I often work in partnership with referring physicians, and occupational therapy practitioners. I want to see clients who are ready for the car. So partnering with the doctors is essential. When I get a referral, I generally know that the doctor believes the patient is ready, therapy is reaching their goals and the person is ready for drivers rehab.
I love partnering with the medical providers that know the patients inside and out. Together we can achieve great outcomes!
Take a look at the following Q/A to learn more about when and how to refer a client to Adaptive Mobility
Q: What are areas of concern that an OT or physician should address before referring to you?
A: Driving is the most difficult thing we do. So it is the last step in recovery. While we want to talk about it and use it to motivate clients, it is the last step as someone is recovering from an illness or injury. Physicians & therapists can use a ‘Driving Risk Assessment,’ to gauge potential of readiness AND of course can always reach out for a free consultation.
A good gauge is if someone can be on their own for a day, manage basic routine life activities, be trusted to make their own health care and financial decisions, be trusted to be on their on in the community. Difficulty with these tasks doesn’t rule them out from a driving evaluation, but it should be considered.
Keep in mind that AMS has a range of adaptive equipment, so if you client has potential, send them over! We likely have an equipment solution. Simple solutions include hand controls if one or both legs are injured, a left foot accelerator if only the right foot is impaired, steering devices, mirrors, and more.
Q: When they are ready to refer a client to you, what do they need to do?
A: Send the client’s name & number to us and we will take care of the rest.
If the OT has completed a driving risk assessment, obtaining that and sending it via fax is always helpful.
If you are a referring physician, complete and send this referral form.
Q: What information should they share with their client?
A: There are several things that would be helpful to share:
- Tell the patient why they are being referred.
- Let them know it is an out of pocket charge and AMS will talk through the specifics
- Let them know what may happen if the patient chooses not to follow through with the doctors recommendation
- Let them know AMS is a friendly, objective group and skilled professionals. We understand driving and medical conditions. We want them to be as safe and independent as possible.
- Our job is help understand fitness to drive and share that information with teh referring doctor to help determine next steps.
- Common next steps – return to driving, driving training (especially with adaptive equipment), and at times a hold on driving or driving retirement.
If you have questions, please give us a call at 484-650-2280
