RE: Wellness/cardio programs.

August 18, 2010

Jill,

We are a direct access state and able to see patients without physician

referral. Several years ago, we developed a program in conjunction with the

hospital wellness center we worked out of. It consisted of people with health

issues that wanted to begin a fitness program or in continuation following

cardiac or pulmonary rehab programs not associated with our department. We

could either: 1) continue on a PT program by requesting a PT referral and billed

under PT for several treatments (insurance based) then transition to a fitness

program (cash based) if the patient would benefit from therapy first, or 2)

assess the " client " and help set them up a program over several treatments for a

fee, than pay wellness staff " takes over " and charges a fee. The wellness staff

has to be trained in transfers, and it worked well that the wellness staff

worked in the same facility so they could ask questions of the therapist as

necessary. I no longer work at this facility, but it continues on 10 years

later. My opinion is that people are more willing to pay cash for health

services like wellness than ever before. I am from a rural area, and we usually

see patients/clients more resistive to paying cash for services in the past.

This seems to have changed and this is more true now than ever.

Best wishes to your program,

Matt Dvorak, PT

Yankton, SD

________________________________

From: PTManager on behalf of Jill Piazza

Sent: Tue 8/17/2010 8:47 PM

Subject: Wellness/cardio programs.

Hi list,

We are trying to think outside the box on some different ways of expanding our

cardiac rehab/wellness services to look more at true chronic disease management

and wellness. I have some questions for you all:

1. Have any of you successfully implemented any such programs?

2. If so, what are they?

3. Are they insurance or cash-based?

4. What are your biggest challenges/successes in terms of growth?

We are considering a CHF program and/or a monitored weight loss program. Have

any of you successfully implemented a program such as this?

Thank you!

Jill Piazza, PT, DPT

Director of Rehab

Florida Hospital DeLand

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