Province expands post-surgery outpatient hip, knee physiotherapy access

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This article was published 05/04/2023 (890 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Eligible Manitobans recovering from total hip- or knee-replacement surgery will now be able to access physiotherapy and rehabilitation services from any physiotherapy clinic in the province, the government announced Wednesday.

Since October, the province has arranged direct-bill contracts at three private clinics for post-operative outpatient physiotherapy and rehabilitation care.

In this next phase, patients can receive care at any Manitoba physiotherapy clinic with billing services run through the Manitoba Physiotherapy Association, the province said in a statement. Patients who have had total hip- or knee-replacement surgery since Jan. 1, and who have not received treatment can qualify for up to six individual physiotherapy sessions or 10 group sessions as of April 1. Connecting eligible patients with this care is part of their discharge process following surgery.

The Manitoba Physiotherapy Association will manage all physiotherapy billing services for eligible adult outpatients. All registered physiotherapists in Manitoba are eligible for reimbursement, the release said. The arrangement is temporary until a more permanent billing arrangement is established, which is expected in the coming months.

An estimated 6,100 eligible patients will have access to and coverage for physiotherapy and rehabilitation at their Manitoba provider of choice as part of their continued care, the government press release said.

It’s another example of the province shifting resources away from the public health system to private, for-profit clinics, critics said.

“Today’s announcement follows a typical pattern from this government of cutting public health-care services — in this case, the 2017 cut to outpatient services — creating chaos for patients and families and then selling privatization as a silver bullet,” Thomas Linner, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition said Wednesday.

In October 2017, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority stopped providing outpatient physiotherapy services, as a cost-cutting measure.

At the time, Real Cloutier, the health authority interim president and CEO, said senior management had to choose what to cut and privatizing physiotherapy and occupational therapy for many patients was the result.

Six years later, Linner and the Manitoba Health Coalition is calling for the services and the associated funding to be reinstated in the public system “to ensure the best outcomes for patients.”

— Staff