime systems work and what is fair and not fair with regard to working hours. Maybe it needs to be in high school when everyone usually enters the work force. At 09:29 AM 10/5/98 EDT, you wrote: >I would be concerned about the hourly status in times of low demand for >services. Would that not in effect cut salaries/year if you are told not to >come in because of low case load? Maybe it would balance out with overtime in >times of high patient load? Who knows -- it seems scary to me. > >______________________________________________________________________ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 1998 Report Share Posted October 7, 1998 Steve, I am a practicing OT clinician and the rehabilitation clinical coordinator for our facility. I was directly involved in the changes that were implemented in our facility when our company decided to go into PPS in July of 1998. There was no difference at all in the changes in status across the three disciplines. The OT department in our facility had always generated more income than the PT department. There is no difference at all in the salary ranges for PTs and OTs too. I cannot understand why you stated in your message that your OTs cannot generate as much income as your PTs. The use of the CPT codes can be crossed over disciplines and reimbursement rates are the same. Are clinical programs in place for your facilities? Or are your OTs limited in their clinical experiences? Please write me back at this e-mail address for a response. Imelda ______________________________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 1998 Report Share Posted October 7, 1998 I saw your message to Steve and felt compelled to reply. The only reason my PT departments (inpatient and outpatient) make more money than OT is because their volume is higher. On a per patient basis, the charges are about the same since, like you said, may of the same CPT's are used. The big question I would ask if you are actually being reimbursed at the same rate for both disciplines (e.g., a higher denial rate for OT versus PT or vice versa, a higher discount on charges for one versus the other, etc.?). This is a question that I have not been able to answer yet at my facility. Anyone else? Mark Dwyer, MHA, PT Kansas City, Kansas mdwyer1@... Re: OT's managed by PT's >Steve, > I am a practicing OT clinician and the rehabilitation clinical coordinator >for our facility. I was directly involved in the changes that were >implemented in our facility when our company decided to go into PPS in July of >1998. There was no difference at all in the changes in status across the >three disciplines. The OT department in our facility had always generated >more income than the PT department. There is no difference at all in the >salary ranges for PTs and OTs too. I cannot understand why you stated in your >message that your OTs cannot generate as much income as your PTs. The use of >the CPT codes can be crossed over disciplines and reimbursement rates are the >same. Are clinical programs in place for your facilities? Or are your OTs >limited in their clinical experiences? Please write me back at this e-mail >address for a response. > >Imelda >______________________________________________________________________ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 1998 Report Share Posted October 7, 1998 Like others have said, hourly status is becoming the norm. " Scary " is now reality. We have instituted hourly status instead of exempt for all therapists, and it does mean that on short days they go home early. It is balance against overtime from time to time, but we keep a pretty close eye on overtime in hopes of preventing it. The overall goal of administration when we made this change from exempt to hourly was in fact to create a slight decrease in payroll costs. I can't say it has been realized when you look at it on an annualized basis, but if you look at in smaller blocks, such as monthly, then we do see fluctuations that are tied to fluctuations in volume. It does allow facilities to tie payroll costs to volume in a more direct fashion than exempt status does. Mark Dwyer, MHA, PT Kansas City, Kansas mdwyer1@... Re: OT's managed by PT's >I would be concerned about the hourly status in times of low demand for >services. Would that not in effect cut salaries/year if you are told not to >come in because of low case load? Maybe it would balance out with overtime in >times of high patient load? Who knows -- it seems scary to me. > >______________________________________________________________________ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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