Taking Care of Your Heart

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and is largely preventable! There is so much you can do to take care of your aging heart and reduce your risk of developing heart disease.

Sleep Well
Poor sleep quality is associated with high blood pressure and cholesterol. Aim for at least 7– 8 hours of restful sleep each night to promote healing and improved brain function.

Manage Weight
Being overweight can cause damage to your heart and impact cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose.

Eat Healthily
Eat a healthy, balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and whole grains. Limit foods high in saturated fat which can raise your cholesterol as well as foods high in sodium which can raise your blood pressure.

Stay Active
Daily exercise such as a 30-minute walk can help improve blood flow and lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Avoid inactivity! The more activity you can do the better.

Reduce Stress
Stress causes your heart rate to increase and blood vessels to narrow. Learn how to control stress through deep breathing and other healthy relaxation exercises.

How Can Therapy Help?

Physical and Occupational Therapists can help you develop a healthier lifestyle and reduce many risk factors that cause heart disease. Physical therapists can help teach you how to exercise appropriately for joint mobility, muscle strength, and fitness. Occupational therapists can help you safely do the things you want to do, stay active, and live well despite limitations. Talk to your doctor today about the benefits of physical and occupational therapy!

Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

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Benefits of Afternoon Naps

Daytime napping is common across many cultures and age groups. Did you know taking a short daily nap can boost your mood, energy, and memory? In fact, napping has many proven health benefits.

Benefits of Napping:

  • Reduce Stress
  • Improve Performance
  • Heighten Alertness
  • Improve Mood
  • Improve Memory
  • Reduced Risk of Heart Disease

Tips for Healthy Napping
The National Sleep Foundation recommends napping for about 20 minutes. This length of time will help you recharge but not leave you feeling sleepy. After approximately 30 minutes of sleep, your body may enter deep sleep. Waking during this cycle can be difficult and leave you feeling groggy.

Take your nap in the early afternoon before 3:00 pm. Napping too late in the day can disrupt your regular nighttime sleep. Some people like to nap shortly after eating lunch. To get into a healthy napping routine, try scheduling your nap at the same time every day.

How Can Therapy Help?
Physical and Occupational Therapists help address sleep issues and promote optimal sleep performance. Therapy helps by addressing conditions that may be causing poor sleep quality, managing pain and fatigue, overcoming common barriers, and also helping establish good bedtime routines. Talk with your doctor to see if therapy could benefit you!


Source: Sleep Foundation

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Breathe Better with Postural Drainage Therapy

Mucus in the lungs is a common symptom of many chronic lung diseases. Mucus plays an essential role by trapping irritants to protect your body from infection. However, for people living with chronic lung conditions such as COPD, asthma, and chronic bronchitis – the mucus can collect in your airway in excess.

Percussion and Postural Drainage Therapy can help treat breathing problems due to inflammation and mucus in the airways and lungs. Postural Drainage Therapy uses percussions, gravity, vibration, and deep breathing to loosen and drain mucus from the lungs and stimulate a productive cough to clear airways. Unclogging the airways is vital to keeping the lungs healthy.

Our therapists can provide treatment for respiratory conditions and help you remain physically active. Talk with your doctor about your condition and ask if Physical, Occupational, or Speech Therapy could benefit you.

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Tips to Prevent Low Back Pain

Low back pain is very common and can affect 4 out of 5 people at some time during their lives. As a person ages, lower back pain becomes even more prevalent. The lower back is involved in almost all activities of daily living like standing, walking, and lifting. Low back pain can limit many activities and reduce your quality of life. Although the causes can vary for each person; here are a few tips to prevent injury and pain.

How Therapy Can Help
If back pain is impacting your quality of life, talk with your doctor about physical therapy. A physical therapist will assess problems and recommend an individualized treatment plan with key exercises to improve your condition.


Sources: Sleepfoundation.org, Merck Manuals Online Medical Library

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Physical Therapy Can Help You!

Physical therapists work with people of all ages to feel and move better.  They can help maximize your movement, manage pain, avoid surgery, manage chronic conditions and recover from and prevent injury.

Here are some ways physical therapy can help you:

Manage Pain

Physical therapists use a variety of treatment approaches to address the root cause of your pain and movement limitations.  Physical therapy is recommended as a safe alternative to opioids for pain management.

Maximize Movement

Physical therapists can help you maintain or restore as much function as possible to move safely and effectively.  Regular physical activity can improve many chronic conditions and overall quality of life.

Improve Balance and Reduce Fall Risk

Physical therapists can help assess your fall risk factors and design a treatment plan to address your balance deficits.  Physical therapy helps to restore balance, mobility and strength.

 

Physical therapists work hard to help patients maintain and regain their quality of life. Speak with your doctor to find out how Physical Therapy could benefit you!

Source:  ChoosePT provided by APTA

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Falls Prevention for Older Adults

Each year 1 in 3 older adults will experience a fall; which is why it’s vitally important to pay attention to your body and stay on top of your balance. To prevent falls, the CDC recommends adults age 65+ should be screened yearly for fall risk or any time after a fall occurs. You can also check your risk for falling by answering the below 12 questions.

https://www.cdc.gov/steadi/pdf/STEADI-Brochure-StayIndependent-508.pdf

Therapy Can Help Reduce Falls & Improve Balance

Talk with your doctor if you fall, worry about falling, or feel unsteady. Physical Therapists provide balance training to restore and correct your balance. Occupational Therapists provide training on assistive devices and home safety to reduce your risk for falls.

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SNF Claims with Zero Hospital Days Prior to Admission Under Review

Blog by: Stacy Baker, OTR/L, RAC-CT, CHC, Proactive Medical Review

Effective July 15, 2022, HHS Secretary extended the PHE, the new expiration date being October 13, 2022. CMS continues to recognize that disruptions arising from a PHE can affect coverage under the SNF benefit:

  • Prevent a patient from having the 3-day inpatient QHS.
  • Disrupt the process of ending patient’s current benefit period and renewing their benefits.

While providers may continue using the QHS and Benefit Period Waivers, documentation needs to support how the skilled stay relates to the PHE, and in the absence of the pandemic, that the skilling condition would have required an inpatient hospital stay.

Going back to the March 13, 2020 letter to HHS from CMS Administrator, “SNF care without a 3-day inpatient hospital stay will be covered for beneficiaries who experience dislocations or are otherwise affected by the emergency, such as those who are (1) evacuated from a nursing home in the emergency area, (2) discharged from a hospital (in the emergency or receiving locations) in order to provide care to more seriously ill patients, or (3) need SNF care as a result of the emergency…” The letter goes on to state that the benefit period waiver “will apply only for those beneficiaries who have been delayed or prevented by the emergency itself…”

Furthermore, Proactive has seen recent medical review activity from the Supplemental Medical Review Contractor (SMRC), Noridian. Their current project reports that data analysis completed by CMS and the SMRC identified a potential area of vulnerability, and the SMRC is tasked to perform a medical review on SNF claims (3/1/2020 – 12/31/2021) that had zero hospital days prior to admission.

Click here to continue reading this blog.

 

About Proactive Medical Review
HTS partners with Proactive Medical Review, a third party company who specializes in ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and promoting measurable care excellence. The team includes SNF experienced nurse, MDS, Health Facility Administrator, therapist and reimbursement specialists with experience serving in multi-site contract therapy operations, as corporate directors of quality, clinical program specialists, and Compliance Officers. Proactive is uniquely positioned to assist in managing the many changes and challenges facing providers partnered with HTS. Learn more about our commitment to compliance here.

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What We Are Loving Right Now… Benchmarking!

By: Sheena Mattingly, HTS Director of Clinical Outcomes

What we’re loving right now is benchmarking. Before you call me a data nerd, which I certainly am, let me explain. HTS invests in Business Intelligence (BI) software which is used to analyze outcomes. This information is used for everything from reviewing areas of opportunity to optimizing processes.

Recently, we have been able to benchmark HTS data against national peers. It’s extremely important to be able to measure key performance indicators at the site level compared to internal standards. Arguably, more importantly, we need to be able to measure data at the company level and compare it to external standards. This is the way most industries operate. Unfortunately, benchmarking data in the long-term care space has not been available to us in the past.

Now that Net Health has acquired the two largest therapy documentation software companies (Optima and Casamba), this means we have access to most SNF rehab data across the nation. See below for two examples of how HTS uses benchmarking within BI.

National Outcomes

This Dashboard allows HTS to benchmark outcomes against national peers using admission and discharge GG scores as well as the length of stay.

National PDPM Stats

This Dashboard allows HTS to compare facility specific data to the data of similar facilities nationwide. The key performance indicators analyzed include:

  • ALOS
  • Group & Concurrent Percentages
  • Average Daily Treatment Minutes
  • PT/OT CMG Patient Distribution
  • SLP CMG Patient Distribution

With this new tool in our toolbox, we are able to show therapy outcomes in a more objective manner. Also, legislatively speaking, national associations are now more easily able to show CMS the significant impact therapies have on the long-term population’s independence and wellness. This information is crucial to prove why additional cuts to our industry are detrimental.

 

Need a Powerful Therapy Partner? Contact Amanda Green, Executive Director of Strategic Development amanda@htstherapy.com for information about our contract therapy partnerships.

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5 Tips for Aging Well

As we get older, we experience both mental and physical changes to our health. There are strategies for achieving a healthier life to remain active and independent for as long as possible.

 

Move More. Sit Less:  Sitting too much can be harmful to your health. Research suggests adults age 65+ should do at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week. Walking and swimming are both good options of exercise for older adults.

Maintain Your Flexibility:  Flexibility allows us to move our bodies and joints freely and with ease. You can improve your flexibility at any age with gentle stretching and exercise. Stretching each morning can help reduce pain and stiffness and help you move more comfortably throughout the day.

Take Care of Your Joints:  Poor joint health can impact your ability to move and enjoy life. Engage in low-impact exercises such as swimming, walking, yoga, and stretching to ease joint stiffness and help you move more freely. Reduce the stress on your joints by maintaining a healthy weight.

Reduce Your Risk for Cognitive Decline:  A healthy lifestyle that includes regular cardiovascular exercise, a healthy balanced diet, and proper quality sleep can help lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

Prevent Falls & Maintain Balance:  Maintaining good balance and sense of body position is critical to preventing falls. Your balance may be improved with exercises that strengthen the core, back, ankle, knee, and hip muscles along with exercises that improve the function of the balance system.

 

Therapy Can Help Aging Adults Stay Active & Independent

Exercise is extremely important in managing many common symptoms of aging. Physical therapists can teach you how to exercise appropriately for joint mobility, muscle strength, and fitness. Occupational therapists help older adults to safely do the things they want to do, stay active and live well despite limitations. Talk with your doctor to see if Physical, Occupational, or Speech Therapy is right for you.

 

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Outpatient Therapy Helps Older Adults Be Strong, Independent, and Live Life to the Fullest!

How Can Outpatient Therapy Help?

Outpatient rehabilitation services including Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy are available to help patients with a variety of therapeutic solutions.

Physical Therapy works with adults to address lower body strength, walking, balance, and use of assistive devices such as walkers and wheelchairs.  Occupational Therapy focuses on upper body strength, fine motor skills, and the ability to perform daily self-care activities such as bathing and dressing.  Lastly, Speech therapy is available to address communication or swallowing disorders.

 

Common Conditions Treated

Physical, occupational, and speech therapists treat many conditions and injuries on an outpatient basis, including but not limited to:

  • Arthritis
  • Back, Shoulder, and Neck Pain
  • Facial and Jaw Pain
  • Cognitive Decline
  • Balance Disorders
  • Inner Ear Problems
  • Hand Injuries and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  • Knee and Leg Injuries or Pain
  • Neurological Disorders
  • Speech Disorders
  • Swallowing Disorders
  • Sports-related Injuries
  • Work-related Injuries

 

Insurance & Medicare Coverage

Therapy services are covered by Medicare Part B, Medicaid, and other insurance providers. We work with your insurance to verify your benefits prior to starting therapy.  A doctor’s referral is required to access outpatient therapy services. Proactively addressing challenges that you may be facing will help to ensure you are living a healthy and happy life. Contact Therapy today to discuss your concerns and treatment options.

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