By: Steven Windwer, DC, PT, Founder and President of Cypress Health Partners
Anyone who’s attended a healthcare conference in the past fifteen years knows what healthcare providers should be collectively aiming for: better patient outcomes, a better patient experience, and lower costs. The Triple Aim. It’s catchy, and it sounds like a simple solution to a complex problem. Unfortunately, achieving this vision has been a lot harder than coming up with the slogan. Competing priorities, flawed incentives, and a uniquely complex system of stakeholders has made progress hard to come by.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. At least not with musculoskeletal (MSK) care. In MSK care, there is a proven path to success in which physical therapy is the first stop on a patient’s care journey, not the last. This “Physical Therapy First” approach introduces conservative, evidence-based treatments early on. This immediately address the underlying condition while avoiding unnecessary diagnostics and invasive treatments. The result of this approach is a significant reduction in overall cost, improved outcomes, and more satisfied patients who are able to get treated in a matter of days versus months. In addition, when MSK patients’ initial treatment at the onset of injury is with a physical therapist or chiropractor, opioid usage decreases by as much as 80%.
Unfortunately, across much of the United States, PT First is not how we approach MSK care. For years, my colleagues and I at Cypress Health Partners have been exploring this question—and better understanding the implications of our broken MSK model. And more importantly, we’ve been exploring ways to overcome the obstacles that get in the way of providing the best care possible for patients over their lifetimes.
In this monthly blog post, we will share with you some of what we’ve discovered, and how we’re using outcomes and experience data from our 100+ clinics to better understand the most effective way to deliver care. Because we know we can’t do this alone, we will also feature perspectives and stories of providers and thought leaders outside of Cypress Health Partners who are on a similar journey. We’d love to hear your perspectives and stories as well.
Please share your insights, reactions, and experiences in the comments of this post. Or, if you’d like to contribute a post, please contact our team at info@cypresshp.com.