[Dysphagia] Off topic - recent ASHA Leader

[connorswa at ph.upmc.edu (Connors, William A.)]

Not sure where you're from Marcia, but around here nurses are generally paid more than SLPs and are in much greater demand.  



-----Original Message-----
From: dysphagia-bounces@b9.com [mailto:dysphagia-bounces@b9.com]On Behalf Of Buckie,Marcia
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 1:31 PM
To: Ralph and Patti; dysphagia@b9.com
Subject: RE: [Dysphagia] Off topic - recent ASHA Leader

Sorry , this is a delayed response.

I just had lunch a couple of weeks ago with one of  my old college roomates, who is an OTR with 14 years of experience, largely in medical/physical rehab. Between the two of us, we have probably worked at 15 different hospitals in as many states (she was a traveling therapist.)

We both have come to the conclusion that defending what you do is the nature of the beast. It is not all bad, either. When we are questioned, we really examine the methods of assessment and treatment we use for various conditions and patients. We have long since lost the 'save the world" with therapy vigor that we once had, but we still believe our professional efforts help our patients. We need to always be reviewing why we are doing things, and is it yielding results that are worth the money we expect to be reimbursed for, our allocate our clinical time to (the hospitals money, ultimately.) ?

Of course it is extremely frustrating to work hard and smart and be concerned that you will not be able to provide vital services to patients who need them.

I guess my point (s) are: 1) no one in healthcare is immune to this, including every type of physician and surgeon, psychologists, pharmacists, etc. We have to always prove our worth. The only profession that I see this not being an issue is nurses. Which is highly ironic to me, because they are often lower paid, laid off more, etc. However, if you stripped a hospital to its absolute nuts and bolts, they'd be the few left. 2) The scrutiny we have from payors and patients and our colleagues, helps us examine what we are doing and help us determine that approaches that are most beneficial.

Doesn't make your job any easier , though, does it/ Just thought I'd put a little padding on the wall we sometimes feel we are banging our head against. :)

Marcia

        -----Original Message-----
        From: dysphagia-bounces@b9.com on behalf of Ralph and Patti
        Sent: Sat 3/5/2005 2:34 PM
        To: dysphagia@b9.com
        Cc:
        Subject: [Dysphagia] Off topic - recent ASHA Leader
       
       

        This is off topic, but I need to vent somewhere and I know this list serve is savvy.  I just received my new ASHA Leader and now BCBS is denying claims for cognitive/linguistic deficits and MEDPAC is placing a barrier for services.  This coupled with the intermediary denials of claims for dysphagia unless a VFSS confirms a deficit sets us back to the stone age.  My question is why do I bother to practice when the powers that be seem to have so much more knowledge about intervention than I do.  Did I fall asleep in school and miss a lesson of the world???ASHA is certainly advocating, but in the meantime, where am I as a clinician.  When I see powerful functional outcomes, I cannot deny the interventions.  Is anyone else tired of defending their profession or is it just me?  Patti
        _______________________________________________
        Dysphagia mailing list
        Dysphagia@b9.com
        http://lists.b9.com/mailman/listinfo/dysphagia
       


_______________________________________________
Dysphagia mailing list
Dysphagia@b9.com
http://lists.b9.com/mailman/listinfo/dysphagia