free screenings

[Guest guest]

Funny, CMS has sent out an email for providers to do free screenings as a

part of the 2005 National Woman's Check up Day.....this seems to be

contradictory

to the ruling that free screenings are illegal because they are an incitement

to draw patients into one's practice.

www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/women_check-up.asp

Thanks for your help.

[Guest guest]

Funny, CMS has sent out an email for providers to do free screenings as a

part of the 2005 National Woman's Check up Day.....this seems to be

contradictory

to the ruling that free screenings are illegal because they are an incitement

to draw patients into one's practice.

www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/women_check-up.asp

Thanks for your help.

[Guest guest]

Funny, CMS has sent out an email for providers to do free screenings as a

part of the 2005 National Woman's Check up Day.....this seems to be

contradictory

to the ruling that free screenings are illegal because they are an incitement

to draw patients into one's practice.

www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/women_check-up.asp

Thanks for your help.

[Guest guest]

Two thoughts.

1) Nothing is for free in life.

2) You can not bill Medicare for " non-covered " services.

Ergo: If I " screen " or evaluate someone and determine they do not require

the skilled care of a P.T., I am not going to bill Medicare (or any insurance,

or individual) as this would be a non-covered service (see # 2 above).

If the patient would benefit from P.T., then a subsequent evaluation is

scheduled and upon completion would be billed to Medicare/other insurance (see

#

1 above). The screen is an opportunity for the patient and P.T. to dialogue

and discern needs. While over the phone is the most common form of

screening, a health fair or clinic gives people a scheduled opportunity and a

perceived (see # 1 above) value. How often does a person " walk-in " to ask

questions?

P.T. needs exposure, you should try it. It is encouraged in the month of

October by the APTA. Make every month P.T. month.

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your input on this subject. After reviewing the

guidelines and digesting your experiences and opinions, I'd like to make

some conclusions.

We do limited screenings and it is a valuable marketing tool especially

since one of our goals as a private practice is to educate the public about

what physical therapists do and why we are a valuable health care resource.

My concern was that the local hospital in question was overstepping the

rules with their screenings or clinics.

I think what we have all been pointing towards is the difference between an

opportunity to serve the public and a vehicle to inappropriately steer new

patients to your clinic.

There is a big difference between say having a balance screening, staffed by

local PT association members who have literature available about their

clinics at the screenings and the screenings offered by the local hospital

which amount to an evaluation of a patient for the express purposes of

getting them to come to that hospital's outpatient rehab departments. For

an individual practice like ours we may do a screening at a health fair or

community event but we would never do a free screening at our clinic.

I think this discussion is a reminder to all of us that we need to be

careful with what we do for marketing and stay within the ethical bounds of

practice. And while free screenings are a valuable marketing tool, there

are plenty of other effective ways to market our services and our

profession.

Tom Howell, P.T., M.P.T.

Howell Physical Therapy

Eagle, ID

ptclinic@...