New Mexico Physical Therapy Association |
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 FROM THE PRESIDENT
First, I want to thank the Education Committee, led by Claudia Segura for all the hard work and effort resulting in a successful Spring Conference in April. Attendee and speaker feedback was very positive. We look forward to continuing to work with UNM to hold our conferences at the Domenici Center - it's a wonderful building with great teaching facilities.
Planning is now underway for the Fall Conference, September 13-14, 2008. Speakers include Jennifaye V. Greene, PT, MS, NCS for a neuro-based course and Dr. John Childs speaking on "Evidence-based Examination and Selected Interventions for Patients with Cervical Spine Disorders". Both of these courses will be held over 2 days and have limited enrollment. We will also have a 1/2 day course on Saturday explaining the new Medicare Guidelines in addition to providng information on how to self-contract, both presented by APTA staff. As soon as the details are finalized, NMAPTA will send an e-alert notifying members of early registration.
I was notified by Michelle Gutierrez, PT, Licensing Board Chair, that there will be another change in the Executive Director position for the New Mexico Licensing Board. This is very disheartening, especially since the current Executive, Steve Oliver has been doing a great job. Steve has been promoted to Team Leader, and will not be over the PT/OT board. However, he will stay with the board until the person who is hired is trained. For licensing board information, board roster, and rules/regulations go to their website - http://www.rld.state.nm.us/PhysicalTherapy/news.html.
Congratulations to our newly elected board members - Leslie Toser, Treasurer, and board members Lance Hipple, Kathy Hedemann, Sahreem Luergan, Traci Reindle, Claudia Segura, Todd Thomas, and Liz Thompson. Peg Wanta is our newest member of the Nominating Committee. We really appreciate everyone taking time out of their busy schedules to volunteer. I hope you'll join me in thanking them for their commitment to the profession and NMAPTA.
I had the honor this weekend of presenting the commencement speech at UNM's Physical Therapy graduation. Congratulations to the 15 new PTs! I'd like to share some comments from my speech that I hope we will all consider as we provide patient care and represent the profession of physical therapy - "I challenge you today to use your clinical judgment, your integrity, and your commitment to your patients to do what's right. As autonomous practitioners and professionals, we can speak up for what is right for our patients. We can be part of the changing face of healthcare and be providers of choice by giving our patients the tools they need to not only heal but to also prevent future problems on their road to wellness. We can do all of these things while participating in this great career of physical therapy. If we want to make a change in the way physical therapy and healthcare in general is being provided, we must participate in the process". As always, feel free to contact me at kim_parker-guerrero@chs.net . Look forward to hearing from you!
Kim
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 2008 NMAPTA COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
Congratulations to Elizabeth (Liz) Thomson for winning the NMAPTA Community Service Award for 2008. Liz was presented the award at our Spring NMAPTA Chapter Business meeting in April by Pat Bartels. Her dedication to her profession and to her community is impressive!
As a parent of a 17 year old son with autism and another 20 year old son, Liz has managed to balance home, work and advocacy work and make a huge impact on the level of awareness of autism and autism treatment needs in the state of New Mexico and nationally.
Liz is the Immediate Past President of the New Mexico Autism Society, which she has been associated with for the past 12 years. She ushered in changes to the organization that brought it from a small family based organization to a larger group that includes professionals. Under her leadership, the organization has grown to where the goals are more in tune with fitting the needs of children in New Mexico with autism. Liz has shared the story of her son's autism and the effect on her family in national, state and local workshops and has many times been a guest on radio programs and other public forums to educate the public on autism.
Liz is active as an advocate at the New Mexico state legislature where she has worked hard to increase state funding for autism for treatment, and as a member of the NMAPTA Legislative Committee she was the lead PT in the development of a career ladder for school providers. She has recently been appointed by Governor Richardson to the New Mexico Developmental Disability Planning Council where she continues to press for the dignity, respect and needs of people with disability.
Liz works as a pediatric physical therapist at Laguna and Jemez Pueblos providing early childhood interventions and at APS elementary schools serving students with severe disabilities. |
| UNM DPT UPDATE
By: Sue Queen, PT, PhD, Associate Professor and Director, UNM Physical Therapy Program
The UNM PT Program expects that the DPT curriculum will begin with the entering 2009 class. Although the slow UNM approval process has prevented starting the DPT curriculum this fall, the program intends to provide a mechanism whereby the current classes of MPT students have the option of completing degree requirements with an added semester of content after they graduate.
Three primary steps remain in the DPT approval process as of May, 2008: 1) approval by UNM Board of Regents, 2) approval by NM Higher Education Department, and 3) legislative approval of the financial request by the State in the January-February 2009 session.
What this means for New Mexico PTs: We need your support! Watch for legislative announcements from the Chapter asking you to contact your respective legislators. Talking points to this issue are posted on the NMAPTA website. It will be important that you encourage your legislators, especially those on the Senate Finance Committee, to vote for approval of the requested funds that are specific for the DPT. Tell them why it is important for us to convert to the DPT, and assure them that the MPT will be phased out as the DPT degree is introduced. Our proposal will be bundled with the entire UNM legislative financial request, which will be presented as one package with each individual item ranked. The legislature often decides to fund only select portions of the UNM request and has the power to "pick and choose" individualized items. So please make sure your legislators are aware of the importance of advancing to the DPT curriculum as we would hate to get lost in the shuffle.
On behalf of the UNM PT Program faculty, staff and students, I extend our thanks to the NMAPTA and Kim Parker-Guerrero for their support of the DPT. Pat Bartels, Sahreem Luergan, and Gretchen Johnson have been exceedingly helpful in introducing me to the legislative process and in presentation of the proposal to the legislature. The NMAPTA lobbyist, Bryan Ortiz, will work with the UNM lobbyist to help secure the legislative funding. Thanks to all of you!
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THE PHYSICAL THERAPY PRACTICE ACT AND POTENTIAL THREATS TO VISION 2020: Infringement Issues and Phraseology
The purpose of a Practice Act is to protect the public health, safety and welfare and provide control, supervision, licensure and regulation of a particular practice. Practice Acts are enacted by state legislatures and can be amended yearly upon request of the health profession they control. Practice Acts are subject to a periodic sunset review process and subsequent repeal every 10-12 years unless the legislature determines that the Practice Act should continue.
The New Mexico Physical Therapy Practice Act is up for repeal July 1, 2010. The Act contains definitions of who can practice physical therapy, the tasks involved, powers and duties of the Physical Therapy Licensing Board, Licensure, Disciplinary Action and Consumer Protection.
If there is no change to the current PT Practice Act, it will most likely be grouped with all the other professional practice acts up for renewal into one bill and passed without much fan fair. If any changes are required, the change request would be put into a separate bill and sent through the legislature by itself.
APTA Vision Statement for Physical Therapy 2020:
By 2020, physical therapy will be provided by physical therapists who are doctors of physical therapy, recognized by consumers and other healthcare professionals as the practitioners of choice to whom consumers have direct access for the diagnosis of, interventions for, and prevention of impairments, functional limitations, and disabilities related to movement, function and health.
Infringement Issues:
Other groups also want to be recognized by consumers as the practitioner of choice for interventions for, and prevention of impairments, functional limitations, and disabilities related to movement, function and health. Ex: ATCs, Chiropractors, Massage Therapists.
Athletic Trainers: Trying to change their practice act to add or exchange language to include any person involved in physical activity of any kind and to include evaluation and rehabilitation. In one state there was an attempt to add "industrial settings" to the practice act. The AOTA fought this and won. The current New Mexico ATC practice act defines an athletic trainer's scope of practice: to include the prevention, care and rehabilitation of athlete's injuries (emphasis added). Athletic trainers may evaluate and treat athletes only pursuant to the written prescription, standing order or protocol of a licensed physician; an athletic trainer may treat post-surgical conditions only pursuant to the written prescription of that athlete's surgeon. The act defines "athlete" as "a person trained to participate in exercise requiring physical agility and stamina." The act does NOT authorize athletic trainers to treat an athlete injured in a non-athletic setting or to treat non-athletes, whether or not they have been injured in an athletic or non-athletic setting. The athletic trainer who treats a non-athlete may be subject to discipline for practicing beyond the scope of athletic training practice.
Chiropractors: The manipulation issue: In 2007, Oregon Senate Bill 357 was introduced which attempted to restrict who could perform a spinal manipulation by defining it as a chiropractic manipulation and requiring those who performed it to have received at least 300 hours of hands-on instruction in spinal manipulation and received at least 500 hours of clinical training supervised by a licensed physician over a period of at least eight months.
Following testimony heard by chiropractors and physical therapists; the bill did not receive any further hearings and died in committee.
New Mexico House Bill 275, which passed during the 2008 session, establishes the advanced practice chiropractic certification registry. A "certified advanced practice chiropractic physician shall have prescriptive authority for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes as authorized by statute." According to Dr. George Simmons, Board of Directors for the New Mexico Chiropractic Association "Doctors completing the certification will be prepared to do: IM injections (B12, homeopathic, magnesium, trigger point, etc.), neural therapy injections Intravenous procedures (Meyer's cocktails, H2O2, chelation, ascorbates, amino acids, minerals, etc.), emergency procedures Laboratory testing and diagnosis.
Also, look for chiropractors to try to expand their scope of practice under Medicaid:
Gretchen G. Peterson, D.C., past President of the New Mexico Chiropractic Association submitted this opinion on the New Mexico Chiropractic Association homepage:
"With a physician shortage in New Mexico and with our state classified as "under-served," it is time for legislators to take a bold stand and revise Medicaid legislation by: Using Doctors of Chiropractic (D.C.) as primary care physicians. Primary care does not mean full service but, instead, means first choice health care. Chiropractic Physicians are trained to serve as primary care providers. Allowing patients direct access free from the requirement of medical referral. The Medicaid patient should be able to choose Chiropractic medicine for primary care."
What can you do to be pro-active in promoting Vision 2020?
· Contact your legislators and let them know who you are and what you do.
· Network with other potential allies-Occupational Therapists, Osteopaths,
Physicians.
· Stay informed about what is in our practice act.
· Educate your patients on what your scope of practice is and their rights regarding
freedom of access to physical therapy.
If you have questions or comments, please contact me at sahreeml@yahoo.com. If you talk to a legislator or candidate about physical therapy issues, please let us know who you talked to and what issues you discussed. Look for Legislative Alerts later this summer as we get closer to the November elections. |
| CALL FOR SECTION LIAISONS
NMAPTA would like to have volunteers from our state to participate in a liaision program with each section. Many of the sections have already requested volunteers, so we are taking it a step forward and asking for a NM Chapter
member from each section to share section updates with their peers.
This is a great way to be involved in our profession without committing to a large amount of time. So far, we have the following section liaision roles filled:
Cardiovascular and Pulmonary - David Kennedy, PT, CCS
Geriatrics - Beth Black, PT
Home Health - Beth Black, PT
Orthopaedic - Megan Hird, PT
Women's Health - Kim Parker- Guerrero, PT
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APTA REIMBURSEMENT UPDATE
Therapy Cap Exceptions Process: On Monday, June 2nd, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a reminder that the therapy cap exceptions process will no longer be in effect as of July 1, 2008 through a MLNMatters article. In order to prevent the exceptions process from expiring, Congress must act prior to July 1. In the article, CMS indicated that the therapy cap will be $1810 per beneficiary per calendar year for outpatient physical therapy and speech language pathology services combined except in the hospital outpatient setting.
According to the MLNMatters article, if on or after July 1, a beneficiary has already reached the therapy cap amount for calendar year 2008, Medicare will no longer pay for the services unless they are provided in an outpatient hospital setting. Use of the KX modifier will not be effective on or after July 1, regardless of whether the patient had previously qualified for an exception to the therapy cap.
APTA believes that the implementation of the therapy cap without the exceptions process will limit beneficiary access to medically necessary therapy services. Please provide information to your Medicare patients regarding the therapy cap. Additional patient
centered resources on the therapy cap can be accessed at the Patient Action Center. It is important to note that this information is different than information that was contained in APTA's Action Alert also issued on Monday, June 2nd. Please share this new information
with your patients, colleagues, billing personnel, and other interested parties.
APTA is still aggressively advocating on Capitol Hill for Congress to take action prior to June 30, 2008 to extend the exceptions process. You can take action by contacting your Members of Congress through APTA's Legislative Action Center. APTA will continue to send information bulletins to its grassroots network, PTeam, as details of this issue become available. APTA's website will also be updated as details emerge.
Quality Measures: Public Comment for Chronic Wound Care Quality Measures
This spring, APTA was invited to participate in the AMA Physician Consortium's Chronic Wound Care workgroup related to quality measure development. APTA did have a member representative on the committee. After considerable hard work, the seven proposed measures are now out for public comment and can be accessed through the NCQA website: http://www.ncqa.org/tabid/745/Default.aspx. Please distribute this to your members, particularly those with an interest in wound care! The public comment deadline is July 1.
Six of the seven codes are of particular interest to us (measures #2 - #7). We were able to convince the committee to include CPT codes available to PTs in the denominator of three of the measures (#3,#5,#7). Public comment should include that we support the inclusion of the codes that are applicable to services provided by physical therapists.
However, we were not able to convince the committee to include pertinent CPT codes in the following measures:
- Measure #2: Use of wet to dry dressings (this is an overuse
measure) - it measures patients without a prescription or
recommendation to use wet to dry dressings;
- Measure #4: Use of compression system in patients with venous
ulcers.
- Measure #6: Patients "prescribed" an appropriate method of
offloading".
Public comments for measures #2, #4, and #6 need to include:
- These are services that are provided by PTs and are covered by
scope of practice.
- The evidence is quite robust in supporting the measures.
- CPT codes for denominator coding must be made available so that
all qualified healthcare professionals can participate in measure
reporting; the AMA even notes that: "The Physician Consortium for
Performance Improvement (PCPI) also encourages the use of these
measures by eligible health professionals, where appropriate."
- Suggest addition of the following codes in the measures noted:
- Measure #2: 97602 - Please note, this request may be problematic
due to the non-payment coverage from Medicare. However, it would be
useful to ask for this code addition, in case the measure is ever
picked up by private payers; This measure will be the most difficult
to influence.)
- Measure #4: 97001, 97002
- Measure #6: 97001, 97002; measure language should read
"prescribed or received", similar to language in measure #4.
If you have questions, please contact rheacohn@apta.org.
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| STRATEGIC PLAN - Updated Draft Now Available for Your Review
APTA's updated draft strategic plan is now available for your review. The strategic plan has been revised based on the input from APTA members received in April on the first draft version of the strategic plan. APTA is now seeking member input prior to consideration of the strategic plan by the Board of Directors in July. Please visit the Strategic Thinking and Planning (STP) Initiative page to:
- Access the Strategic Plan FAQ document that provides important
background information regarding APTA's draft strategic plan;
- Access and review the updated draft strategic plan; and
- Provide your input on the updated draft strategic plan by taking a
short survey.
All input received by July 7 will be provided to the Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors will meet by phone conference on July 29 to consider the input, update the plan as appropriate, and approve the strategic plan. |
IRS E-MAIL SCAMS - BE AWARE
Please be aware of the latest IRS e-mail scam, which shows a bogus e-mail address of "irs.org" (rather than the official IRS Web site "irs.gov"). The IRS never communicates with taxpayers via e-mail. If you reply, you could become a victim of identity theft. You can report scam e-mails to phishing@irs.gov. Check the IRS Web site for more examples of common e-mail schemes. |
| SAVE THE DATE!
NMAPTA FALL CONFERENCE
SEPTEMBER 13-14, 2008
UNM - ALBUQUERQUE, NM
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SPONSORS AND EXHIBITORS!
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New Mexico Physical Therapy Association
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