Physicians

SUMMARY

Many of the conditions health providers encounter today in their patients are the result of life choices. This situation affects society in many ways, including increased insurance costs. Full Potential Physical Therapy can help patients address their lifestyle choices and guide them to a healthier future.

MODERN HEALTH CARE

By Vince Hanneken, PT

Today's physicians and others in the health-care field must cope with an increased demand for solutions to what are essentially lifestyle problems. These problems include obesity, diabetes, chronic musculoskeletal pain, fibromyalgia and depression, just to name a few. Finding effective answers to these situations is made all the more difficult by trying to function in a health payment system that is becoming more reluctant to pay for this type of patient. It's easy to see why. For example, according to a recent Newsweek article, the costs for spinal pain patients have increased from $50 billion in 1997 to $80 billion in 2005. Back pain is just one example of the difficulty in effectively treating a society that partly appears to be the victim of technological advances that have made life too easy.

In addition, our pharmaceutical industry is quite content to create drugs to handle the symptomatic disturbances of the body. And yet, if these drugs were truly handling the cause of the problem, our costs and numbers of patients would be going down, not up. Symptomatic relief gives the patient the impression that their solution is going to be instant and come primarily from outside themselves, as opposed to the more demanding but realistic solution of self-ownership.

Owning their problem and realizing their role in the solution is a much needed step for today's patients. The cost of insurance and medical expenses relates partly to the lack of patient responsibility. In many respects, it is a good thing that co-pays are going up for health services since it pushes people to evaluate their priorities. Typically, people that come to physical therapy and have to invest $300 to $500 in co-pays and co-insurance are the serious patients. They typically will make the best use of their investment and will get better faster and stay better as opposed to someone with complete coverage. It is even more interesting to observe patients who do not have insurance and still find a way to come to therapy. Their exercise consistency and improvements in lifestyle behaviors are usually very high. In addition, they continue to exercise after their therapy is complete because they feel the money they spent was an investment and they want their efforts to pay a dividend, i.e., better health.

Physical therapy is a profession that can play a strong role in influencing our society's lifestyle problems. Full Potential Physical Therapy recognizes the complexity of our new breed of patients and we consider your referrals an opportunity to invest properly in the people of our community. Our technology to address the musculoskeletal problems is very effective. We emphasize properly educating patients in their role in breaking the cycle of chronicity and giving them the tools to succeed. If you would like an example of our effectiveness with previous referrals, please click onto our Testimonials webpage and see what our patients have to say about us. We look forward to working with you during these challenging but rewarding times.