Direct Access.
As a consumer of health care services you have the legal right, in Idaho and Wyoming, to obtain services directly from a licensed Physical Therapist without having to first obtain a prescription or referral from a physician. To restate, as a patient, you have the right to access your physical therapist directly without a physician referral.
Subsequently, Physical Therapists refer to this legal right as “Direct Access.”
What does “direct access” to physical therapy mean to health care consumers?
- Direct Access is one of the best ways to control health care costs as it allows consumers to go directly to the health care provider that can best meet their needs, and for many patients, this means a Physical Therapist.
- Direct Access to Physical Therapists eliminates the burden, in both dollars and time, of unnecessary physician visits.
- A study on the cost-effectiveness of direct access to physical therapists found that the costs incurred for physical therapy visits were 123% higher when patients were first seen by a physician.
- Direct Access can also eliminate possible delays in care – delays that can result in higher costs, poor outcomes and frustration to patients and their families.
- Direct Access allows for an earlier return to work and earlier return to daily activities and it reduces the need for long-term care by providing earlier intervention.
Licensed Physical Therapists are well qualified and highly educated to provide services independent of referral from physicians. Physical Therapists are now educated at the Doctoral level, in fact, about 60% of the physical therapists at RehabAuthority have Doctorate degrees, the remaining Physical Therapists have Master’s degrees.
Insurance companies and the Federation of Sate Boards of Physical Therapy affirm that direct access does not jeopardize the health, safety, or welfare of the patients seeking physical therapists’ services with a referral. Health Providers Service Organization, the leading liability insurer of Physical Therapists in the United States, indicated that “Direct access is not a risk factor… and…has not negatively impacted our claims experience in any way.
So, call your Physical Therapist today! Your RehabAuthority Physical Therapist will provide you with the medical expertise you are entitled to, or they will refer to the specialist that you need to see for your particular medical condition.