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Texas Medicaid Outpatient Therapy Overview

Physical Therapy

The practice of physical therapy includes:

    • Measurement or testing of the function of the musculoskeletal, or neurological, system.
    • Rehabilitative treatment concerned with restoring function or preventing disability caused by illness, injury, or birth defect.
    • Treatment, consultative, educational, or advisory services to reduce the incidence or severity of disability or pain to enable, train, or retrain a person to perform the independent skills and activities of daily living.

Texas Medicaid limits physical therapy to the skilled treatment of clients who have acute or acute exacerbation of chronic disorders or chronic medical condition of the musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems.

Occupational Therapy

The practice of occupational therapy includes:

    • Evaluation and treatment of a person whose ability to perform the tasks of living is threatened or impaired by developmental deficits, sensory impairment, physical injury, or illness.
    • Using therapeutic goal-directed activities to:
      • Evaluate, prevent, or correct physical dysfunction.
      • Maximize function in a person’s life.
    • Applying therapeutic goal-directed activities in treating patients on an individual basis, in groups, or through social systems, by means of direct or monitored treatment or consultation.

Texas Medicaid limits occupational therapy to the skilled treatment of clients whose ability to function in life roles is impaired.

Occupational therapy uses purposeful activities to obtain or regain skills needed for activities of daily living (ADL) and/or functional skills needed for daily life lost through acute medical condition, acute exacerbation of a medical condition, or chronic medical condition related to injury, disease, or other medical causes. ADLs are basic self-care tasks such as feeding, bathing, dressing, toileting, grooming, and mobility.

Speech Therapy

Speech therapy is a benefit of Texas Medicaid for the treatment of chronic (for clients who are 20 years of age and younger), acute, or acute exacerbations of pathological or traumatic conditions of the head or neck, which affect speech production, speech communication and oral motor, feeding and swallowing disorders.

Speech-language pathologists treat speech sound and motor speech disorders, stuttering, voice disorders, aphasia and other language impairments, cognitive disorders, social communication disorders and swallowing (dysphagia) deficits.

Speech therapy is designed to ameliorate, restore, or rehabilitate speech language communication and swallowing disorders that have been lost or damaged as a result of a chronic, acute or acute exacerbation of a medical condition due to a recent injury, disease or other medical conditions, or congenital anomalies or injuries.

Types of Communication Disorders

There are three types of communication disorders:

    • Language Disorders—Impaired comprehension and/or use of spoken, written and/or other symbol systems. This disorder may involve the following components: forms of language (phonology, morphology, and syntax), content and meaning of language (pragmatics) and/or the perception/ processing of language. Language disorders may involve one, all or a combination of the above components.
    • Speech Production Disorders—Impairment of the articulation of speech sounds, voice and/or fluency. Speech Production Disorders may involve one, all or a combination of these components of the speech production system. An articulation disorder may manifest as an individual sound deficiency, i.e., traditional articulation disorder, incomplete or deviant use of the phonological system, i.e., phonological disorder, or poor coordination of the oral-motor mechanism for purposes of speech production, i.e., verbal and/or apraxia, dysarthria.
    • Oral Motor/Swallowing/Feeding Disorders—Impairment of the muscles, structures and/or functions of the mouth (physiological or sensory-based) involved with the entire act of deglutition from placement and manipulation of food in the mouth through the oral and pharyngeal phases of the swallow. These disorders may or may not result in deficits to speech production

References

TMHP Texas Medicaid Provider Manual

Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy

August 2024

About Us

Zachary Edgar JD, LLM is the managing partner for Therapy Comply.  Zachary is a healthcare attorney that specializes in federal and state healthcare regulatory issues particularly for physical, occupational, and speech therapy practices.  

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