title: Managed health care: therapist responsibilities.
abstract: Goals identified by managed health care organizations are to contain costs and to provide services that produce functional outcomes. Burn clients with managed care have experienced a lack of reimbursement for rehabilitation that results in less than functional outcomes. For therapy to receive reimbursement the therapist's responsibilities must begin on day 1 of burn injury. Traditional burn therapist responsibilities must be coupled with interactions to families, managed care, employers, and case managers. Clinical skills must foster the client assuming responsibility for improvement and returning to preinjury activities. Therapists must develop the ability to communicate and present data illustrating the why of therapy as it relates to costs, goals, and time frames. Anticipating and developing rationale for burn rehabilitation can facilitate reimbursement, minimize delay between inpatient/outpatient therapy programs, and ensure that the client obtains functional outcomes. Information to assist the therapist to develop appropriate information for reimbursement of burn rehabilitation is presented.
authors.affiliation: Firefighters' Regional Burn Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fletchall
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Hickerson
mesh_terms: D002056:Burns / Q000191:economics* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics*; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration