Rural Areas Lack Services
Across most of the state, any form of rehabilitation services (physical, occupational, speech, and more) are scarce. Even if a county has a single physical therapy clinic for sports injuries, or occupational/speech therapy for early childhood intervention, most clinics lack the expertise to address anything other than simple musculoskeletal systems, including neurological conditions, complex combinations of factors, and more.
Brain Northwest, which coordinates events, resources, and peer support groups for TBI survivors across Washington, reported that more than 10,000 people reach out looking for concussion/TBI services, but they are only able to connect less than 100 of them to services, simply because services don’t exist in Washington. That is a MASSIVE need, and a failure of our healthcare system.
Individuals are unable to seek treatment due to money, insurance, time, travel, lack of referrals, lack of primary care provider understanding/connections, and more. And this problem is quickly getting worse.
Outpatient Rehabilitation Clinics Are Disappearing
Already too scarce to meet patient needs, rehabilitation services across Washington state are rapidly disappearing, including occupational, physical, speech, and other therapies. Even large systems such as Providence, Swedish, University of Washington, and more have shuttered the vast majority of their inpatient (IRF) and outpatient clinics, citing recent federal reimbursement cuts (Medicaid/Medicare), and inability to cover skyrocketing overhead costs (rent, therapist salaries, and tariff-related costs). Read this article to learn about Providence’s recent decision to close their clinics.
Teletherapy Fills the Void
For now, it looks like the only lasting solution will be to provide treatment remotely. Brain Tree does not operate out of a physical clinic – all appointments take place through video. This allows Brain Tree to stay open, accept patients who can only pay through insurance or sliding scale private pay, and help patients who live far from the handful of executive dysfunction clinics in the state. We aspire to grow large enough to help fill the massive need for executive function treatment in Washington State.
Next Steps
To learn about how Teletherapy works at Brain Tree Therapies, visit the Teletherapy page.
New and returning patients can schedule an appointment on the Simple Practice patient portal.
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