Debbie Amini, EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA
American Occupational Therapy Association
Bethesda, MD
Jeremy Furniss, OTD, OTR/L, BCG, CDP
American Occupational Therapy Association
Bethesda, MD
Earn .1 AOTA CEU (1.25 NBCOT PDU/1 contact hour)
This CE Article was developed on behalf of AOTA’s Rehabilitation & Disability Special Interest Section.
ABSTRACT
With ongoing changes in health care reimbursement and a new focus on quality versus quantity of intervention, it is becoming more important for occupational therapy (OT) practitioners to provide and document interventions that highlight the distinct value of OT. The importance of such documentation is further underscored by the requirement for completing the occupational profile from the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (3rd ed.; Framework; American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2014) as part of all OT evaluations per the 2016 CPT® evaluation code descriptions. To ensure that documentation is comprehensive and reflects the tenets of the profession, OT practitioners should look to the Framework as a guide for choosing appropriate areas and concepts for inclusion. In addition, organizing evaluations and intervention planning in a way that mirrors the domain and process of the Framework will assist practitioners in creating OT-specific fields for use in an electronic medical record system, such as the PERFORM documentation templates created by AOTA.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this article, you should be able to:
1. Discuss changes to the reimbursement system that are providing an opportunity for OT practitioners to highlight their distinct value through documentation
2. Discuss the relationship between the process of OT and best practice documentation
3. Identify elements of the occupational profile and their importance in client evaluation
4. Describe the importance of the analysis of occupation, including assessment tool selection
5. Recognize how the structure of the Framework translates into an electronic format to streamline the documentation of the client evaluation and treatment plan
Read More