Since July 2016, AAPM&R has been championing an initiative—Visioning PM&R Bold—to help define the future of PM&R.

We know the health care landscape is changing quickly and challenging the way medicine has always been practiced. As the primary medical society for the specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation, AAPM&R wants physiatrists to be bold in the future health care landscape—as new models are being tested that pay for performance and quality care. 

The Visioning PM&R BOLD initiative has boldly sought awareness, feedback, data, and widespread engagement through a variety of innovative formats and forums. After 7 months of robust efforts and the engagement of 1,000s of physiatrists, a Visioning PM&R BOLD Summit was convened to gather a diverse group of nearly 50 PM&R thought leaders to consider the findings. Below is an overview of our efforts.

 

Theme 1:

Across all research avenues, there is an opportunity to be positioned at the entry point and/or early in patient care as they enter the health care system. Early in care is a broad statement, but specific examples provided by physiatrists include:

• Early in patient care, across different practice settings
• Before they enter the system
• Pre-habilitation/Wellness (sports prevention, surgical preparation, geriatric fall prevention, obesity prevention)

Theme 2:

The second cross-cutting theme focused on the opportunities to further expand and continue to be transformational across the continuum of health care and in doing so, apply physiatric principles that deliver value.  Expanding across the continuum includes:

• Driving integration across the post-acute care spectrum
• New or expanded models for delivery of MSK/ambulatory care
• Applicable to settings and clinical areas where PM&R has not traditionally been before. Examples include cancer rehabilitation and palliative care