"Physical therapy is not a subspecialty of the medical profession and physical therapists are not medical doctors; we are a separate profession that provides a unique service that physicians are unable and untrained to provide."

Letter to the AMA from the APTA, Dec 2009

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Physical Therapists' Seminar Hosts ACO Expert Lou Galterio

Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) are new entities organized under the Medicare Shared Savings Program. An ACO is a vertically integrated network of providers such as hospitals, doctors, surgeons, home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities and, possibly, private practice physical therapists' clinics.


Lou Galterio, MBA, HiMSS Fellow, will present his knowledge as the Chief Executive Officer of the Suncoast Regional Information Organization (RHIO).

A RHIO is responsible for setting up local Health Information Exchanges (HIE) to connect hospitals with disparate electronic medical records located in individual physicians private offices.

Lou is the guy who will connect the wires that link the acute care hospital and the downstream private practices of physicians, surgeons and physical therapists.

Lou does a good job of making this complex concept simple.

The Florida Physical Therapists' in Private Practice (FLPTPP) will host Lou and several other ACO experts in a two-day seminar discussing clinical, legal, regulatory and technical aspects of ACO formation.

Mike Magidson, Esq of Blalock/Walters of Bradenton, Florida wll present An Overview of Proposed ACO Rules and Regulations for Physical Therapists.

Kathleen Heargraves, CPA of Kerkering/Barberio of Sarasota will present Medicare Audits Under the Shared Savings Program (ACOs).

You can sign up for the August 2-day, 14-CEU seminar here using the web form at the FLPTPP website or you may also register by calling either one of these phone numbers:

1.813.874.2500 (office)

Toll Free: 888-MSK-4331


The course is being held at the Lake Buena Vista Embassy Suites. The Reservation phone number is (407) 239-1144. Ask for the $85 seminar pricing.

Free Tutorial

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Tim Richardson, PT owns a private practice at Medical Arts Rehabilitation, Inc in Palmetto, Florida. The clinic website is at MedicalArtsRehab.com.

Bulletproof Expert Systems: Clinical Decision Support for Physical Therapists in the Outpatient Setting is a manager's workbook with stories, checklists, charts, graphs, tables, and templates describing how you can use paper-based or computerized tools to improve your clinic's Medicare compliance, process adherence and patient outcomes.

Tim has implemented a computerized Clinical Decision Support (CDS) system in his clinic since 2006 that serves as a Reminder, Alerting, Prompting and Predicting CDS using evidence-based tests and measures.

Tim can be reached at
TimRichPT@BulletproofPT.com .

"Make Decisions like Doctors"


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Consistent with the American Physical Therapy Association Vision Statement for Physical Therapy 2020, the American Physical Therapy Association supports exclusive physical therapist ownership and operation of physical therapy services.