COURSE DESCRIPTION

Studies administrative procedures, changing practices in physical therapy, and trends in health care delivery. Lecture 3 hours per week.

GENERAL COURSE PURPOSE

This course apprises the student of health care delivery system issues that affect the practice of physical therapy. Students are presented with non-treatment topics/activities that affect the daily practice of the physical therapist assistant in order to broaden the scope of the understanding of practice expectations and the administrative environment.

ENTRY LEVEL COMPETENCIES

The prerequisite for this course is PTH 231 - "Clinical Education I".

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. describe the changing health care delivery system and the implications for the practice of physical therapy
2. describe varied threats and opportunities affecting the delivery of health care today and the implication for physical therapy
3. perform a retrospective chart audit as part of a group quality assurance assignment and discuss the findings with regard to the standards of practice
4. discriminate retrospective and prospective payment systems and the influence of the changing systems to the managed care environment
5. identify and debate current topics specifically affecting the physical therapist assistant in the practice of physical therapy
6. participate in discussion with Shenandoah University physical therapy students to identify and examine role delineation issues related to the administration of physical therapy services
7. debate varied ethics issues affecting health care delivery
8. write and present a research paper on a selected topic in health care delivery

1. Health care reimbursement
2. Health care reform
3. Managed care
4. Medicare and Medicaid
5. Multicompetent practitioners
6. Physical therapy role delineation
7. Health care ethics
8. Health care policy
9. Quality assurance, total quality management

1. School based physical therapy
2. Euthanasia
3. International health care policy