comment on Orthopaedic surgeon feels orthotist lobby more powerful than orthopaedic lobby

comment on Orthopaedic surgeon feels orthotist lobby more powerful than orthopaedic lobby

Joyce Perrone

7/16/2009

I'd like to thank Elizabeth for the giggle I got from this post and reading the article on her (btw very nice) website. Medicare has clearly exempted physicians from being accredited to dispense DME and O/P., so I'm not sure where this doctor is getting her information. Does anyone know this statement from the good doctor to be true The AMA is an immense lobby group, as we all know. I do remember the days (yes, I started in healthcare when I was mere child ) when physicians billed as much as they wanted, used no diagnosis codes whatsoever and were rarely denied payment. The insurance carriers suddenly realized Those Dollars need to be in Their pockets. And the control pendulum swung. I now find more orthopedic practices billing for OP themselves and mutilating and abusing the codes due to a lack of clarity of the codes and lack of understanding on the practice billing staff. Trust me, the doctor is NOT doing the coding. Not to mention other providers that bill for OP services who have minimal accreditation that Medicare accepts. The only saving grace we have had has been to continually lobby the larger private insurance carriers to not allow everyone with any shingle to supply OP. As we also know, all the years of medical school does not mean one knows how to apply a brace and it is also very RARE that I ever come across the doctor doing the bracing. It is usually a medical assistant with 6 months of tech school in how to take a person's height and weight and draw some blood. When people complain about all the rules and regulations, know that they were not made in a vacuum. It is usually born out of abuse and then a nice bureaucratic committee gets together and, well, you know the old joke. A platypus is a duck made by a committee.

Joyce J. Perrone
 De La Torre O&P, Inc - 2009 Pennsylvania Business of the Year Winner!
 PROMISE Consulting, Inc
300 Alpha Drive, Pgh PA 15238
ph: 412-599-1112 cell: 412-849-7750 fx: 412-599-1130


Original post:
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:43:28 -0700
From: Elizabeth Mansfield < <Email Address Redacted> >
Subject: Orthopaedic surgeon feels orthotist lobby more powerful than orthopaedic lobby

This is an excerpt from How Will Doctors Handle Uncle Sam Health Care?

After four years of medical school, five years of residency, and=0Ausually = a year or two of fellowship, orthopaedic surgeons are the most=0Aqualified = people to apply splints. Up until last year, I did so. But=0Anow, Medicare = has determined that only those physicians who are=0Acertified may do so. = Who will certify me, you may well ask?=A0 A group=0Aof orthotists -- people= with no medical degree and (relative to=0Aorthopaedists) much more limited= experience and training? And this=0Acertification would have cost me over = $3000 -- a cost exceeding the=0Arevenue for placing splints on Medicare pat= ients in my practice.=20

So,=0Anow, these older patients, when taken out of a cast, must travel to= =0Aanother facility, to have a less qualified provider give them a vastly= =0Amore costly splint. And, the physician can not oversee the process to=0A= insure correctness of the application.=A0 Medicare is paying more for=0Ales= s quality.=A0 (I guess the orthotist lobby is more powerful than the=0Aorth= opaedic lobby.)

Read the whole thing at www.askelizabeth.net

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