Using Outcome Measures to Justify Medical Necessity, Reimbursement and Clinical Accountability in Real Life
Presenters: Jason Highsmith, PT, DPT, PhD, CP, FAAOP; Jason T. Kahle, MSMS, CPO, LPO, FAAOP; Andreas Kannenberg, MD (GER), PhD; and Tyler Klenow, MSPO, MBA, CPO, FAAOP
The O&P profession has been emphasizing the need for outcome measures for over a decade. Reliability and validity have been the emphasis when developing and using an outcome measure. However, as clinicians we care about what happens next: How do we apply these findings to our everyday clinical practice and to the benefit of our patients?
Ecological validity examines whether an outcome measure is generalizable to real-life settings, which includes medical justification. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss outcome measures which have the best ecological validity in the real-life clinic setting when considering return on time investment. This presentation will primarily target the clinicians whose priority for using outcome measures is justifying medical necessity and reimbursement to assist them with the real-life everyday setting of being accountable for their patients’ needs. Ecological outcome measures that are viewed from the perspectives of the physicians’ and payers’ expectations to justify medical necessity will be emphasized. Outcome measures and clinical practice guidelines for communication with the Veterans Health Administration physicians and prosthetic clinics will also be discussed. This symposium will challenge the norm and focus on utilizing outcomes practically for clinical accountability to our patients.
Multi-Lingual Evaluation of Patient Outcomes Using Mobile App Technology
Presenters: David A. Boone, BSPO, MPH, PhD, Jung Kim, Jessica Garries, MS, Sarah R. Chang, PhD
The number of individuals in the US that speak a language other than English continues to rise, and language barriers are a contributing factor in the increasing disparities in health. The language barrier can make it difficult for a patient to fully convey their health concerns to their O&P provider and for the provider to understand the patient’s needs. Providers are increasingly using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) as a routine part of clinical care, but the use and collection of PROMs may be limited in patient populations that prefer to speak a language other than English. In this session, attendees will learn about an outcome measures mobile app that supports O&P practitioners in communicating via a patient’s preferred language by switching between English and other languages in real-time for administering and interpreting results, providing text-to-speech capabilities for individuals who have literacy challenges, and supporting impromptu language translation for open-ended questions between the patient and provider. By enabling patients to complete outcome measures in their preferred non-English language, but providing the results to the practitioner in English, providers can take actionable treatment steps based on the evidence to appropriately address the specific health needs of each individual.
Integrating Outcome Measure Data Collection with the National Limb Loss and Preservation Registry
Presenters: Sarah R. Chang, PhD, Jung Kim, David A. Boone, BSPO, MPH, PhD
The P&O COMET mobile app assists clinicians in easily selecting outcome measures to collect with their patients and efficiently administers, scores, and exports the data into a report that clinicians can include in the patient medical record and use to support clinical decisions. In collaboration with the National Limb Loss and Preservation Registry (Registry), our team expanded the mobile app capabilities to provide an additional pathway that enables clinics to share their patient outcome measure results with the Registry. In this session, attendees will learn how to use the P&O COMET mobile app to record patient outcome measure data, how to securely save patient data in the encrypted database within the app, and how to export the Registry-compatible data files that the app automatically generates and can then be shared with the Registry. Sharing patient outcomes data with the Limb Loss and Preservation Registry can advance our care for patients with limb loss and limb difference.
3D Printing in Prosthetics: Common Concerns and Clinical Applications
Presenters: Jeff Erenstone, CPO; Sean McClure, BME, ME; David Rotter, CPO, and Brent Wright, CPO
This session is a joint program with the Clinical O&P track and the Digital O&P track. In the session, four presenters who span the range from self-proclaimed “dinosaurs” who have decided not to change their ways toward digital (3D-printing-based) care and people who have decided to only work digitally. In other words, people who will not let go of their plaster, people who will never touch plaster again, and others who are in between. The presenting clinicians will explain their perspectives and why they practice the way they do.
3D Imaging Laminations
Presenter: Steve Werkheiser, CTPO
Review
In this presentation, Werkheiser will explain and describe in full detail the fabrication technique of creating a 3D carving from a printed image. Watch a portion of a video that will be part of the presentation on our YouTube channel.
