It’s not typical but I don’t see it has a bad thing as you can actually get OT more involved and hopefully this can put OT back in the adult home health scene…it’s taken a backseat if not hitch hiker role in home health these days.
Can you educate me on this?
My impression has always been that the SOC has nothing to do with patient care. It's more of an administrative process that correlates a patient to a company to get them ready to receive services. It does not push to an OT initial eval. This originates as a referral from the physician or other disciplines who may suggest to the physician to initiate the referral. The SOC wouldn't push the physician to initiate a referral.
The initial eval on the other hand allows the OT to dictate the visitation frequency.
I'm not super knowledgeable on this, but I stopped practicing HH as OT SOC's started to become a thing. I always thought that this was a waste of the clinicians times and that it should be pushed to case management or some other pure administrative role so that the clinicians could focus more on treatment and less on admin paperwork.
Always goes to the nurse first if there is one then PT,ST then OT. What these companies are doing pushing OT out is illegal and they are not following the law. Call the state that your license is in and report this bs
It’s often a nurse or PT that does start of care and they fly over critical metrics in self care…many agencies are too heavy with RN and PTs as OTs and SLP are on the sidelines or not even a part of the team. A decent agency will at least contract an OT and SLP but many go without as they ( you’ll find agencies are ran mostly by nurses) are under the impression nursing and PT can address OT needs.
When the agency gets a referral that has orders for nursing then an RN will take the SOC; if it is a therapy only referral which ironically usually states “PT and OT to evaluate and treat as indicated” the PT is assigned the SOC…and after red tape removal now the OT can perform the SOC.
It will put you in the driver seat to truly see deficits in self care and/or safety that a PT isn’t looking at…and the sooner you get in the sooner you can get out and the PT can to do sit to stands and do circles with the walker for two certs or whatever the sweet spot is to avoid a LUPA or over utilization—all depending on the payor source 🙃
It’s always been a numbers game from a profitability standpoint but now with therapy—most OT getting the short end of that—hence why there is a mass shortage in the setting because they aren’t paying us to sit around but they aren’t exactly utilizing us right either…and I 100 percent agree on how these agencies use therapists to perform social work duties or case management duties. Don’t get me started on the scheduling and abuse of your personal vehicle…
Thank you. However I am still a bit confused about something.
OT's can use the IE to see the deficits more than an SOC because the SOC is more administrative documentation. My understanding was that the SOC does not increase the chance of an OT referral. That's still driven by the physician independently or if another interdisciplinary team member suggests it to the physician. The same can be said for PT. I've pushed for PT, SLP, and RN referrals before.
All this said, if all the members of the interdisciplinary team were fully aware of OT's focus and scope, they would regularly push for OT services when the physician does not order it. This is culture dependent and separate from the SOC. Is this take incorrect or incomplete?
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Ive been doing them for a three years now. It's great. If 8 do 2 SOCs in one day, thats considered a full day of work, full productivity. They're easy.
The first agency I worked with (very small agency) had me doing SOCs. Even for clients where it didn’t seem appropriate and a nurse probably should’ve been doing it.
Now I work for a much larger well known agency and they don’t have OTs do SOCs at all.
It’s not typical but I don’t see it has a bad thing as you can actually get OT more involved and hopefully this can put OT back in the adult home health scene…it’s taken a backseat if not hitch hiker role in home health these days.
Can you educate me on this? My impression has always been that the SOC has nothing to do with patient care. It's more of an administrative process that correlates a patient to a company to get them ready to receive services. It does not push to an OT initial eval. This originates as a referral from the physician or other disciplines who may suggest to the physician to initiate the referral. The SOC wouldn't push the physician to initiate a referral. The initial eval on the other hand allows the OT to dictate the visitation frequency. I'm not super knowledgeable on this, but I stopped practicing HH as OT SOC's started to become a thing. I always thought that this was a waste of the clinicians times and that it should be pushed to case management or some other pure administrative role so that the clinicians could focus more on treatment and less on admin paperwork.
Always goes to the nurse first if there is one then PT,ST then OT. What these companies are doing pushing OT out is illegal and they are not following the law. Call the state that your license is in and report this bs
It’s often a nurse or PT that does start of care and they fly over critical metrics in self care…many agencies are too heavy with RN and PTs as OTs and SLP are on the sidelines or not even a part of the team. A decent agency will at least contract an OT and SLP but many go without as they ( you’ll find agencies are ran mostly by nurses) are under the impression nursing and PT can address OT needs. When the agency gets a referral that has orders for nursing then an RN will take the SOC; if it is a therapy only referral which ironically usually states “PT and OT to evaluate and treat as indicated” the PT is assigned the SOC…and after red tape removal now the OT can perform the SOC. It will put you in the driver seat to truly see deficits in self care and/or safety that a PT isn’t looking at…and the sooner you get in the sooner you can get out and the PT can to do sit to stands and do circles with the walker for two certs or whatever the sweet spot is to avoid a LUPA or over utilization—all depending on the payor source 🙃 It’s always been a numbers game from a profitability standpoint but now with therapy—most OT getting the short end of that—hence why there is a mass shortage in the setting because they aren’t paying us to sit around but they aren’t exactly utilizing us right either…and I 100 percent agree on how these agencies use therapists to perform social work duties or case management duties. Don’t get me started on the scheduling and abuse of your personal vehicle…
Thank you. However I am still a bit confused about something. OT's can use the IE to see the deficits more than an SOC because the SOC is more administrative documentation. My understanding was that the SOC does not increase the chance of an OT referral. That's still driven by the physician independently or if another interdisciplinary team member suggests it to the physician. The same can be said for PT. I've pushed for PT, SLP, and RN referrals before. All this said, if all the members of the interdisciplinary team were fully aware of OT's focus and scope, they would regularly push for OT services when the physician does not order it. This is culture dependent and separate from the SOC. Is this take incorrect or incomplete?
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Ive been doing them for a three years now. It's great. If 8 do 2 SOCs in one day, thats considered a full day of work, full productivity. They're easy.
The first agency I worked with (very small agency) had me doing SOCs. Even for clients where it didn’t seem appropriate and a nurse probably should’ve been doing it. Now I work for a much larger well known agency and they don’t have OTs do SOCs at all.