Decompressing Your Practice

With new Federal legislation and increased documentation requirements coupled with decreasing reimbursement rates the landscape of how physicians practice medicine is changing rapidly. Many of these changes are viewed as restrictive and leave physicians with practice limitations that are hard to accept. Time that used to be spent with patients is now frequently spent trying to conform to regulations. As Medicare providers the complications of meeting wellness visit requirements by adopting a functional component to assessments can leave physicians either vulnerable to paybacks through non-compliance or frustrated on how to meet the requirements within the scope of their practice. At Ionmed Systems we have a proven pathway to compliance with efficiency and improved patient outcomes. By completing a TUG assessment (timed get up and go) as a pre-screening for functional status patients with functional decline can be referred for a SFM (safe functional movement) test which will identify risk for falls and fractures. Observed balance, gait and motor coordination issues in geriatric patients can also trigger a referral for an SFM. By enacting a protocol involving screening with the TUG followed by SFM tests for patients scoring above 10.2 seconds on the TUG or with observed or reported symptoms of movement or strength decline functional and safety assessments can benefit patients and your practice.