Who is responsible for follow up?

A frequently asked question by therapists is, who is responsible when a patient is on hold for follow up?

The rule of thumb is PTA's and OTA's have been given an assignment. If you have a patient on hold, i.e. on vacation or in the hospital you should be following up weekly with that patient and either noting in the EMR that the patient is 1) on hold or 2) that the patient is ready for discharge or 3) is resuming treatment. This is weekly reporting.

If a patient is on hold, it is the assistant's responsibility to follow up weekly and note in EMR until that patient is discharged and then removed from your care.

If you have a patient hospitalized and the family or caregiver says they will "follow up" , it is good practice to follow up with them in a week's time to ensure you note correctly in EMR what status of patient is. (remember Customer Service is our #1)

If you notify the LifeCare office staff that a patient is hospitalized or on hold for some reason that does not translate to them taking over follow up unless you have spoken directly with Jackie in admissions and she has taken over responsibility of follow up with that particular case. This should be a rare case as most of the time that patient is staying on your case load until Discharge.

If a PTA or COTA has a case load of anywhere between 2-20 pts. That list should be reviewed weekly and either scheduled or noted in EMR why not seen. Once a patient is discharged you are no longer responsible for that patients follow up or care. If they reach out to you to come back in for further treatment you are welcome to share that message with the office or you can have the office call that patient back. LifeCare's main admissions line is 954-718-6062 option 1.