The APTA has been working on a plan to reform payment for outpatient physical therapy services to enhance quality of care, recognize and promote clinical judgment and communicate the value of physical therapy services. To achieve these goals, the APTA has developed a proposed payment model for outpatient services.  The alternative payment system (APS) is now known as the physical therapy classification and payment system (PTCPS). The Senior Director of Payment and Practice Management at the APTA, Carmen Elliott, MS, recently joined PT Talker to share details about PTCPS.

The PTCPS will move physical therapy from a procedure based payment system to a per session payment system. The new payment system is based on two concepts. One is the severity of a patient’s condition at the start of care. The second is the intensity of the physical therapy service provided. The current proposal has 3 levels of evaluation and 9 levels of intervention codes to use for patient classification.

Learn more about the timeline for PTCPS and how it will impact your practice by listening to the full podcast now.