Looking ahead to PDPM, we anticipate patients will receive Group and Concurrent therapy interventions in addition to the current and more prevalent mode of individual therapy. According to CMS, no more than 25% of any discipline’s total therapy minutes may be group or concurrent services. In other words, at least 75% of any discipline’s therapy minutes are to be individual. All of a patient’s goals will be patient centered and based on individualized comprehensive therapy evaluation.
Group therapy is defined for Part A as the treatment of 4 residents, regardless of payor source, who are performing the same or similar activities, and are supervised by a therapist or an assistant who is not supervising any other individuals not in the group.
Concurrent therapy is defined as the treatment of 2 residents at the same time, when the residents are not performing the same or similar activities, regardless of payor source, both of whom must be in line-of-sight of the treating therapist or assistant for Medicare Part A.
Individual therapy is defined as services provided by one therapist or assistant to one resident at a time.
What Will Groups and Concurrent Interventions Look Like?
Ideally, your therapy department will want to provide some structure to group and concurrent sessions. Structure inherently means treatment sessions are planned out in terms of content and participants. Group sessions may include larger scale activities. Some examples could include home management activities or activities promoting balance or mobility. Group and Concurrent Interventions can also be approached through classroom style learning. This method incorporates pertinent information being shared using a specific topic.
Benefits of Group and Concurrent Interventions
There is a different level of patient engagement, participation and maybe even some friendly competition during group and concurrent interventions.Psychosocial benefits include reduced isolation, enhance relationship skills, peer to peer teaching and learning, and increased socialization.
How You Can Partner with Your Therapy Team?
Short term patients generally like to know the plan for their skilled stay. Try to incorporate your therapy department’s group activities into a specific patient calendar. Partner with therapy to identify when group or concurrent sessions may work best (days/time).Classroom style group therapy session are a great opportunity to partner therapy with other facility professionals. Joint presentations that include nursing or social services are a great way to approach a patient from a multi-disciplinary perspective.