As you may have seen on the news, the AMA (American Medical Association) has made new recommendations that patients consider going to physical therapy first for back pain instead of costly Emergency Room and Medical Doctor (MD) visits. The evidence is clear that the sooner you see a physical therapist (PT) for low back pain, the faster you recover. Visiting a doctor first will be more costly, involving unnecessary imaging, injections or opoid prescriptions, and ultimately result in a referral to PT down the road.

“Direct Access” refers to the ability to come directly to a PT without seeing an MD first. All 50 states have some form of direct access and Montana has been a direct access state for approximately 25 years. Although there are a few insurance policies that still require a prescription for reimbursement, the trend is towards allowing more direct access. Click here to learn more about direct access and how to determine your insurance requirements and coverage.

The one concern some have expressed is that PTs might miss a major pathology and/or misdiagnosis the issue when seeing patients through direct access. However, there has been no data to support this claim. Physical therapy is a doctorate program and a large portion of the curriculum is geared towards differential diagnosis or determining the cause of your problem, while ruling out red flag concerns. And, when appropriate, we work with other health care providers to help determine the best path to your recovery.

The benefits of direct access are numerous. Not only does it decrease the overall cost to our health care system in fewer visits - plus reduced missed work time and eliminating unnecessary imaging and surgical costs - it is well established that the sooner people get into physical therapy the more rapid their recovery and the better their outcomes.

So give us a call at 406.222.4682 and get started! We pride ourselves in being an excellent first choice for your musculoskeletal needs.