Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Revolution Health Provider Listings

I just visited Revolution Health (www.revolutionhealth.com) and realized that the provider listings they had on file for me were WAY outdated.  Apparently they used a shotgun approach and listed almost every place I had worked in the past 10 years.  I'd suggest a little Internet surfing over to their website and check your listing.  You can make the correction request directly from their website.

If you are a Physical Therapist look under Specialists then in the Therapy-Physical category.

Cheers!

Friday, April 18, 2008

On line Reviews of Doctors Poll at CNN.com

I just noticed that according to an obviously very unscientific poll of CNN.com readers of just over 100,000 poll respondents 82% reported that they do not trust online reviews of doctors.  First I have to give credit to the collective wisdom of these respondents but I'd sure be interested to know why.  I've always found most online reviews to be predominated by those with an axe to grind because of an isolated bad experience or some other similar reason.  Satisfied customers and in this case patients are generally not as motivated to voice their opinions.

The story associated with this poll can be read at How to Find a Doctor Online

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Evernote Beta Invitation

I have 8 4 2 Evernote Invites to their Beta release. If anyone is interested, drop me a note, I'd be glad to invite you in to test drive.

Sorry the invites are all taken.

Monday, April 07, 2008

A Clinical/Research Track Model for Physical Therapists

A story published in the San Diego Union Tribune regarding The Scripps Research Institute and their proposal to open a new medical school with a dual track for both clinical training as well as research would seem to be an excellent model for Physical Therapy education programs to consider.  Considering the strong push to further the EBM model and the considerable amount of solid research being produced of late this would seem to be an opportune time to consider this same model in order to train the clinical researchers of tomorrow.

This approach would certainly go a long way toward remedying my previously expressed concerns regarding the tendencies of our profession to adopt techniques and technologies before they have been adequately vetted by researchers and demonstrated their value and efficacy.

Another PT Takes Up the Blogging Challenge

Tim Richardson, PT, one of the subjects of the bradenton.com story which was previously mentioned in this blog has launched his own efforts on a couple of different websites.  First, to help spread the Physical Therapy gospel he has launched a blog at www.physicaltherapydiagnosis.com and also has demonstrated one of the many ways Physical Therapists can use the power of the Internet to communicate with colleagues as well as healthcare consumers.  You can view his efforts on this front at www.physical-therapy-videos.com.

On a side note I'd like to extend my appreciation for Tim's plugging of a new website which is now being launched at www.tech4pt.com.  TECH4PT.com is a community based website devoted to promoting the use of technology including the many possibilities provided by the Internet to enhance the practice and business of Physical Therapy.  As this site is still under considerable construction, I invite anyone who is interested to register and contribute.  There are mechanisms for submitting news stories related to the subject matter of the website as well as contributing relevant web links to other sites.  I look forward to this website developing as it builds its own member community.  If you have suggestions on how to make the site even better please feel free to use the "Feedback" mechanism on the www.tech4pt.com website.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Wellpoint Won't Pay for Treatment Due to Medical Errors

Oh boy, I can't wait to start seeing the fallout from this Insurer policy.  WellPoint: 11 errors off-limits

This looks like a real can of worms.  Who is going to pay then?  The patient?  Considering the economic pressures already taking their toll on providers and hospitals I can't see these treatments, many of which have potential to be extremely expensive, being provided for free.  Some day we are going to have to accept the fact that perfection is an unreasonable expectation and that despite best efforts, bad things happen.

Widely Used But Untested Interventions

When reading this Physiospot Blog entry on Neural Mobilization it brought to mind a question I've had many times over the years.  What is it about Physical Therapy that interventions become so widely used without undergoing any kind of rigorous testing or trials?  Whether it is low-level laser, myofascial release, neural mobilization or anything else for that matter.  We seem to willing to take it on the word of some device manufacturer or even worse some self appointed guru that their interventions work.  How do we know?  It sometimes seems to me that not only do PT's seem to have some innate "peace gene" but seem to have lost their "skepticism gene" somewhere along the way as well.