Quality and Quantity of Occupational and Physical Therapy Services in a Free Interprofessional Primary Care Clinic

Research Objectives: To Examine the Scope of Occupational and Physical Therapy Provided in a Free Primary Care Clinic

Design: Retrospective Chart Review

Setting: Free primary care clinic for medically uninsured/underinsured patients

Participants: A population-based sample of medically uninsured and underserved Spanish-speaking patients seeking primary care services for acute and chronic conditions.

Interventions: Not Applicable

Main Outcome Measures: Creating awareness of the value of OT and PT in primary care

Results: The total number of patients receiving OT/PT services was 121 (61 OT, 60 PT with most patients provided both services at initial visit). Patients ranged from younger than 18 (2%) to over 60 (14%). Most patients were between 40-49 (38%) with 59% female, 41% male, and 1 person not identifying a gender. Spanish was the primary language of 91% of the patients. Reason for referral by ICD-10 codes included diseases of the musculoskeletal system, nervous system, respiratory system, mental and behavioral health, endocrine system, blood-related disorders, and genitourinary disorder. Most common diagnoses were diabetes/pre-diabetes, hypertension, obesity, acute or chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. OT/PT CPT codes most commonly identified included therapeutic procedure (97710), self-care/home management (97535), health behavior (96158), manual therapy (97140), gait training (97116), orthotic fitting (97760), and neuromuscular re-education (97112).

Conclusions: OT/PT services were provided to 121 patients over a period of six years. Primary diagnoses for which OT/PT was consulted included musculoskeletal conditions (carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, shoulder impingement syndrome, etc.), management of chronic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, obesity), acute and chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders

Author(s) Disclosures: The authors have no conflicts and nothing to disclose