(800) 986-3004
On May 28, 2013, CMS held an Open Door Forum on a proposed documentation
template for physicians to use when prescribing lower limb prosthetics. We asked
participants in that forum to respond to a survey. 81 people did.
We wanted to know if participants thought CMS clearly articulated its position of the role O&P will play in
healthcare. Only about a fourth thought so.
Some of us listening to the call thought the CMS representatives were more negative than usual when they
spoke about current O&P professionals, Some participants referred to the O&P community as an “industry.”
We were wondering if other listeners were sensitive to the use of the word “industry” and the way the CMS
representatives reacted to its use. The assumption is that “industry” is negative and “profession” is positive.
Finally, we wondered whether the participants believed that we can impact CMS. We got somewhat
mixed results as about a third of the respondents think we can have an impact, but nearly 90 percent
say CMS won’t listen to us.
See the back side of this page for some interesting comments about the survey. Complete results are
available here: http://fs.surveycare.com/nreport.aspx?reportid=5fca768372848b599379ce89de33945
For more inforation contact [email protected]
We asked participants in the forum about the “Dear Physician” letter that was
mentioned. We wanted to see if anyone had ideas about increasing physician
compliance in completing the form. Here are some suggestions:
1) We type a letter of our opinion of what the pt needs and why and use it as a cover letter. We also used
the dear physician letter and made a questionairre of it for the physician to fill out. These 2 components
with the dear physician letter have improved MD compliance.
2) We send patients to a Rehab doctor, she immediately sends us all the documentation we need. It
eliminates fighting with the PCP.
3) The physician must be held accountable for their deficiencies. If we are simply "filling a prescription," as
Medicare implies, we should have no culpability if the script is deficient. If we are professionals, then our
notes, observations and evaluations should be sufficient to justify our actions. You can't have it both ways.
4) The best for us is to establish a good relationship with our referring physicians, then meet and explain.
Medical professionals are bombarded with extra paperwork including O&P. We have to become relational
with patients and referring physicians.
We also asked participants in the forum about what we can do as a profession to
positively impact the future. Here are some suggestions:
1) Weed out the ones fraudulently billing.
2) We have to get ahead of this whole mess. First the RAC audits need to be stopped. What's the status of the
AOPA lawsuit? Second, we have to demonstrate our CLINICAL contribution to healthcare.
3) They will definitely listen , its just good PR. I dont think they will adapt , they really have never had to. They
have the power. Have patient groups and groups like aarp start a campaign for patient care that is not
limited by time constraints on paperwork, where it can delay care for weeks.
4) One of the things to really pop at me was the physiatrist on the call and how much the CMS people
treated him with respect and enthusiasm. People who are from our profession really need to understand
this is not the forum to complain about what is being done to them, how honorable they are, etc. CMS
does not want to hear it, they do not care. Our best bet is try to act like clinicians and present with
purpose. With physiatrists having their own prs labs, we stand to lose much.
The complete list of comments is available here:
http://fs.surveycare.com/nreport.aspx?reportid=ee58d53fe4a4184bd623a2972fbde1f