With the recent end of the Hawaii 2017 legislative session, we would like to update our members on what HAPTA did this year and how our efforts turned out. We began 2017 with a contracted lobbyist and some strong strategies. Our plan was for legislators to become familiar with us and to have our voice…
In response to a recent member query, past HAPTA President and “Chapter Historian” Herb Yee provided this authoritative and comprehensive recap about the state of direct access in Hawaii. The issue of insurers continuing to require a physician referral is still prevalent in many if not most states, despite the passage of direct access in…
As the Hawaii legislative session draws to a close, we thought members would be interested in an update about our efforts this year to tackle workers’ compensation (WC) issues. It was our priority this year to tackle: 1. injured workers’ access to medical care, 2. the challenges of physicians and physical therapists taking on WC…
On November 17, the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) held a hearing on a proposal that would have switched the medical fee schedule back to Medicare plus 10 percent. Doing so would have pushed the clock back to a time when reimbursements for workers’ comp cases were barely sustainable. Due to notice…
HPA the Catalyst’s Technology SIG needs your help for an important data standardization project. We are aware that most physical therapists currently use an electronic health record (EHR) for documentation. We are asking that you submit examples of current active physical therapy documentation to aptahpa.org/DataProject, including: Evaluation Reevaluation Progress Report Daily Note Discharge Summary Data…
On January 1, 2017, the PT initial evaluation and reevaluation codes (97001 and 97002) will disappear from the AMA’s CPT coding. Poof. Just like that. That’s right, the AMA will replace codes 97001 and 97002 with 97161, 97162, 97163 (for low, moderate and high complexity initial evaluations) and 97164 (reevaluations). This will affect claims for…
HAPTA member Marco Adamé, PT, DPT, ATC, OCS, received a 2016 APTA Emerging Leader Award, after being nominated by the HAPTA Board of Directors for his work as the chapter’s practice chair and Dry Needling Task Force chair. Each year, APTA accepts nominations from chapters and sections for PT or PTA members who are early…
