Over the past 2 years, U.S. Physical Therapy has been involved in a rapidly growing Alliance of all of the largest companies in our Physical Therapy profession and over the past year has added many hundreds of locations through regional and local private practices in an affiliate membership within our Alliance. Officially, we are called the “Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation” or “APTQI”. In an effort to be fully engaged in the processes surrounding the Alternative Payment System (“APS”), APTQI has had representatives attend every AMA work group meeting related to these proposed code-set changes. Below, we have published the letter shared with our USPh Partner’s and staff, as well as our Membership’s correspondence with the AMA, APTA, and CMS.
Thank you,
Chris Reading
To: All Partners, Directors, and Clinic Staff:
RE: APTQI Communications Response
I wanted to share with you our collective “APTQI Communications Response” (see below) regarding the discussion and debate surrounding the alternative APS coding system endorsed by the APTA and currently under review at the AMA CPT Editorial Panel/RUC level committee process. I have also attached our past APTQI comment letters sent to AMA, APTA (confidential portions redacted), and CMS. Please feel free to distribute to your employees and our Affiliate Members. Initially, it may be helpful to provide our colleagues with some background information on the APTQI.
As you know, we are among the nation’s leading providers of outpatient rehabilitation care, and collectively employ or represent several thousand physical and occupational therapists, and furnish physical therapy services on an annual basis to hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. Our membership categories consist of Board and Affiliate Members, representing a diverse mix of small, medium, and large multi-state physical therapy providers. The following is a brief description of each of our Alliance Board Members, which in aggregate currently operate and represent over 3,000 outpatient rehabilitation clinics:
- Athletico Physical Therapy currently operates approximately 350 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 8 states;
- ATI Physical Therapy currently operates approximately 450 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 16 states;
- Drayer Physical Therapy Institute currently operates approximately 125 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 16 states;
- Physiotherapy Associates currently operates approximately 575 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 34 states;
- Select Medical currently operates approximately 1023 outpatient rehabilitation and/or occupational therapy clinics in 33 states and the District of Columbia;
- Upstream Rehabilitation currently operates approximately 305 outpatient rehabilitation and/or occupational therapy clinics in 22 states; and
- U.S. Physical Therapy currently operates approximately 494 outpatient rehabilitation and/or occupational therapy clinics in 42 states.
I look forward to our future collective efforts in developing and supporting a proposed alternative coding and payment system for therapy services that is truly value driven and based on the triple aim of healthcare reform: improving patient experiences (satisfaction, quality, and outcome); decreasing cost; and improving population health!
Thank you,
Chris
