Welcome to Medical Rehab Matters, the AMRPA Podcast
Medical Rehab Matters discusses some of the conditions treated and therapies used in inpatient medical rehab hospitals and units while addressing some of the legislative and regulatory issues that impact patients and their families and caregivers.
Find episodes of Medical Rehabilitation Matters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,Google Podcasts and iHeartRadio. Don’t forget to subscribe!
Season 3
Episode 8: What's Next: The Future of Inpatient Rehab
Recorded at the 2023 AMRPA Fall Conference and Expo, we present a panel discussion looking ahead at the future of inpatient rehabilitation featuring Kate Beller, JD, EVP for Policy Development and Government Relations, AMRPA; Anthony Cuzzola, Vice President, JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute; Troy Hillman, Director of Quality and Health Policy, AMRPA; and Joe Nahra, Director of Government Relations and Regulatory Policy, AMRPA.
Episode 7: A Patient’s Perspective: Wayne Moorehead
Meet Wayne Moorehead, the Patient Perspective Speaker at the 2023 AMRPA Fall Educational Conference and Expo. Wayne is joined by two members of his care team at TIRR Memorial Hermann, Kristin Reeves, PT, MS, Physical Therapist, and Vinay Vanodia, MD, Director, Limb Loss program, Amputee Rehabilitation and Prosthetics and Orthotics, TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Episode 6: Meaningful Data in Medical Rehabilitation
Meaningful Data in Medical Rehabilitation: The Value of eRehabData for AMRPA’s Advocacy Efforts is a panel discussion featuring Sam Fleming, from Fleming AOD, Chris Lee, from Madonna Rehab Hospitals, Joyal Pavey from Mary Free Bed Advisory Group, Shaun McNelis from Select Medical, and AMRPA’s Kate Beller and Troy Hillman. Recorded at the AMRPA Fall Educational Conference & Expo.
Episode 5: AMRPA's MRMC Certification
In this episode we're talking about the AMRPA Medical Rehabilitation Managment Certification -- or MRMC. We talk with two of the team that created and manages the program, and two people who earned their MRMC in 2021, Scott Littig, MBA, MRMC, MA, CCC/SLP, and Renee Lomax, MSN-Admin,BSN, RN, CRN-C10, MRMC. And certificants Misty A. Brady, PT, DPT, MRMC, and Belinda Lemcool, MSN, RN, CRRN, MRMC. Learn more about earning your MRMC at www.amrpa.org/certification. Host: Patricia Sullivan, AMRPA Director of Communications.
Episode 4: Review Choice Demonstration & Implications for Patients
CMS’ Review Choice Demonstration will begin impacting inpatient medical rehab hospitals and units in Alabama summer 2023. We discuss possible implications for patients, including possible access to care issues. This episode is intended to be educational as we approach the start of the program. Additional information was released while we were recording. And we'll address that, and other updates, in future episodes as the RCD moves forward. Our guests are Anthony Cuzzola, chair of the AMRPA Board, and Joe Nahra, AMRPA’s Director of Government Relations and Regulatory Policy. Hosts: Dr. Robert Krug, past chair of the AMRPA Board of Directors, and Kate Beller, Executive Vice President for Policy Development and Government Relations.
Episode 3: Hope and Advocacy
This episode features two speakers from the AMRPA Spring Conference. Theirs are stories of serious injuries, hope and advocacy. Jamie MoCrazy, founder and CEO of MoCrazy Strong, and Sam Porritt, the founder and board chair of the Falling Forward Foundation. Jamie was a professional skier who experienced a serious accident in a competition. Sam was seriously injured while on vacation in Italy. Their stories are different but both have experienced remarkable recoveries and both work to give hope, motivation, advocacy and support for others who come after them. Cohosted by Robert Krug, MD, past Chair of the AMRPA Board, and Patricia Sullivan, AMRPA director of communications.
Learn more about Jamie, Sam and their organizations:
Episode 2: Rehab Nurses
To celebrate Nursing Week, we talk with two rehab nurses Amanda Hansen, RN, is the nurse manager of acute rehab, and Terasa Farlin, BSN, RN, CRRN, is vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska. Co-hosted by Robert Krug, MD, former chair of the AMRPA Board of Directors, and Patricia Sullivan, AMRPA Director of Communications.
Episode 1: Seat Elevation Coverage
In this episode, we address a proposal by CMS to cover seat elevation equipment in Group 3 power wheelchairs. Our guests are Joe Nahra, ITEM Coalition Co-Coordinator and Director of Government Relations at Powers Law Firm, and Ali Ingersoll, a disability strategy consultant, Ms. Wheelchair America 2023, and a day trader. Co-hosts are Patricia Sullivan, AMRPA Director of Communications, and Kate Beller, Executive Vice President for Policy Development and Government Relations. Take action and learn more about seat elevation coverage at www.rise4access.org.
Listen to Season 2
Episodes of #MedicalRehabMatters are hosted by Dr. Bob Krug and Patricia Sullivan, and feature a wide range of inpatient rehabilitation patients, physicians and professionals with a personal interest in the field. Listen to Season 1.
Season 2
Episode 14: 3 Hour Rule Legislation
Our guest in this episode is Leela Baggett, a Senior Associate at Powers Law, who talks with co hosts Dr. Robert Krug, and Kate Beller, about one of AMRPA’s top policy priorities in 2022, the 3 Hour Rule modernization bill. You’ll learn what the three hour rule is, its history, and what it means for inpatient medical rehab care.
Episode 13: 25 Years
In this episode we’re celebrating AMRPA’s 25th anniversary with a panel discussion recorded at our 2022 Fall Conference. You’ll hear about how AMRPA was founded, the changes in the field, and a look ahead to what the next 25 years may bring. This session was moderated by Dr. Bruce Gans, AMRPA Chief Policy Officer and AMRPA Board Chairman from 2009-2011, 2014-2017. Our panelists are Kate Beller, AMRPA EVP for Policy Development and Government Relations, Chris Lee, Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals, Mark Tarr, President and Chief Executive Officer, Encompass Health, and Kathleen Yosko, President, KCY Healthcare Advisors.
Episode 12: A Patient’s Perspective
In this episode, we hear from Richard Diegel, the Patient Perspective Speaker at the 2022 AMRPA Fall Conference. Rich overcame the worst of what COVID-19 could throw at him and then transitioned to St. Mary’s Rehabilitation Hospital. Rich is joined by his wife Donna, and Carly Bixler, his physical therapist.
Episode 11: Value of Medical Rehab
In this episode, we discuss the value inpatient medical rehab brings to health systems and learn about a new physical medicine and rehab residency program that started in Connecticut in July. Our guests are Subramani Seetharama, MD, Program Director of the PM&R Residency Program at UConn and chief of the Division of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and medical director at Hartford Healthcare Rehabilitation Network; and Chris Carlin, the Vice President of Rehabilitation for the Hartford Healthcare Rehabilitation Network.
Episode hosts: Robert Krug, MD, former chair of the AMRPA Board and Vice President of Medical Affairs for the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Advisory Group, and Patricia Sullivan, AMRPA Director of Communications.
Episode 10: The Value of AMRPA Membership
In this episode, we’re talking the value of AMRPA. In the first segment we talk with Doug Baer, President and CEO of Brooks Rehab and Amanda Osborne, Vice President of Operations and Administrator for the Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital – University Campus. In the second segment we talk with John Ferraro, AMRPA Executive Director. Our cohosts are Robert Krug, MD, former chair of the AMRPA Board, Kate Beller, AMRPA’s Executive Vice President for Government Relations and Policy Development and Patricia Sullivan, AMRPA Director of Communications.
Episode 9: Pediatric Rehab
In this episode of Medical Rehab Matters, we talk about pediatric rehab. In July 2022, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital announced plans to build a free-standing pediatric rehab hospital on its campus in 2024. It will be only the 9th such hospital in the U.S. Our guests today are Doug Henry, MD, the director of the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital pediatric program; and Andrea Dennis, DPT, manager for the Mary Free Bed Kids Outpatient Therapy Program. She graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. She joined the Mary Free Bed team in 2009, completing a post graduate residency in pediatric therapy. Andrea is certified in Neuro-Developmental Treatment for the management of children with Cerebral Palsy and other Neuromotor Disorders and she’s certified through the Barcelona Scoliosis Physical Therapy School.
This episode is co-hosted by AMRPA Director of Communications Patricia Sullivan, and Robert Krug, MD, former chair of the AMRPA board of directors and Vice President of Medical Affairs for the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Advisory Group.
Episode 8: Inpatient Medical Rehab and Policy
In this episode, we’re talking about the policy work AMRPA does every day. We talk with three guests about the policy work they do for AMRPA in particular, and the inpatient medical rehabilitation field and patients, in general. Our guests are Kate Beller, AMRPA Executive Vice President for Government Relations and Policy Development; Jonathan Gold, Director of Government Relations and Regulatory Counsel at AMRPA; and Remy Kerr, Director of Health Policy and Quality. This episode is hosted by Patricia Sullivan, AMRPA Director of Communications.
Episode 7: PM&R Training
In this episode we talk with Miguel Escalón, MD, about physical medicine and rehab physicians, how they’re trained and their work in an inpatient medical rehabilitation hospital or unit. Dr. Escalón is a physiatrist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, as well as chair of the Resident Fellow Program Directors Council of the American Academy of Physiatry. He is also the residency program director for the PM&R resident program at Mount Sinai, and fellowship director of the Brain Injury Medicine Fellowship. He is board certified in PM&R, Brain Injury Medicine and Spinal cord injury medicine. This episode is hosted by Patricia Sullivan, AMRPA director of communications.
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Episode 6: Gabby Giffords and Aphasia
In this episode, we talk with former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her speech pathologist, Fabi Hirsch, PhD. On January 8, 2011, the Arizona congresswoman was shot in the head at pointblank range when an assailant opened fire during a constituent event outside a grocery store in Tucson, killing six people and wounding 12 others. After she was released from the acute care hospital, Rep. Giffords received inpatient medical rehabilitation treatment at TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital. Eleven years after the shooting, she still lives with aphasia, a communication disorder frequently associated with traumatic brain injuries and strokes. She and Dr. Hirsch, talk about aphasia, Gabby’s on-going recovery and more in this episode.
Our cohosts are Kate Beller, AMRPA Executive Vice President for Government Relations and Policy Development, and Dr. Robert Krug, immediate past chair of the AMRPA Board of Directors and Vice President of Medical Affairs for the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Advisory Group.
Resources:
Episode 5: Another Look at Prior Authorization Part 2
In this episode we continue our discussion of Medicare Advantage plans and prior authorization with a focus on the impact of prior auth on the health system at large. Our guests are Vishwa Raj, MD, Medical Director at Carolinas Rehabilitation; and David Storto, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy & Growth Officer for Well Force and a former member of the AMRPA board of directors.
Our cohosts are Kate Beller, AMRPA Executive Vice President for Government Relations and Policy Development, and Dr. Robert Krug, immediate past chair of the AMRPA Board of Directors and Vice President of Medical Affairs for the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Advisory Group.
Resources:
Episode 4: Another Look at Prior Authorization
In this episode we look at Medicare Advantage plans and prior authorization and a recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General. Our guests are Robyn Pauker, an attorney, and her husband, David Honig, a healthcare attorney, who talk about Robyn’s father’s experience with prior authorization, and Dr. Brian Moore, Chief Medical Officer for Physician Advisor Services at Atrium Health. Our cohosts are Kate Beller, AMRPA Executive Vice President for Government Relations and Policy Development, and Dr. Robert Krug, immediate past chair of the AMRPA Board of Directors and Vice President of Medical Affairs for the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Advisory Group.
Resources:
Episode 3: Role of Inpatient Medical Rehab Hospitals & Units During COVID Part 2
This is the second of two episodes on a report on The Role of IRH/Us During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. As we discussed in our last episode, in 2021 AMRPA retained ATI Advisory (to conduct quantitative and qualitative research on the role of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals (IRHs) during the pandemic. A presentation and panel discussion were held during the 2022 AMPRA Spring Conference. In this episode, we present the panel discussion that featured some of the leaders of AMRPA answering questions about IRFs and COVID and related issues. Our panelists are Rhonda Abbott, Senior Vice President & Chief Executive Officer, TIRR Memorial Hermann and the Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Network; Doug Baer: President & Chief Executive Officer, Brooks Rehabilitation; Chris Lee, Vice President & Chief Operations Officer, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals; Dr. Mooyeon Oh-Park, Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, Montefiore Health System; And Joyal Pavey: Vice President, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital Advisory Group; and Kate Beller, AMRPA EVP for Policy Development and Government Relations, helped moderate this discussion.
Episode 2: Role of Inpatient Medical Rehab Hospitals & Units During COVID
This episode is the first of two on a report on The Role of IRH/Us During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. We think you'll find it informative. In 2021 AMRPA retained ATI Advisory (ATI) to conduct quantitative and qualitative research on the role of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals during the pandemic. A presentation and panel discussion were held during the 2022 AMRPA Spring Conference and we are presenting it in two consecutive episodes of this podcast. In this episode, you'll hear important insights from the report. Guests are Tyler Cromer, who leads ATI Advisory's Medicare Innovation Practice, and Conner Esworthy, who advises ATI clients on matters concerning financial and operating strategy.
Episode 1: Welcome to Season 2
Season 2 begins with a look back on three episodes in last season covering prior authorization, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury.
You’ll hear from guests Kerry Maher, MD, Senior Vice President of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) Consulting and Education at Brooks Rehab, and Michael Long, Rehabilitation Division President at Vibra Healthcare. Kate Beller, JD, AMRPA EVP for Government Relations and Policy Development, on prior authorization; Christopher Comey, MD, of Advanced Neurosurgery Associates, LLC, in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and James Wilson, DO, and Michael Kelly, MD, of MetroHealth in Cleveland, talk about traumatic brain injury; and Richard Kunz, MD, a physiatrist and associate professor at VCU and Chief Medical Officer, Sheltering Arms Institute, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Daniel W. Klyce, PhD, LCP, ABPP, a licensed clinical psychologist and board certified rehabilitation psychologist talk about spinal cord injury.
AMRPA thanks Bioventus for its sponsorship of Medical Rehab Matters.
