by Laura Malone on Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Leave a CommentU.S. News and World Report added physical therapy to the 2009 best careers list based on five criteria:
- Job outlook
- Average job satisfaction
- Difficulty of the required training
- Prestige
- Pay
As jobs such as investment bankers and editors dropped off the 2009 list, health care careers remained strong, comprising one-third of all careers listed.
Physical therapists restore, maintain and promote overall fitness and health
Physical therapists are valuable members of a health care team and provide services that help restore function, improve mobility, relieve pain, and prevent or limit permanent physical disabilities of patients suffering from injuries or disease. They restore, maintain, and promote overall fitness and health.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment is expected to increase much faster than average and job opportunities should be good, particularly in hospital, rehabilitation and orthopedic settings. A March 2009 Washington Post article emphasized that careers in health care, specifically physical therapy, continue to grow despite the country’s employment crisis.
Hear from a physical therapist in Iowa
A few weeks ago we had the chance to speak with a physical therapist at Cass County Memorial Hospital about how he got started and the most rewarding part of his job.
Take a look to see what it’s like working as a physical therapist in an Iowa hospital.
by Scott McIntyre on Monday, July 20, 2009
A statewide survey by IHA shows Iowa hospitals provided community benefits in 2008 valued at more than $1.1 billion.
Community benefits are activities designed to improve health status and provide greater access to health care. Along with uncompensated care (which is made up of both charity care and bad debt), community benefits include such services and programs as health screenings, support groups, counseling, immunizations, nutritional services and transportation programs. The total value of these services, as reported in the survey, was more than $127 million. All 117 of Iowa’s community hospitals participated in the survey.
These programs are necessary, but wouldn’t exist without hospital support
The programs and services accounted for in the survey were implemented in direct response to the needs of individual communities, as well as entire counties and regions. Many of these programs and services simply would not exist without hospital support and leadership, said IHA President Kirk Norris.
But the ability of Iowa hospitals to respond to such needs is being hindered by the current economic downturn, as well as by losses caused by Medicare and Medicaid.
Charity care and bad debt on the rise
Total uncompensated care in 2008, including charity care and bad debt, was valued at more than $710 million, an increase of $97 million (15.8 percent) over 2007. More recently, IHA data indicates hospitals’ charity and bad debt for the first quarter of 2009 has increased 18.6 percent compared to the same time period in 2008.
Meanwhile, Medicare and Medicaid, which represent about 60 percent of all hospital revenue in Iowa, created approximately $282 million in losses for the state’s hospitals during 2008.
Medicare payments must be retooled, not reduced
The threat of further reductions to Medicare payments remains as Congress considers various health care reform proposals. Norris added:
“Health care reform should not be financed by across-the-board cuts to providers.”
Instead, IHA is urging Congress to enact health care reform payment provisions that recognize and reward high-quality, low-cost providers. Studies have shown that as much as 30 percent of health care is wasted by either being duplicative or ineffective and that some states, including Iowa, do a much better job of providing efficient care. Reducing that waste would save billions of dollars, which could be directed toward providing coverage for the uninsured.
“It is time that Medicare stop purchasing health care in a passive manner that encourages these massive variations in spending,” Norris said. “Medicare should actively seek and purchase value by rewarding efficiency and high-quality care.”
Watch for our upcoming community benefits report
For more on this topic, see the 2008 community benefits report on IHA’s website and watch for the upcoming 2009 edition to be released.
by Dan Royer on Thursday, July 16, 2009
During the hospital celebration last week in Atlantic, IHA sat down with Mike Rohde, Director of Rehabilitation Services at Cass County Memorial Hospital, to talk about his job as a physical therapist.
Rohde shared how he got started as a physical therapist, his thoughts on the most rewarding part of his job and advice he had for others who might be interested in a career in physical therapy.
Have a question about physical therapy? Ask away!
If you have a question for Mike or about physical therapy in general, use the comment section below to ask. We’ll do our best to find answers to what you want to know.
by Scott McIntyre on Wednesday, July 15, 2009
About 100 employees from Cass County Health System packed a conference room to join in the latest IHA Hospital Celebration in Atlantic. This was the third of six celebrations IHA is hosting this year.
In Atlantic, health system CEO Pat Markham welcomed the capacity crowd.
“We’re here to celebrate the broad and positive impact our health system has on our community and county. We applaud the high quality of your work, because we know it is challenging, important and unique.”
IHA President Kirk Norris reminded the group that their impact extends well beyond the work they do and the care they provide every day, all day.
“One thing we emphasize as we advocate on behalf of you and your hospital is the tremendous economic impact you have. There are few, if any, organizations in your community or county that contribute as many jobs as your hospital,” he said, noting that the hospital also adds greatly to the area’s overall quality of life.
Echoing that sentiment was speaker Steve Siemens, who said,
“The people in this room change lives and improve this community every day. Because you work hard and exceed expectations, you make people say ‘Wow,’ and then you do it again the next day…that is why we are here to celebrate you.”
Following the hour-long program, which included a specially produced video that promotes the hospital and its positive influence on the community, IHA treated the employees to ice cream, which was donated by Martin Brothers Distributing, an IHA Associate Member, and T-shirts commemorating the celebration.
The next IHA Hospital Celebration is scheduled for July 28 at Cherokee Regional Medical Center. IHA is producing these events to further connect hospital staff to IHA’s mission and to recognize hospital leaders who have been particularly active in IHA.
by Scott McIntyre on Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Neither a stormy economy nor soggy fairways could keep last week’s Swinging for Scholars golf fundraiser from being another huge success. Unseasonably cool temperatures greeted participants as they arrived at The Harvester and light rainfall passed through the area as golfing got underway, but spirits remained high as participants enjoyed one of Iowa’s premiere golf courses.
By mid-afternoon, the skies cleared, the temperature rose and at the end of the day more than $130,000 was raised to support students seeking health care careers in Iowa hospitals.
Participants (more than 190 people registered for this year’s event) also enjoyed an outstanding morning program, featuring keynote speaker Brian Brown, a former world-class high jumper who now directs the Drake Relays.
While the focus of Brown’s presentation was leadership, his first order of business was to recognize recipients of the Iowa Hospital Education and Research Foundation Health Care Careers Scholarship who were in the audience and recall how scholarships made a difference in his life.
“If it wasn’t for someone else seeing something in me and making a scholarship available to me, there is no way I would be standing before you right now.”
Brown added that his mother, despite her seventh-grade education, pressed him to keep on learning, all the way to the doctorate degree he received in 2005.
Brown talked at length about his keys to leadership, including vision, sacrifice and character. Another critical element, he said, is service and the ability to relate to people at a level that transcends a leader’s rank in the organization
“You’ve got to love people more than your position. They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. People will listen once they know you have their heart and you care for them as individuals.”
He noted that at the Drake Relays he still rakes out long jump landing pits and helps gather litter, but one of his most important jobs is to let the best people do their jobs.
“My job is stay out of the way. I still set expectations, I still challenge them, but I don’t pretend to know how to do something someone else has been doing for 45 years.”
Watch the blog this week as we work to edit our videos with each of the scholarship winners.
