FMA hits ‘good cross section’ of industry

WATERLOO, Iowa – U.S. Rehab’s Functional Mobility Assessment tool now has 13,000 data points showing the benefits of providing appropriate mobility equipment and involving assistive technology professionals (ATPs). 

There are currently about 50 different companies and organizations actively feeding data into the FMA tool, which is a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh, says Greg Packer, president of U.S. Rehab. 

“With 13,000 pieces of data, it’s highly successful,” he said. “We have a good cross-section of the industry. We have some universities and seating clinics that give us data, but our membership gives us the majority of the data. It’s a mindset in the industry that people don’t have time to do one more thing. What they don’t realize is, they’re hurting themselves by not participating.” 

The FMA tool assesses patient satisfaction and the ability to perform mobility related activities of daily living. It also collects key data on the number of falls and hospitalizations in the last three months, as well as occurrences of skin breakdowns – all leading cost drivers in health care.  

With a larger data set, U.S. Rehab is now able to provide reports from the FMA tool to members, who, in turn, can use them in conversations with referral and payer sources, says Tyler Mahncke, vice president. 

“It shows, ‘See, I’m doing a good job,’” he said. “’We’re preventing falls and wounds; we’re preventing re-admits; we’re providing a significant cost savings to the system.’” 

U.S. Rehab continues to evolve the FMA tool, most recently improving its interface to make it easier to use, Mahncke says. 

“It’s more streamlined,” he said. “That should take a couple of minutes off for users (when adding data to the tool) and should take less time for us on the back end when compiling data.”