Medicare Advocacy for 2027 – Live Webinar

Earn 1 hour of continuing education by joining OT Potential after taking this course.

Course Description

The 2027 Physician Fee Schedule is signaling restructuring of clinician payment, redistributing funding further towards primary care and behavioral health, and greater incentives to participate in accountable care organizations. 

OTs and PTs can no longer sit on the sidelines. The time to carve in our roles as members of the primary care team and outreach directly to accountable care organizations is now. 

This year’s proposed rule is a powerful opportunity to take the next steps in advocating for CMS to fund our services in a way that’s commensurate with the value we create in the healthcare continuum. 

At OT Potential we are equipping YOU to raise your voice. In this live webinar and course, we are going to spend an hour diving deep into the relevant parts of the new proposed rule, so you can understand the challenges and opportunities. We’ll be led by The incredible Dana Strauss, a doctor of physical therapy and healthcare public policy expert.

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OT Potential courses are presented as live webinars, then released on-demand video and audio via the OT Potential Podcast. Attendance in the live webinar will be indicated on your certificate. Learn more about how our courses help meet live webinar requirements, and OT CEU requirements overall.

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Learning Objectives

• You will identify how OTs & PTs are currently limited by the physician fee schedule to provide services to older adults with complex care needs. 
• You will be able to recognize our tiered payment and new codes could expand OT and PT’s ability to meet the care needs of older adults.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Discussion (40 minutes)

1. What is the physician fee schedule? Why is it important?
2. Who’s upset and who’s happy with the new physician fee schedule?
3. Why am I hearing about a cut to OT/PT? 
4. What’s the good news for OT/PT? 
5. What is the big overall opportunity and ask for OT/PT this year? 
6. Does elevating primary care team membership detract from our hard fought win in specialized care?
7. What are the super nerdy parts of this letter you are watching- and we need to be aware of? 
8. What is a request for comment vs. a request for information? & Why is it important to respond? 
9. How to OTs/PTs comment on this proposal and why does that matter? What do other providers often do? 
10. Do comments really matter? 
11. We have a template for commenting on the proposed rule, what steps you ended up taking to comment by Sept. 14th.

Live Q&A (5-10 min) 

Closing (5 min)

Supporting Research and Journal Articles

• Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Interventions in Health Promotion and Primary Prevention for Adults: A Systematic Review
• Clinical and Economic Outcomes Associated With Musculoskeletal Care in an Integrated Advanced Primary Care Model: Controlled Cohort Analysis
• A Review of the Role Played by Physical and Occupational Therapists in the U.S. Treating Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders – 2015-2025

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn more about Medicare advocacy for 2027. The educational level is introductory.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic. 

Speakers

Dana Strauss PT, DPT

Dana took her clinical experience as a doctor of physical therapy and expertise in the health care continuum and transitioned her career to value based care and policy analysis and expertise. She believes the healthcare system can meet everyone’s needs better. Her passion is moving towards the optimal patient experience and outcomes wherever an individual is in the spectrum of wellness, illness or injury, chronic care, or serious illness. She is optimistic about payer/provider synergistic relationships making healthcare better for everyone along the care continuum and is confident that innovative re-imagining of the roles and responsibilities of sites of care, including the home, can lead to higher value and superior quality of care for all. She recognizes there is a common imperative of a culture shift to dismantle the barriers and unlock the possibilities that lead to true care transformation. She uses insights gleaned from close collaboration with data analytics to demonstrate opportunity to providers and sites of care delivery, moving the needle on change.

Dana is a subject matter expert in care transitions, care coordination, all sites of the acute and post-acute care continuum and their payment incentives and structures, case management, and alternative payment models. She has worked directly with hospitals and physician partners successfully implementing BPCI, CJR, BPCI-A, accountable care organizations, and other alternative payment models. She has strong experience in leadership, strategic partnerships, business development, rehabilitation, and mentoring clinicians and budding leaders. Her special interests are palliative care and home-based care, and how they can strengthen new care delivery models and the shift to value.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011.

Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital. Sarah is the founder/owner of OT Potential. Read more about OT Potential here.

This course was designed to meet your continuing education requirements

We designed the courses in the Club to meet the requirements for “online” and “independent/self-study” courses. To verify the requirements from your specific state (within the US), check out our post, OT Continuing Education Requirements. If you are outside of the United States and have questions, please contact us.

We are proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider and to meet the requirements for your NBCOT renewal.

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