Expert Contributor by Mark E. Reitz, PT Penn Therapy Associates
How Physical Therapy Practices Survived COVID Are you tired of wearing a mask in public places? It’s a good bet that just about everyone is, as well as being sick of all the new and constantly changing rules. Likewise, there are dozens of new policies and procedures that Physical Therapists (PTs) have had to adapt to during the past two years, due to the COVID crisis. At first, many practices closed for several months, but then the Federal government (i.e., Medicare) asked physical therapy practices to remain open and deemed them to be “medically essential” personnel. The government decided that it would help the situation if PTs served as primary care evaluators of musculoskeletal injuries so that fewer patients would have to visit their doctor’s office or emergency rooms, which were bursting at the seams with sick patients. In order to do that, patient safety and cleaning protocols had to be reevaluated.
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So how did PTs make the numbers work? Believe it or not, by banding together. The Private Practice Section of the American Physical Therapy Association formed an advisory committee of 25 therapists from around the country. That committee met daily, seven days a week, to share ideas and keep track of protocols that were in place and also changes that were coming from the CDC or the Federal government. This committee was able to provide up-to-date information on any piece of legislation that was pertinent to PTs — including PPP loans and how to apply for them — well before such information was made available to most of the country. The decision to allow PTs to treat via telehealth was also a dramatic turn in their favor, and it’s now a standard practice for many offices. Treatment numbers started to climb, especially after COVID vaccines and booster shots became available. As with so many other COVID-inspired changes, many of these will be permanent — some for the better — but most certainly more complicated all the way around.
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Most practices began scheduling only one patient per hour vs. two or three as was customary prior to COVID. This had the desired effect of limiting the amount of patients in the waiting room, and allowed contact to be limited to patients and their PT. Treatments were provided in individual treatment rooms and not in open areas like gym spaces, and between treatments, the rooms were not only cleaned, they were sanitized. At the beginning of the pandemic, PPE items were not easy to find, but with some ingenuity, they could be had for a price.
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