A recent Government Accountability Office report has found expenditures for physical therapy services that were not self-referred by physicians grew at a faster rate than physical therapy services that were self-referred from 2004 to 2010.
The report examined self-referral of physical therapy services and Medicare spending for those services.
The study made the following findings:
1. Expenditures for non-self-referred physical therapy services for Medicare beneficiaries grew by nearly 60 percent from 2004 to 2010.
2. Expenditures for self-referred physical therapy services for Medicare beneficiaries grew by 10 percent from 2004 to 2010.
3. Providers' patient referrals for physical therapy generally increase the year after they begin self-referring.
4. In 2010, self-referring providers referred more patients to physical therapy than non-self-referring providers, but the self-referring providers referred fewer physical therapy services per beneficiary.
5. Physicians at family practices that can refer patients to physical therapy at the same practice increasingly did so compared to physicians who could not self-refer.
6. Orthopedic surgeons are less likely to refer patients to physical therapy when they have a financial stake in the services.
More Articles on GAO Reports:
GAO: 17k Providers Banned From Medicare Program Through Use of PPACA Screening Requirements
5 State-Based PPACA Exchanges With Enrollment Problems
GAO: Federal Agencies Need to Enhance Responses to Data Breaches