I’m Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits.
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Losing a limb can be a very traumatic ordeal for anyone. In fact, it can even lead to post-traumatic stress disorder. Whether from an accident, injury, or illness, readjusting to life after losing a limb is hard enough. Lack of quality care after the amputation, however, can make a challenging situation even worse. When this happens, patients either are never given access to prosthetics, or the process takes far too long. That’s often the case when patients are transferred to skilled nursing facilities versus a local acute inpatient rehab facility. This is especially the case when the patient comes from an underserved socioeconomic status.
Surgeons who do the amputations, and even primary care doctors, don’t always know what happens after an amputation occurs. The hospital’s job is to get them in and out, so case managers will often send them to the facility they know of. That’s why I advocate for the importance of educating hospital staff on the business of rehab. If they don’t know, they won’t send patients our way. If patients aren’t sent our way, they frequently won’t get the prosthetics they need. That lack of knowledge transfers to the patients and their families, who simply go along with whatever they’re told rather than doing their own research. Given the drastic new lifestyle change, their mind isn’t on where to go next. They’re thinking about how their lives have changed.
That’s where physiatrists and rehab doctors come in.
We help usher patients through that process. We’re trained to do that. After an amputation, patients can get lost in the system. It’s our job to steer them in the right direction and get them back to being as independent as possible. Time is of the essence. Losing a limb works a toll on patients mentally, physically, and emotionally. From a psychological standpoint, they go from being totally independent to now depending on others for basic needs. It can send them into depression, weight gain, and more medical issues. The quicker they get access to the necessary prosthetics and back to doing what they were doing before, the better off they are—physically and mentally.
Again, they won’t always know their rights and resources. I’ve begun educating patients through a partnership with Hanger, Inc., a leading national provider of prosthetics and orthotics. Through a virtual clinic, I help patients from the time they experience limb loss to the time they experience recovery. Whereas getting a prosthetic can take months or even years, I make sure they get their prosthetics as soon as possible through proper documentation.
If you want to go the extra mile as a rehab doctor, then it’s in your best interest to meet your patients where they are. Find what procedures they’re undergoing and what that process entails. Where might they be left hanging, and how can you help fill in the gap? The surgeons, doctors, nurses, and case managers most likely won’t recommend what’s in the patient’s best interest once they leave the hospital. It’s up to us to teach patients and hospital staff that #RehabWorks.
I am Dr. Hassan, Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own independent practice so that they can achieve financial independence and live without limits. Please go to businessofrehab.com/guide to pick up the free guide to help you determine the best business entity for your new practice.
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Read our blog post on how to expand your physiatry practice with acute-care hospital consults.
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Attention, Physiatrists! Stop leaving money on the table. Sign up for the free video series: How To Build A Profitable Practice in 90 Days or Less: http://www.sixtytosuccess.com
