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Upcoming Seminars:
Documentation and Payment Issues in Outpatient Physical Therapy: Assuring Compliance & Avoiding Fraud and Abuse
October 16-17, 2008 — Great Wolf Lodge, Mason, Ohio
Payment & Policy Challenges in Outpatient Physical Therapy: Tools for Success in 2008 & Beyond!
October 24-25, 2008 — Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
Audio Conference: The Advanced Beneficiary Notice: How to Legally Collect Cash from a Medicare Patient
September 9, 2008 — Partnership with APTA Chapters
Audio Conference: The OIG Self Disclosure Protocol: Should You Notify the Government if you suspect a Problem, and How to Minimize Your Risk of an Audit
October 7, 2008 — Partnership with APTA Chapters
Audio Conference (2 Part): Part 1: Establishing a Fee Schedule for your Facility: Using the Medicare Resource Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) as a Guide
November 11, 2008 — Partnership with APTA Chapters
Audio Conference (2 Part): Part 2: Determining Your Cost per Visit: Understanding Basic Financial Statements and Answering the Question: Should I Sign This Payer Contract?
November 18, 2008 — Partnership with APTA Chapters
Read more
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Who We Are
Helene M. Fearon, PT
 Helene Fearon is a graduate of Marquette University’s Physical Therapy program. She is co-owner of Fearon Physical Therapy, a private practice in Phoenix, Arizona since 1986 that specializes in orthopedic manual therapy. Her private practice provides work injury management services through contracts with employers, payers and case management firms. These services include the review and development of functional job descriptions, development and implementation of ADA compliant pre-work screening programs and functional capacity evaluations. She is a contributing author to several publications and training manuals utilized to train physical therapists in providing for work injury management programs. Ms. Fearon is President and partner of Physical Therapy Provider Network (PTPN) of Arizona, a physical therapist owned provider network that includes over 100 private practices in Arizona. She also is a principal in the Rehabilitation Consulting and Resource Institute, Inc., (RCRI), an independent consulting firm focusing on practice management and reimbursement strategies in the outpatient rehabilitation setting.
Ms. Fearon shares her expertise through consulting in the areas of fiscal management and health policy development as it relates to rehabilitation services. She consults nationally in the areas of CPT coding, fee schedule development, utilization review and audits, as well as policy and procedure and quality assurance program development and review. She draws on her background of having been involved in the development and/or operation of her private practice, three Medicare-Certified Rehab Agencies, a home care contracting business, two specialty practices delivering work injury management services and a physical therapy provider network. In addition, Ms. Fearon has provided expert testimony in cases involving fraud and abuse in the provision of physical therapy services in the outpatient setting. She consults to several national medical review and insurance companies, providing assistance in the development of utilization review and payment policies as they pertain to rehabilitation services.
Ms. Fearon is involved in the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) both at the state and national level. She was appointed as APTA’s representative to the American Medical Association’s CPT HealthCare Professionals Advisory Committee (HCPAC) in 1992, and is currently co-chair of the HCPAC. In this role she participates as a member of the AMA’s CPT Editorial Panel. Since 1993, Ms. Fearon has been intimately involved in the process of developing, and revising CPT code nomenclature primarily used in the description of services provided by healthcare professionals in the area of physical medicine and rehabilitation. In this role she frequently is called upon for her expertise in development of payment policy and training materials utilizing these CPT codes.
Her activities in the APTA include serving on the Board of Directors of the Private Practice Section — APTA and
is currently chair of the Section's Government Affairs Committee. She is active as a member of the Arizona Chapter of the APTA and its’
Payer Relations committee. Ms. Fearon also served as a governor appointee to
the State of Arizona’s Board of Physical Therapy Licensure from 1999 - 2007, and
served as president of this regulatory board from 2003 - 2007.
Contact Information:
Helene M. Fearon, PT
6245 N. 24th Parkway, Ste. 105
Phoenix, AZ 85016
602-997-7844
602-997-8020 (Fax)
helenefearon@myrehabconsultants.com
Stephen M. Levine, PT, DPT, MSHA
 Steve Levine is the founder and
president of the Rehabilitation Consulting & Resource Institute, Inc., (RCRI), an independent consulting firm focusing on practice management and reimbursement strategies in the outpatient rehabilitation setting. Prior to development of RCRI, he was involved in operation and ownership of a private practice in Maryland for over eighteen years. Dr. Levine’s clinical expertise is focused in the orthopedic/musculoskeletal area, particularly related to spine, shoulder, and pelvic girdle dysfunction. He received his degree in Physical Therapy from the University of Maryland at Baltimore in 1984, a Masters Degree in Health Administration (a Health Care MBA) from the Medical College of Virginia Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in 2001, and his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from A.T. Still University of the Health Sciences in 2004.
Dr. Levine is a nationally recognized consultant specializing in practice management and reimbursement strategies in rehabilitation services. He is a certified peer reviewer through the Maryland Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), and has provided education and training to providers and payers at the local and national level for over 20 years. Dr. Levine is a consultant to local and national third party payers, regulators, and case management agencies in the areas of CPT coding and relative values, RBRVS, cost containment, fraud and abuse, quality assurance issues, reimbursement strategies for physical therapy services, and physical therapy peer/utilization review. Additionally, Dr. Levine has worked extensively with federal investigative and law enforcement agencies, including the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, in the areas of fraud, abuse, medical necessity, over-utilization, and medical policy review.
From 1992 to 1999, Dr. Levine was the national APTA appointee to the American Medical Association’s Health Care Professional’s Advisory Committee of the Relative Value Update Committee (RUC), a multi-specialty committee which advises the AMA and
CMS on appropriate relative values of medical services provided by a broad range of licensed providers. He is considered one of the foremost experts on development, implementation, and current applications of the Resource Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) under Medicare and other third party payers, and is a frequent advisor to the Medicare program. Additionally, he has testified before the Ways and Means Committee, Subcommittee on Health, of the United States Congress on the subject of RBRVS and the need to modify the formula under which physician payment is updated annually to more appropriately reimburse providers under this system.
Dr. Levine is an active member of the American Physical Therapy Association, having served many positions nationally and in the Maryland Chapter.
He was Vice-Speaker of the
House and a member of the APTA Board of Directors from 1997 – 2002, and served
as an APTA Board member and Speaker of the House of Delegates from 2003 - 2008.
Additionally, Dr. Levine serves as adjunct faculty at physical therapy professional educational and post-professional educational programs in several states.
Contact Information:
Stephen M. Levine, PT, DPT, MSHA
7520 NW 12th Street
Plantation, FL 33313
954-321-1008
954-316-2420 (Fax)
stevelevine@myrehabconsultants.com
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