Practices and patients alike are well aware of the opioid and narcotic dependency risks associated with use for pain management treatment following injury or surgery. Non-pharmaceutical treatment options are always preferred, but most alternative options fall short in delivering viable and lasting pain management relief.
Cold therapy has long been used as a viable option, but most offerings do not integrate compression modules to help combat swelling, and the ones that do are very expensive. Since these are typically not covered by insurance, many providers turn to low-cost options, which under-deliver, and access to these products is random at best.
Providers are always concerned about patient out-of-pocket costs, which admittedly limits the ability of the patient to access a cold-therapy device. But patients should at least be offered an opportunity to leverage these pain management alternatives, and allow the patient to dictate access, depending on their financial wherewithal or perceived value in the device.
Creating a standardized and automated cold therapy program will not only expand access to drug-free pain management alternatives for your patient population, but drive revenue to the practice.
Integrating options as part of the preoperative consult allows for greater patient education, and many management service options exist that can expand both a direct purchase and lower cost rental option.
Archway can recommend low cost yet high-quality devices that deliver both cold and intermittent compression pre-programmed options, offering both patient convenience at a palatable price point for the end user.