Physical Therapy and Technology

The physical therapy profession is at a crossroads. In the face of falling reimbursement rates and time consuming documentation requirements, today’s health care demands that we do more with less. To grow our income, we must become more efficient with our time. But how?

The solution is technology. Technology has driven efficiencies and time savings into every business sector, physical therapy is next. With ubiquitous smart phone use by our patients and inexpensive, internet enabled tablet computers for our therapists, an ecosystem exists to drive major efficiencies in our treatment of care. The adoption of electronic medical records kicked off the first wave of technology in the clinic. The next wave will drive the greatest efficiencies – technologies which enable patients and therapists to connect and communicate throughout the rehabilitation process. Social Media, SMS/Email alerts, and Apps are just a few ares of technology that have tapped into the healthcare sector.  How will these impact the physical therapy space and how we treat?  How will they impact patient outcomes?

In the next few weeks, you will see a series of posts, each focusing on a different piece of technology that has yet to captivate the physical therapy profession. Stay tuned…

Bronwyn Spira, PT, and Tejal Ramaiya, DPT, CSCS authored this guest post. They can be found at www.forcetherapeutics.com, www.facebook.com/forcetherapeutics, or www.twitter.com/ForceTherEx.