Newsletter :: December 2005
We wish you a beautiful Holiday Season and a New Year of Peace and Happiness.
Merry Christmas from all of us at DiagnosTEX.
We look forward to serving you next year!
Last E-stim Conference of 2005 is full! See you there on December 3rd!
Upcoming Scheduled 2006 Dysphagia Conferences
Austin, Texas – January 28 – Dysphagia Program Development and Management
Bedford, Texas – February 11 – Ethical Dilemmas and Challenging Decisions of NPO
ASHA Calls for Action as Therapy Cap Countdown Drops Under 100 Days
Medicare beneficiaries once again face having their therapy benefits limited in fewer than 100 days if Congress fails to take action. ASHA has been working intensely with key congressional committees and other therapy organizations to develop an alternative to the therapy caps that meets the fiscal constraints of the Medicare program. To supplement this effort, ASHA has launched a grassroots campaign aimed at Congress over the next month. ASHA members are encouraged to contact their members of Congress and warn them that they have to pass Medicare
legislation this year to prevent a $1,750 therapy cap from being implemented on January 1, 2006. Please contact your members of Congress through our Take Action web site at http://www.asha.org/takeaction.htm and ask them to support H.R. 916 and S. 438 to repeal the Medicare therapy caps. The issue brief and background information are available in ASHA¹s Therapy Cap Advocacy Center at http://www.asha.org/about/legislation-advocacy/federal/cap/. For further information, please contact Reed Franklin, ASHA¹s Director for Federal and
Political Advocacy, via e-mail at rfranklin@asha.org or at 800-274-2376, ext. 4473.
PLEASE DO YOUR PART! THE PROCESS ON THE WEBSITE IS VERY SIMPLE!
DiagnosTEX Holiday Schedule – Please make note of this on your calendars. DiagnosTEX will be closed the Monday after Christmas and the Monday after New Years. We want to meet all of your MBS needs as we know PO feeding becomes important on many levels to many around the holidays, as well as be fair to all of our DiagnosTEX employees and their families as well as our own families. Please keep these holiday schedules in mind when scheduling your MBSS at the end of December!
Secure Horizons – DiagnosTEX can provide and always has been able to provide Modified Barium Swallow Studies to all private insurance, HMO including Secure Horizons and PacifiCare at absolutely NO COST to the facility. DiagnosTEX is a provider for Blue Cross Blue Shields of Texas, PacifiCare PPO and Secure Horizons HMO. According to the Contract Manager, Network Development for PacifiCare, she said according to her computer system, DiagnosTEX appears to be the only provider to be listed in the Secure Horizons Network providing this type of service under Modified Barium Swallow Studies. If you ever have any questions and or concerns about our service or any billing issues, please do not hesitate to call our office at 817-514-6278. We are only a phone call away. Thank you for allowing us to be your preferred Mobile MBSS provider.
SLP Handouts, Give-aways, and Christmas presents! –Please accept our Christmas gift to you as a way of saying thank you for using DiagnosTEX, and please make sure to get your 2006 DiagnosTEX Dysphagia calendar for next year! Make sure you are up to date on the SLP handouts! We have had 2 new ones since October. If you have not received an NPO booklet, we have had more made by popular request, so please ask for one next time we see you!
Give DiagnosTEX a try!
If you are using another local service in the area, and would like to try DiagnosTEX to compare the quality in the service, just give us a call and we will meet or beat their rate for our first time visit. We guarantee you will see the difference and be able to treat your patients more effectively by knowing all details of their dysphagia.
Dysphagia Tidbit – Post Polio Syndrome (PPS) – Impacts Swallowing and O-M skills
The onset of PPS, occurs about 30 years after the acute onset of Poliomyelitis. Usually the people who are experiencing PPS are those taking good care of themselves. The ones who did not take good care of themselves did not survive, so they are not around to develop PPS. Approximately 1.6 million people in the USA have been diagnosed with PPS. No one really knows the cause of the disorder but experts believe that all long term care survivors will develop symptoms of PPS over their life time. In general, the effects of the condition are progressive, with 3-10 year periods of stability (Herbison, G, Muniz, F.M., 2005). Swallowing problems are seen in patients with both bulbar and nonbulber PPS. There is always a potential fro pneumonia in this population since they are more likely to retain secretions. Residual respiratory muscle weakness secondary to the original episode of polio leads to chronic microatelectasis and alvelor hypoventilation, reduced pulmonary compliance with increased tightness in the chest wall, and reduced clearing of secretions, along with a diminished cough and expiratory flow. Of course, respiratory problems are compounded by co-morbidities such as cardiovascular insufficiency, emphysema, scoliosis and poor posture. Rehab can help sustain the highest possible quality of life for people with PPS. Therapy should focus on muscle strengthening, energy conservation, and pacing activities to reduced debilitating effects of the disorder.
ADVANCE –By: Sandy Keefe, MS, RN October 31, 2005.
1. Muniz, FM, Herbison G. (2005) E-Medicine. Post Polio Syndrome.