PT Tim Richardson launches Physical Therapists’ Expert Systems, an electronic clinical decision support (CDS) tool for making informed treatment decisions in the outpatient setting. Richardson’s CDS uses 18 treatment-based classification decision rules to help PTs predict the length, frequency, and expected outcome for a given condition. The Web-based software prints out paper copies of the physical therapy plan of care.
Currently, treatment-based classifications are available for conditions relating to the lumbar spine, wrist pain, knee trauma, and radiating leg and arm pain, among others. The CDS is also available as an add-on to clinics that already have electronic medical records in place. “The software grew out of a project I’ve been working on since 2006 called Bulletproof Clinical Decision Support for Medicare Compliance, Productivity and Ongoing Clinical Training,” Richardson says. “I’ve given seminars and written a book on the same topic. We’ve got several clients across the country currently using the CDS on a variety of platforms: paper-based notes, iPads, and voice-activated documentation. We integrate with all of them.” The tool costs $10 per month for unlimited use. Richardson is now working on a falls prediction template that will give users a quantitative risk score that they can use to justify the need for physical therapy in older patients.