The health care environment is rapidly changing and alternative payment systems are being incorporated across health care settings. The need to successfully demonstrate the effectiveness of your services is becoming more evident. Yet many organizations are struggling with how to adapt to this change. This session will lay the foundation for you and your organization to understand how to use the best available evidence and an outcomes registry to understand and optimize performance. The speakers will review current and expected activities related to payment models, utilization review, the regulatory environment, and legislative actions. Attendees will learn how to incorporate clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to optimize care and demonstrate how to usethe Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry to track and report on outcomes. The presenters will provide real-life examples of how CPGs and data are used to inform practice and ensure value-based care.

Registry FAQs page: Registry FAQ page

Additional Resources: Evidence-Based Practice Tools

Meet the Speaker:

Heather Smith, PT, MPH Heather Smith is director of quality for APTA. In her current role, she coordinates quality initiatives for the association and develops and implements key member resources related to quality for programs under Medicare that impact physical therapists, including the respective postacute care quality reporting programs (QRPs), the physician quality reporting system (PQRS), and the functional limitation reporting (FLR) requirements for therapy services under Medicare. She also serves as a consultant for the Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry.

Matt Elrod, PT, DPT, MEd Matt Elrod is lead specialist in the Practice Department of the American Physical Therapy Association. In this position he provides consultation to other APTA departments and members, is a liaison to various external organizations, and contributes to policy development to advance the practice of physical therapy. This includes developing member resources in evidence-based practice, ICD-10 transition, telehealth, adoption of electronic health records, and integration of the Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry. He has more than 20 years of experience working in the physical therapy profession. He earned a physical therapy degree from the Medical University of South Carolina, a doctor of physical therapy degree from Marymount University, and a masters of education from the Citadel in exercise physiology. He is a board-certified clinical specialist in neurologic physical therapy. He previously worked as a physical therapist in acute care, acute rehabilitation, and was an owner of an outpatient private practice.