Preparing for the Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) exam can be a daunting task, but with the right approach, you can set yourself up for success. As a physical therapist, obtaining the OCS certification is a significant milestone that can elevate your career and enhance your clinical expertise. This guide will provide you with practical tips and strategies to help you pass the OCS exam.

The recent updates to the Medicare fee schedule have significant implications for physical therapy practices. Bob Hall, JD, MPAff, our payment expert, breaks down the key changes and what they mean for you.

Key Highlights

1. 2.8% Fee Schedule Cut

When it comes to clinical decision-making, the human mind is both a powerful ally and a potential saboteur. As physical therapists, our goal is to provide the best possible care to our patients, but cognitive biases often cloud our judgment. Understanding and addressing these biases is crucial to refining our clinical reasoning skills. Let’s take a look at five reasoning biases.

Direct to Employer (D2E) services are heralding a new era in physical therapy. With the growing interest towards D2E, physical therapists are moving closer to becoming first-contact providers for neuromusculoskeletal (NMSK) services for workers. Embracing the D2E model of physical therapy delivery could be the strategic career move you need to reignite your passion and truly practice physical therapy at the highest level of your expertise.

Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America with participation up 171% in 2023 according to a report by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. Both the cost and physical barriers to entry are low. With increased participation comes increased injuries and physical therapists need to understand the game and associated injuries.

Let’s discuss how patient education impacts our measured outcomes and patient satisfaction. More specifically, how it can have an impact on their personal health literacy and self-efficacy. In my opinion these are two huge barriers to our success with improving our measured value.

Physical therapists are experts. Physical therapists also are dedicated health professionals who desire desperately to help their patients. This combination results in the inevitable expert/recipient role where professionals feel obligated to “fix” patient problems. Unfortunately, lasting behavior change must come from within the individual. 

I like lists--my to-do list, my bucket list, my wish list--to name a few. Years ago, I committed to memory a list of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People authored by Stephen R. Covey. Habit number 2 is probably the one that I silently repeat most frequently, “Begin with the end in mind.” This “Habit” can be applied to many projects or initiatives but let’s talk about the rehab process of a person with restricted ability to work following injury or illness.

As a refresher, let's review the 6 basic components of lifestyle medicine according to the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). Lifestyle medicine includes the following components:

• Nutrition
• Physical activity
• ...

The initial interview provides most of the information needed to help guide clinical practice. However, sometimes it can be a challenge to extract the necessary information that is meaningful and pertinent to respective clinical presentations. We need to analyze these strategies, as they can be useful to help direct clinical reasoning throughout the episode of care. These approaches should remember to be person-focused, as healthcare is truly individualized. Therefore, we should further explore which strategies would be the most beneficial to generate positive outcomes.