Analysis of occupational therapy leadership statements on student debt and the doctoral mandate
The occupational therapy profession is joining thecredential inflation bandwagon through the mandate of its membership organization AOTA and its educational accrediting subgroup ACOTE.  Proposals are in place toadvance the entry level for occupational therapists to the doctoral level.  A companion proposal to advance the entry level for occupational therapy assistants to the baccalaureate level has been made but isin temporary abeyance.It is important to analyze the statements of the leaders and future leaders of these groups in order to understand their positions on these topics.  Additionally, it is import...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - February 24, 2018 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education Source Type: blogs

Selective use of statistics to support a flawed advocacy position on Medicare therapy cap repeal
This is a recurring theme - what should occupational therapists focus on when they are making decisions about services?  Should they focus on the people that need services, or should they focus on the amount of money being spent?These ethical choices have been discussed in this blog before.This question also applies to the latest situation with the repeal of the Medicare therapy cap and the resultant payment differential that has been applied to OTAs.When attempting to develop an advocacy position - should the occupational therapy profession measure impact in terms of lives affected or in dollars spent?  Here is ...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - February 23, 2018 Category: Occupational Health Tags: health insurance OT practice Source Type: blogs

When your honey-do list involves analysis of Medicare expenditures
The title explains my role in all this fully.A rather complex report was commissioned by AOTA that involved data related to the distribution of fee for service therapy spending in the Medicare program, as well as how different cap thresholds would impact the system.  The report also breaks out information about where spending is happening based on place of service.Now the reason why I was given this task is because if you read the report, and my first paragraph, your eyes might already be glazed over.  My purpose will be to put all of this in very plain language.Here are the three primary takeaways from this repo...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - February 13, 2018 Category: Occupational Health Tags: health insurance OT practice Source Type: blogs

The curious incident of the changing dates and content of web pages.
I was a little surprised to see a message from AOTA today that statesAfter the late-night release of the bill, the following day, Tuesday February 6, while the Senate was still creating its version of the budget package, AOTA reached out to our Congressional champions to oppose these provisions, and, alongside the American Physical Therapy Association, proposed alternatives to the OTA provision —alternatives that would have stopped its adoption or minimized its impact.Additionally, on Tuesday AOTA changed all grassroots advocacy messages related to the repeal of the therapy cap, to include details of the OTA payment chan...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - February 13, 2018 Category: Occupational Health Tags: health insurance OT practice Source Type: blogs

Deconstructing the sausage - Analyzing provisions for therapy assistant payment differentials
It is commonly stated that the process of legislating is like making sausage - you generally don ' t want to see how it happens.The therapy community was recently disappointed with the announcement that facilities would have to code their Medicare B claims with a modifier and would receive payment at 85% of the standard rate whenever that therapy was delivered in whole or in part by an OTA or PTA.  This is hard coded into legislation - and is not a rule or regulation.  For reference, this is included in the legislation that has been called "The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018."The addition of this requirement was i...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - February 10, 2018 Category: Occupational Health Tags: health insurance OT practice Source Type: blogs

This week's timeline for the #StopTheCap effort
Thanks to the efforts of the American Occupational Therapy Association, beginning in 2022 occupational and physical therapy assistant Medicare reimbursement will be cut by 15%.  Oh, and they solved the cap problem for PT and speech therapy by doing so.Per a CBO report from February 6th, 1.2 billion of the 6.45 billion cost to repeal the therapy cap would be offset by the reimbursement changes.Let ' s get the background here.  Therapy caps have been in place for many years, and for nearly every year there has been an exceptions process that worked around the cap.  This was a bigger problem for PT and speech, ...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - February 9, 2018 Category: Occupational Health Tags: health insurance OT practice Source Type: blogs

AOTA and ACOTE plan for credential inflation receives national attention
This article in the Washington Examiner should be a crystal clear sign to the new incoming elected officials of the AOTA Board of Directors, and should also be a serious red flag to any person thinking of applying for their now-open position as Executive Director.  This is a problem within the occupational therapy profession that must be addressed. (Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog)
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - February 2, 2018 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education OT practice Source Type: blogs

Analyzing the AOTA/ACOTE Data Dump, Part Two: Some Stakeholders Are More Equal Than Others
Please refer to this earlier post for background reading.According to the ' ACOTE Entry-Level Task Force Report to ACOTE in December, 2014 (p. 381-393), some stakeholders appear to be ' more equal ' than others.The notion of being ' more equal ' is a reference to Animal Farm and the pigs who ran the farm.  They famously stated that " All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. "  In simple terms, the ruling elites of Animal Farm made claims that everyone is equal, but then we discovered that they provided benefits and power and privileges only to their elite comrades.What privileges are ha...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - November 24, 2017 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education Source Type: blogs

Analyzing the AOTA/ACOTE Data Dump, Part One
Today AOTA/ACOTE released 897 pages of information,stating In response to requests for background information on ACOTE ’s decision on the entry-level-degree requirement, we are sharing this workbook (see link below). The workbook includes a timeline of events and discussions undertaken by the Council leading to publication of the 2017 mandate statement. It also includes reports, surveys, open hearings, and publica tions reviewed by the members of the Council in coming to their decision. These materials support both the pros and cons of the entry-level doctorate mandate. The Council took all of these materials into a...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - November 23, 2017 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education OT practice Source Type: blogs

Part Three: Academic Leadership Council Meeting, October 2017
Part One: Academic Leadership Council Meeting, October 2017 posted here.Part Two: Academic Leadership Council Meeting, October 2017 posted here.This is Part Three of a multi-part report about the Academic Leadership Council meeting that was held in Dallas Texas on Thursday October 26, 2017.+++During the opportunity for conference participants to address ACOTE/AOTA a question was asked about the evidence used to inform the ACOTE Visioning Taskforce.  This is an ad hoc group that was reportedly created by ACOTE to further assess the current healthcare and educational environment. The goals of the Visioning Taskforce wer...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - November 8, 2017 Category: Occupational Health Source Type: blogs

Part Two: Academic Leadership Council Meeting, October 2017
Part One: Academic Leadership Council Meeting, October 2017 posted here.+++The morning meeting continued following President Lamb ' s remarks.Paul Grace from NBCOT followed with a presentation that provided an update on certification issues.  The (ultimate) pass rate for OTR candidates is around 98% and for COTA candidates is around 88%.  Thefirst time pass rate is lower: approximating the mid 80%s to the 90%s with obvious variation from program to program.  There was brief discussion about what states many new certificants are graduating from and where they are seeking their licensing.  None of this in...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - October 29, 2017 Category: Occupational Health Source Type: blogs

Part One: Academic Leadership Council Meeting, October 2017
This is Part One of a multi-part report about the Academic Leadership Council meeting that was held in Dallas Texas on Thursday October 26, 2017.+++Yesterday I participated in the Academic Leadership Council meeting in Dallas. I have not participated in this meeting previously, except for perhaps a presentation I assisted with for NBCOT some years ago. It was definitely my first participation associated with being in a program director role.One of my persistent concerns about these meetings is that they are not generally open for public scrutiny, and there is little reporting to everyday practitioners out of thes...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - October 27, 2017 Category: Occupational Health Source Type: blogs

Injuries from wearing heavy backpacks are not common in school-aged children
Conclusion:Wearing heavy backpacks is NOT a significant cause of injury in children. The incidence of these injuries is actually so small that the CPSC is unable to provide statistical estimates about these injuries.A child may receive an injury from a backpack - but the most likely cause of that injury is tripping over backpacks, swinging backpacks around unsafely, or being hit by a child who has thrown a backpack.For the rare incident of a heavy backpack causing an orthopedic injury to a child, nearly all reported cases are for middle and high school aged children. If OTs are going to dedicate resources to inju...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - September 13, 2017 Category: Occupational Health Tags: evidence-based practice injury prevention school-based practice Source Type: blogs

There is no app to solve this problem.
Her eyes still blurry from the night ' s rest, Emily reached for the beeping phone that alarmed her into wakefulness at precisely 6:00am each day. Barely able to focus, but still noticing the tightness of her FitBit around her wrist, she swiped around her phone until she could find her SleepTracking app. Noticing that she was restless and had 20% less REM sleep than the night before, she quickly determined that she was exhausted.She glanced at the time. 6:01am." Alexa, what is my first appointment today? " she asked into the air. She loved the syncing between her work calendar into her home.  " You...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - September 10, 2017 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT stories parenting Source Type: blogs

Case study: Demise of a professional membership organization
Unless there are dramatic changes in statistical trends, the New York State Occupational Therapy Association may face insolvency and may be forced into dissolution in the very near future.Two years ago I reported that the NY State OT Association was at a critical juncture. At that time, only 4.4% of all NY practitioners were members of the group.  During the period of time from 2006 through 2014 NYSOTA OT/OTA membership declined 24%.   The decreasing trend of participation is continuing.According to statistics published by NYSOTA, now there are only 379 OT members and 120 OTA members.  In consideration ...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - June 22, 2017 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT practice policy Source Type: blogs