Orthopaedic surgeon feels orthotist lobby more powerful than orthopaedic lobby
Elizabeth Mansfield
Description
Collection
Title:
Orthopaedic surgeon feels orthotist lobby more powerful than orthopaedic lobby
Creator:
Elizabeth Mansfield
Date:
7/14/2009
Text:
This is an excerpt from How Will Doctors Handle Uncle Sam Health Care?
After four years of medical school, five years of residency, and
usually a year or two of fellowship, orthopaedic surgeons are the most
qualified people to apply splints. Up until last year, I did so. But
now, Medicare has determined that only those physicians who are
certified may do so. Who will certify me, you may well ask? A group
of orthotists -- people with no medical degree and (relative to
orthopaedists) much more limited experience and training? And this
certification would have cost me over $3000 -- a cost exceeding the
revenue for placing splints on Medicare patients in my practice.
So,
now, these older patients, when taken out of a cast, must travel to
another facility, to have a less qualified provider give them a vastly
more costly splint. And, the physician can not oversee the process to
insure correctness of the application. Medicare is paying more for
less quality. (I guess the orthotist lobby is more powerful than the
orthopaedic lobby.)
Read the whole thing at www.askelizabeth.net
The O&P Marketing Blog
Outsource Marketing Solutions
860-967-4184
After four years of medical school, five years of residency, and
usually a year or two of fellowship, orthopaedic surgeons are the most
qualified people to apply splints. Up until last year, I did so. But
now, Medicare has determined that only those physicians who are
certified may do so. Who will certify me, you may well ask? A group
of orthotists -- people with no medical degree and (relative to
orthopaedists) much more limited experience and training? And this
certification would have cost me over $3000 -- a cost exceeding the
revenue for placing splints on Medicare patients in my practice.
So,
now, these older patients, when taken out of a cast, must travel to
another facility, to have a less qualified provider give them a vastly
more costly splint. And, the physician can not oversee the process to
insure correctness of the application. Medicare is paying more for
less quality. (I guess the orthotist lobby is more powerful than the
orthopaedic lobby.)
Read the whole thing at www.askelizabeth.net
The O&P Marketing Blog
Outsource Marketing Solutions
860-967-4184
Citation
Elizabeth Mansfield, “Orthopaedic surgeon feels orthotist lobby more powerful than orthopaedic lobby,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 7, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/230537.
