Direct Access; What is it? And How Does it Affect Me?
What Exactly is Direct Access?
Navigating through your healthcare options can be difficult. The path to treatment and recovery is rarely direct and usually involves a lot of obstacles, round-about pathways, and unnecessary stress. This is where Direct Access comes in (at least for your physical therapy care!)
On a very basic level — Direct Access allows physical therapists to treat patients without a doctor’s prescription.
There are many different levels of Direct Access across the United States, and you can read more about your specific state by following this link. For federally relevant information, check out this site.
The benefits of direct access to a PT appointment are as follows.
1. You can get your treatment a lot faster
2. The costs of your healthcare go down.
You don’t have to spend time and money seeing your doctor before getting a prescription in order to begin your physical therapy treatment.
When Did Direct Access Start?
This premise was implemented in all 50 states as of January 2015. Despite this, many people (including those in the health and wellness community) still do not utilize it or know what it is.
Most people visit a doctor to confirm that they need to see a physical therapist. They end up waiting for an unnecessary doctor’s appointment just to obtain a referral to physical therapy. This is no longer necessary with Direct Access.
The waiting process can take days or even weeks . This means you’re most likely making your injury worse and increasing your pain. Using the BetterPT app, you can directly search, book, and manage your PT sessions without waiting for a doctor to sign off on them.
Your treatment can start the same day as your pain so your day-to-day activities can go back to normal as soon as possible. While some people still wait to see if their condition improves without assistance, there are many reasons to begin physical therapy.
So far, the Direct Access movement has been slowly pushing forward. Not all clinics, doctors, or patients are aware that it exists. You can help change that by educating your friends and family with this knowledge so that Direct Access becomes common knowledge! While your insurance company provides information about what is (or isn’t) covered by your plan, so do individual physical therapy clinic and provider websites. The more you know about your clinic of choice, the better. This includes information about offerings like PT specialties, employees, clinic locations, patient reviews, and much more.
Direct Access to Physical Therapy Makes the Process Much More Appealing to Patients
For those that haven’t ever used physical therapy services, beginning treatment might be intimidating. You may wonder what to expect at a physical therapy appointment. Some wonder if there’s a “best” time to start treatment. You may even wonder if you need to bring someone along. Luckily for you and other patients, these questions are answered easily. Reach out to your clinic of choice and simply ask. Your fitness goals are important to your therapist, too. Their goal is to help you reach your goals, but they can’t do that if you’re not willing to share what you’re looking to accomplish. October is National Physical Therapy Month, but that doesn’t mean waiting until then to seek out treatment.
It isn’t only Olympic athletes that benefit from a PT appointment or series of appointments. Nearly everyone that experiences an injury or goes through a recovery period will benefit from physical therapy. Another thing to consider? Even if you’re perfectly healthy but want to focus on an aspect of self-care like flexibility, balance or endurance, physical therapy may be for you, too. Doing exercise is always a good option for activity – you just need to pick the one (ones) that are best for you!
Schedule Your Appointment Today!
Our goal at BetterPT is to empower you to make the best healthcare decisions when it comes to physical therapy and to speed up your recovery process. Use the BetterPT clinic location tool or download the mobile app to locate physical therapy clinics near you. These options make it possible to connect with the medical care that you need in a way that is most convenient for you.
Utilizing the BetterTelehealth network is another way to attend a PT appointment. This gives patients a way to connect virtually without sacrificing the quality of care or convenience. Finding the right physical therapist is only the first step in your treatment and recovery process. Building a routine and monitoring progress go hand in hand, but these are only possible with commitment. This commitment begins when you schedule your first appointment.
Feel free to visit and share this link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb4XvTgilGg – to learn more about direct access.
You may also want to follow this blog to get more information on the most important updates in the health, wellness, and physical therapy industries!
