Re: efficiency

[Guest guest]

Randy- The exact system of measuring productivity/efficiency has not been

implemented yet in our facilities. We are currently having the therapists,

even in PPS facilities, report productivity as # of mods/units treated divided

by total labor hours. To translate PPS minutes into mods/units, they translate

how many 15 minute units of actual patient care were delivered to PPS patients

and include that in the productivity report. For example, if I see 4 Med A

patients in a day, two patients are seen for 45 minutes one on one and the

other two are seen concurrently for 60 minutes, I would include 10 mods/units

in my productivity report (3 mods for each one on one patient and 4 mods for

the hour spent doing two patients concurrently). I would also record on the

report how many MDS-codeable minutes were provided. In this case it would be

210 minutes (45 to each one on one patient and 60 to each concurrent patient).

If my total time spent on Med A patients this day was 170 minutes (this

includes 150 minutes of direct treatment and a 5 minute note of each patient

with these minutes not counting on the MDS), my efficiency for Med A would be

124% (210 minutes coded to the MDS divided by the 170 labor minutes used to do

this).

You asked " Are you using techs. to help deliver the care of the patients that

are seen 2 at a time? " In some facilities we do use techs, but a therapist

can deliver concurrent services appropriately to two patients at a time. I

might set one patient up with a mat exercise program and begin gait training

another patient. While the gait patients rests, I instruct the mat patient in

new exercises. When my gait pt. has had the needed rest, I do another gait

exercise. This needs to be done in a manner that meets the patient's needs-

not all patients can be treated concurrently, but not all patients require

constant supervision to do an exercise. It is the supervising therapist's

responsibility to provide the appropriate care. I may choose to do a standing

exercise program with a resident and alternate gait training with a second

resident. In this case, I would use a tech to stand by the exercise patient

for safety.

You also asked " Also, how do you measure this if there are only 3-4 patients?

Do you send them to another facility? " I assume you mean what if there are

only 3-4 Med A patients in the facility. The scenario I described above with

productivity/efficiency reporting is how we report it for all facilities,

regardless of number of A patients. We rarely send our staff to other

facilities because they are still treating Med B patients during the rest of

their day.

Hope this helps- let me know if the numbers are not clear.

Anne Coffman, MS, PT, GCS

______________________________________________________________________