In the world of physical therapy timing can be everything. One minute you’re playing basketball with your son on the driveway on a Sunday afternoon and the next you’re sitting on the ground clutching your swollen black and blue ankle!
What to do? Seems like you’ve sprained your ankle but what should you do next? It would be nice to talk to or see someone who knows the appropriate next steps.
Unfortunately, in this day and age it can be difficult to get in to see your doctor, let alone see your doctor to get a referral to PT then get in to see the PT! By that time you might be past the whole situation all together.
Luckily most people have direct access to PT! What is direct access to PT you might say? Well, as you may have figured by this point, that’s what this post is all about.
Being in California, we’ll tailor this post to those in California. First things first though. What exactly is direct access to PT?
Simply put, it is the ability to see a PT without seeing your physician first. No referral or prescription for PT necessary.
In recent years the profession of PT has transitioned to a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree as the entry level of education needed to become a licensed PT. One of the reasons is to accommodate for direct access! When seeing a PT first the PT must be able to partly do the job of a physician to rule out more serious problems that are outside the PT’s scope of practice.
If the evaluating PT does find something more insidious they are required to refer to the patients physician. If the injury is within the PT’s scope then they may proceed to treat.
All this sounds great, and it is, but there are some caveats. Each state had different rules regarding how patients can access their PT. As mentioned above, we’ll focus on California for now. In the state of California patients may work with a PT for 45 days or 12 visits whichever comes first. If treatment is to continue beyond this point a referral from the patients doctor is needed.
Another caveat is that some insurances may not allow the patient to see a PT without a referral. Each person should contact their insurance for their specific rules.
One way to avoid this altogether is to pay cash for your therapy. In this case things are much simpler, not only in accessing care but in clarity of billing as well. For details on cash pay services we will discuss this in another post.
If you’re interested in PT please contact us! We strive to give our clients the easiest and best options to work with us.
Fill out a contact form and we’ll get back to you ASAP.
Be careful out there on the court!
Dr. Caleb Fontes PT, DPT