Help for Back Pain Rests in Patient Engagement
You’ve likely already seen the statistics on low back pain. And if so, you know as many as 80% of us will have an episode of back pain at some point in our lives.
Thankfully, in many cases back pain resolves on its own without needing treatment. Others are not as fortunate. This pain doesn’t go away and may become chronic or recurring.
In the end, low back pain (LBP) is the main cause of disability worldwide and leads to billions of dollars spent on healthcare for this condition alone.
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons:
- In 2004, the estimated annual direct cost of treating back pain was $193.9 billion.
- Between 1996 and 2004, the cost of spine conditions, in 2004 dollars, increased by 49 percent. The largest share of increase was related to prescription medications.
- In addition, annual indirect costs for lost wages resulting from back pain were estimated to add another $22.4 billion to this cost.
Even though the problem of back pain is widespread, very few people see a physical therapist as the entry point into the healthcare system.
Patterns vary widely depending on region, but nationally it is less than 10% and even as low as 3% in some areas.
Research also shows that getting advanced imaging like CT scans and MRIs often leads to invasive procedures ranging from injections to spinal fusion with very mixed results and high costs.
While there is strong research to show that seeing a physical therapist first for an episode of LBP saves the patient and the healthcare system money, this information is not widely known.
Promoting direct access continues to be a focal point for therapists in the outpatient setting. There is a lot of work to be done in this area as many patients are unaware that a referral isn’t needed.
So questions to ponder:
- How can we in the physical therapy community set ourselves apart as the provider of choice?
- How can we ensure that patients think of us as the first provider to go to with pain issues, specifically low back pain?
- What’s the best way to maintain those connections we have?
Patient engagement is a buzzword right now and for good reason.
Healthcare consumers (and insurance providers like Medicare) are demanding more value.
We need to be able to stay connected with our patients and find new ways to give high quality care while cutting costs.
Many patients are willing to pay cash for PT services but often at the unintended cost of coming to sessions less frequently.
Thankfully there are technological advancements like telehealth that can help fill the gap, providing interaction with patients on those days when a session at the clinic is not possible.
These options can be a win-win scenario for both patients and providers.
References
BMJ research on LBP: http://ard.bmj.com/content/73/6/968.full
AAOS costs of back pain: http://www.aaos.org/AAOSNow/2009/Jan/research/research6/
AAPM statistics on pain: http://www.painmed.org/patientcenter/facts_on_pain.aspx
APTA Entry point of PT saves money: http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2015/9/4/MedicaidLBP/
Direct access to PT saves money: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-6773.2011.01324.x/abstract
Early PT gets results and saves money: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26755406/
Written by Sean Hagey (Twitter: @seanhagey). Originally published at www.inhandhealth.com.
