Implementation of Hospital-Based Direct Access Highlighting Direct Ordering of Diagnostic Imaging

Session Description:

The purpose of this course is to build the case for granting physical therapists privileges to directly order diagnostic imaging studies. The course begins with a review of the literature supporting direct access, followed by an administrative case report highlighting successful implementation of both direct access and imaging privileges at a hospital-based outpatient orthopedic clinic.

Navigating administrative barriers, securing physical therapy board approval for ordering of imaging studies, partnering with radiologists, and tracking of reimbursement and imaging data is discussed. The course concludes with several case reports in which the use of diagnostic imaging directly influenced clinical decision making.

Meet our Speaker:

Aaron Keil, PT, DPT, Board-certified orthopaedic clinical specialist. Dr. Keil currently serves as clinical associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has spoken at national conferences on the topics of direct access and diagnostic imaging and has provided guidance to several institutions across the country who are pursuing these initiatives.

Dr. Keil recently served on the authorship committee for the APTA-sponsored white paper ‘Diagnostic and Procedural Imaging in Physical Therapist Practice’.

He has functioned as a first-contact provider both at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C. and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Maryland where he provided leadership to the outpatient rehab department.