Analysis: Increased Use of Physical Therapy Among Medicare Patients Prone to Falls Could Reduce Healthcare Spending by $10 Billion

Amid epidemic of falls, report shows Medicare beneficiaries who received physical therapy after a fall were 50% less likely to visit the emergency room or be hospitalized

Washington, D.C. –– The Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation (APTQI) today highlighted a new report detailing how physical therapy is associated with significant reductions in hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and opioid use in the Medicare population when it is utilized after a fall. The research, developed by analysts at The Moran Company, an HMA Company, suggests that physical therapy is a powerful tool for helping seniors avoid additional falls, reduce pain, and improve their overall wellbeing and quality of life. By helping seniors stay out of costly sites of service such as inpatient hospitals or emergency rooms, physical therapy leads to a measurable reduction in total healthcare spending.

Falls are a costly and deadly epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 36 million older Americans fall each year, leading to serious injuries such as hip fractures, a loss of independence, and in tens of thousands of cases, death. As the country’s share of seniors continues to grow, and as older Americans live longer, it is likely that the number of falls and fall-related deaths will also rise. By 2030, there may be as many as 52 million senior falls resulting in 12 million injuries, according to the CDC. Meanwhile, by the end of the decade, the National Council on Aging (NCOA) estimates that the cost associated with falls will increase to more than $100 billion.

Identifying and implementing a strategy to help older Americans avoid falls is, therefore, important for improving Medicare beneficiary health and addressing growing healthcare spending. The Moran Company report highlights how physical therapy can achieve these goals.

Specifically, the researchers found:

• Increased physical therapy use by Medicare beneficiaries prone to falls could measurably reduce total healthcare spending.
  • Increased physical therapy use by 100 beneficiaries prone to falls could result in an offsetting reduction in total healthcare spending of as much as $61,400-$91,900, creating a potential savings of an estimated $10 billion among the 13.5 million Medicare beneficiaries* who are PT Non-Users.
• Medicare beneficiaries who received physical therapy after a fall were 50% less likely to visit the emergency room or be hospitalized for a follow-up injury in the six months following the fall.
• Medicare beneficiaries who received physical therapy after a fall were 39% less likely to use opioids in the six months following the fall.

“The Moran Company analysis confirms what physical therapists have known for a long-time: that physical therapy is a safe, effective method for helping seniors build the strength and balance necessary to avoid dangerous falls and reduce costly healthcare expenditures,” said Nikesh Patel, PT, Executive Director of APTQI. “Not only is the dramatic drop in hospitalizations good for individual patients, but it is also good public policy since physical therapy is shown to save our healthcare system money and reduce reliance on harmful opioids.”

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