Therapy programs for women bring new referrals
Therapy programs for women bring new referrals
Physical therapy for women has become so popular that a fourth to a third of all new referrals to Progressive Steps Rehab clinics in northeast Florida are for the women’s program. Comprehensive Women’s Therapy Services, which started about five years ago, includes a program to teach pregnant women how to avoid and ease back pain, an incontinence and pelvic pain program, physical therapy after breast cancer surgery, and treatment for fibromyalgia and osteoporosis.
Many women who had sought help for some of these problems were brushed off by their physicians and not given the option of seeking effective care, says Cynthia Neville, PT, director of women’s health for Progressive Steps Rehab’s northeast Florida division, based in Jacksonville. Progressive Steps, an outpatient therapy provider based in Milwaukee, offers women health’s services at five of its seven clinics in northeast Florida.
Physicians and patients alike have told Neville how much they like the program, which offers women alternatives to surgery and other medical interventions. After five years of marketing the program, she has seen a huge increase in referrals as well as an increased willingness among insurers to pay for services. (See related story, p. 169.) An average of 70% of its services are reimbursed by third-party payers. "We were concerned that we would not be reimbursed because they aren’t standard diagnosis categories, but we are getting good reimbursement," Neville says.
Insurers increasingly are willing to pay for physical therapy for women’s problems because often they can help prevent surgery or costly medical interventions, she says. "We are seeing a continuing trend toward conservative treatment of these problems." For example, pregnant women can become disabled from back pain and have to stop working. Pregnant women with back pain are likely to have it postpartum and may need surgery to relieve it. Tackling the problem during the early months of pregnancy and teaching women how to avoid back pain can pay huge dividends in the future, Neville says.
Incontinence is another problem that may require surgery to correct pelvic floor muscles weakened during pregnancy and vaginal delivery. Progressive Steps’ incontinence and pelvic pain program can relieve the problems in as few as six visits, she adds. (For details, see story, p. 168.)
When she began the women’s program for Progressive Steps Rehab, Neville took several continuing education programs for physical therapists interested in women’s health treatments. She now conducts in-house educational programs.
She suggests other physical therapists interested in treating women’s problems contact the Ameri can Physical Therapy Association’s (APTA) section on women’s health, which offers information and continuing education course for members of APTA. (See box, below.)
Need More Information?
% Cynthia Neville, Progressive Steps Rehab, Northeast Florida, 1135 Beach Blvd., Jack sonville Beach, FL 32250. Telephone: (904) 241-4591. Fax (904) 249-6523.
% The American Physical Therapy Associ ation’s Section on Women’s Health, 1111 N. Fairfax St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Fax: (703) 684-7343. Web: http://www:apta.org.
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