In the editorial, Silvia Raschke, PhD, a research faculty member at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, addressed the need to define and communicate the cost versus benefit of O&P care to payers of healthcare services.
“An underlying theme in the special edition was the significant changes in practices that had emerged once payers began linking reimbursement to the presentation of objective outcome measures a decade ago. At that time prosthetists and orthotists were increasingly required to present objective criteria to communicate and to justify their component and device choices if they wished to be reimbursed. This was a significant shift in the practice paradigm, as previously measurement activities had been limited to device production and fitting related tasks,” Raschke wrote.
She calls the value-based healthcare model the next stage of healthcare policy and decision-making that will link reimbursement to outcomes and bring new challenges to O&P.
To read the article, visit “Editorial Opinion: Value Within The Prosthetic And Orthotic Provision Process” in the Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal.