What is the purpose of a rehabilitation screen? Very simply, we attempt to identify long-term residents’ needs and possible rehab potential. Somehow, we don’t really have an industry standard...
Defining tolerance in therapy
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Feb 12, 2014
How do you define tolerance? Is tolerance measurable? Is tolerance too subjective? What about activity tolerance? We love to document how patients are improving activity tolerance, but many times that’s...
Top 5 ICD-10 changes for 2014
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Jan 30, 2014
Have you started your countdown clocks yet? It looks like it’s definitely happening this year on Oct. 1, 2014. The transitions from ICD-9 to ICD-10 coding will 100% absolutely take effect for the...
Therapy patients need, and deserve, this simple self-image booster
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Jan 14, 2014
Have you ever had a day when you looked great but felt depressed? Or you looked your worst but felt great? Perception of self-image is stronger than actual self-image with determining our emotions. Would...
Personal stories every therapist should know
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Dec 17, 2013
What’s the point of all of our treatment interventions and plans of care if we can’t relate to our patients? If you can put a face and personality behind your justification for therapy services,...
New career path?
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Dec 03, 2013
How many of you will agree with me that we never fully turn off the internal therapist mode when we’re in public, outside of work hours?
A home-for-the-holidays checklist for therapy patients
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Nov 19, 2013
Well, it’s that time of year already. Hectic schedules, extra weekend shifts and holiday planning. It’s also time for rehab to spend some extra time discussing holiday plans with their patients....
Jimmo and the future of rehab
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Nov 07, 2013
On Jan. 24 of this year, the Jimmo vs. Sebelius class action lawsuit was settled. This was a significant win for us, the healthcare providers. As we continue to work out the details, I feel now is a good...
GTB. AYS?
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Oct 22, 2013
Can anyone guess what the title to this blog is stating? In the current culture of text messaging and abbreviations for everything, it can be a danger zone for medical documentation. Unfortunately, I have...
No more Rehab Medium RUG defaults
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Oct 08, 2013
Well, Oct. 1 has passed, and we’re all still hanging in. The biggest changes we saw to rehab were the addition of reporting co-treatment minutes on our billing logs and Section O on the MDS. And,...