No going back...

This time in history more than ever has created a need to 'get back to normal', yet there is growing belief that normal is being redefined.

We will not go back to normal.  Normal never was.  We should not long to return, my friends we are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment.   - Sonya Renee Taylor

The 'glory days' of an abundance of services and reimbursement is in the rear view. 

Why is it that we resist that reality?

Let's jump into a snapshot of the history of our profession related to payor relations.  The yearly Medicare reductions, growing CCI edits, cost containment programs i.e. MIPS/PQRS, implementation of 3rd-party administrators to regulate access, number of visits/modalities by private payors each have impacted the front end delivery of care.  

Then there is the expectation of getting paid once a claim is submitted, well it's not that simple.  If you're a director you know what I'm talking about.  If you're a staff therapist, let's just say getting paid from a 3rd party payor is not timely, nor typically accurate.

Even the 'wins' of direct access and the end of the Medicare cap, weren't so much of a win as they were an exhale.  Repealing the cap was a 20 year battle, and direct access is a limited win as it doesn't extend to reimbursement, only to access to services.

When I looked at the facts of what was happening year after year despite efforts by the APTA, it was clear that our future was already written.

We've had endless experiences throughout our lives where we don't get what we want.  Many think I'm a naysayer or that I'm giving in.  Absolutely the opposite.  

There was a decision I had to make:

1. Do I follow the written story ahead (I'm not a follower)
2. Do I quit the profession and find another passion (no way, PT is how I show up and serve)
3. Do I write my own history - HECK YES!

Now that I had my focus, I shifted my emotion to my own experiences.....

• as a recipient of physical therapy as a young athlete
• as a driven graduate student ready to take on every challenge
• as a 15 year professional and the abundance of meaningful shared relationships with individuals giving the best of themselves to find health

This is what I chose to live in my future.  My focus was now clear and I had the feeling and emotion inside me to help me overcome the belief that 'I wasn't a risk taker' as well as any aspects of impostor syndrome. 

So what next???  I had to figure out how to make it happen.

A little secret....  there's a big rock on a quiet little beach in northern California that has become my place to ground myself.  The place I go inside and find the solitude for clarity and wisdom.  It's what I needed to leap past my tendency to plan everything and TRUST MYSELF fully.  

In 2016 I wrote my own story and continue to live my truth as a therapy professional in service to clients.  There is no going back to the exhaustion, the stress, the frustration.

As always, think differently. 

Stitch a new garment.