New Mayo Clinic study published in Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation The Limber Health digital exercise therapy app was found to not only help relieve patients’ pain and enhance their function, but also be more effective than face-to-face physical therapy (PT).
Beginning January 1, this virtual physical therapy will now be reimbursed, ensuring providers get paid for remote therapy monitoring (RTM) through Limber and other similar apps. The Limber press release said the company helped drive the approval of the RTM billing code change.
Limber’s Physician founder believes that by using such apps as a complement to in-person PT, it’s a step toward easier access to patient care. Limber is HIPAA compliant and is committed to helping reduce patients’ musculoskeletal (MSK) pain through customized workouts that take into account the severity and risk of their condition when developing their exercise program.
With more than half of adults affected by MSK Sloan pain each year, PT has been shown to be effective in pain management and improved outcomes. However, the majority of patients prescribed PT did not complete it; according to Limber, only 12 percent started treatment, and only 30 percent of them completed the recommended course of treatment.
“Today’s patients face many challenges entering physical therapy and completing the entire treatment process. This often results in unnecessary downstream healthcare costs, including imaging, opioids, and surgery,” said Limber Health’s chief medical officer and co-founder Dr. Marc Gruner said in an email interview. “While many MSK Sloan apps focus on a digital-only approach, Limber Health’s value-based care model works with provider groups to combine clinical care and digital home tools to deliver a high-touch treatment experience. Limber Health works with payers and Provider collaboration, risk models based on patient outcomes and event savings.”
In addition to Limber, providers have a variety of virtual therapy tools to choose from. restore one Have a virtual therapy platform that addresses physical and overall health, including mental health. Kaia Health Describes its product as a “proven MSK solution” for better results.
“While digital PT can help improve access to care, the reality is that a large proportion of patients require clinical physicals and manual treatment by clinical specialists,” Gruner said.
Limber solves this problem, enhancing clinical care with digital home support to best meet the patient’s location.
“As opposed to service fees, the model focuses on maintaining health even after patients are discharged from physical therapy, reducing injury recidivism and lowering overall musculoskeletal expenditures,” he declared.
For Limber, the app hosts more than 100 pre-built progressive protocols for cases ranging from regeneration to surgery and maintenance to non-surgical. Additionally, Limber offers patients thousands of exercise videos from which providers can create customized patient home care plans. Additionally, it provides a feature where patients can enter patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) so their providers can see their results.
The app contains videos for a range of MSK conditions, from shoulder to neck and wrist pain to knee and lower back pain. In addition to showing the patient completing the exercise, each video features a physical therapist coach. Providers can also utilize the app to view workouts completed by patients as well as their PROMs. They can then adjust the patient’s program accordingly.
“Providers have a lot to do, and Limber is committed to making it easier for them to deliver quality care by offering turnkey solutions that integrate seamlessly into their workflows and electronic health record systems,” said Jake Grundstein, vice president of clinical operations Limber of value-based care, in a press release about the Mayo study. “Our solution puts patients at the center of care, enabling providers to use digital tools to deliver a hybrid model of care with in-person interventions and in-home monitoring.”
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