Aquatic Therapy Applications for Critical Access Hospitals

Presented By: Elizabeth McDonald, CPTA, Director of Therapy Services and Cardiac Rehabilitation at Gove County Medical Center

Many Critical Access Hospitals have found aquatic therapy to be an ideal match for the unique needs of a rehabilitation department serving a rural community. It can help them to improve and accelerate patient outcomes while offering a service to their community that may not otherwise be available.

In this webinar, Elizabeth McDonald, CPTA, Director of Therapy Services and Cardiac Rehabilitation at Gove County Medical Center, will share the ways they’ve used to aquatic therapy to address several challenges faced by Critical Access Hospitals including reducing outpatient length of stay and increasing patient referrals.

Elizabeth will review why her hospital initially decided to integrate aquatic therapy into their rehabilitation program and how it was intended to be used at the outset. She will then describe how they have progressively expanded the aquatic therapy patient base from orthopedic and post-operative patients to those with MS, Lupus and balance issues then to cancer and cardiac rehab patients. She will also review the unique benefits that aquatic therapy offers each patient group.

She will discuss strategies for using the program to bring in new patients and increase revenue including private pay programs to supplement insurance reimbursement. She will also share ideas for marketing an aquatic therapy program to the community and encouraging word of mouth doctor referrals.

ATTENDEES OF THE WEBINAR WILL LEARN:

• How to use aquatic therapy to address several challenges faced by Critical Access Hospitals
• How to progressively expand an aquatic therapy patient base
• Strategies to use an aquatic therapy program to bring in new patients and increase revenue