How should I implement Remote Therapeutic Monitoring in my Physical or Occupational Therapy clinic?
I’ve implemented multiple enterprise software products in different ways, such as helping lead the Tableau roll out to 30,000 Deloitte Consulting employees or when I stood up a brand new team to use a new contract review software that became a stand alone offering. I have learned a lot (most of it by trial and error) along the way. This may sound odd, however, I see a lot of similarities between consultants and physical therapists - they are both typically overworked, have become VERY accustomed to doing their work a certain way, and are likely to not personally benefit from a process change. So, how should clinic and practice owners think about implementing Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) in their clinic? In short, do it in phases, create champions, and shorten the feedback loop.
We’ve been lucky to have amazing partners like Pure Movement New Mexico to help us iron out some kinks and develop a set of implementation principles that follow 3 categories - Phase Everything, Communication is Key, and Know Yourself - let’s dive in!
Phase Everything - While Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) is new, in terms of a new set of codes, the activities underlying the codes are not. Ask an PT how often they text with their patients even after the patient has been discharged, answer a phone call about a patient’s home exercise program, or email back and forth about a pain flare up and you will see that RTM was a long time coming. Since PTs are already doing all this RTM should be easy, right? Bad assumption. To maximize clinician and therefore patient adoption which is key to reaching the reimbursement requirements, clinic owners should focus on quick wins and building momentum by focusing only on codes 98975 and 98977. To even further segment, we advise that the initial phase be only with 5-10% of your clinicians, preferably ones who self-select or volunteer as these will become your champions for the future phases. Once the initial phase is complete then the full roll out is very dependent on the nuance of your specific organization (Know Yourself).
Communication is Key - Forcing clinicians (and patients) to adopt a new tool is a recipe for disaster (case in point - forcing clinicians to adopt a glorified billing platform AKA the EMR). You can start off on the right foot by phasing everything, however, if you do not have a communication strategy for what to tell your clinicians and just as importantly what they will tell their patients. To set up the right communication strategy you need to have three communciation channels in place - 1. Why our clinic is doing this. 2. How to provide feedback. 3. Ideas for further integration. This will ensure that your clinicians are a part of the entire process, will have their voices heard if there are issues, and will have an opportunity to provide additional opportunity areas you may not recognize. We have developed language through trial and error for each of these channels that are a part of our onboarding process.
Know Yourself - Finally, you have to know yourself and your organization. What does success look like? What timeline do you want to adhere to? What comfort level do you have with change management? This will be different for every clinic. One clinic will want to only do codes 98975 and 98977 while another will be looking at 98980 in combination with a post-discharge engagement plan to increase recurring revenue. Both goals are right, as long as they are truly right for that organization. An easy way to think this through is to write a press release or internal company memo from 6-12 months in the future with what you would want it to say in a perfect world. That’s your North star, now go get it.
Want to explore if Remote Therapeutic Monitoring is right for your organization? Submit this form or shoot me a note at (steven@srahealth.com) to learn more.
