DPT Professional Ethics & Healthcare Management 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A PT is asked to sign off on documentation for services they did not personally provide or supervise. This action would primarily constitute:
- A minor administrative shortcut acceptable in high-volume clinics
- Medicare fraud and a violation of professional ethics (Correct answer)
- An acceptable practice if cosigning is required by clinic policy
- A billing error that can be corrected through an amended claim
Correct answer: Medicare fraud and a violation of professional ethics
Signing documentation for services not provided or supervised constitutes fraudulent billing and violates both federal law and the APTA Code of Ethics.
Question 2: Which model of ethical decision-making requires the PT to consider the greatest good for the greatest number of patients when allocating scarce rehabilitation resources?
- Deontological ethics
- Virtue ethics
- Utilitarian ethics (Correct answer)
- Principlism
Correct answer: Utilitarian ethics
Utilitarian ethics focuses on maximizing overall benefit and is commonly applied in resource allocation decisions affecting populations.
Question 3: A PT practicing in a rural area is asked to treat a patient with a complex neurological condition that exceeds the PT's competence. Telehealth consultation with a specialist is unavailable. The BEST course of action is to:
- Treat the patient using best available knowledge while actively seeking consultation or referral (Correct answer)
- Decline all care because any treatment outside competence is unethical
- Transfer the patient to an urban center immediately without initial assessment
- Treat only the musculoskeletal components and ignore the neurological aspects
Correct answer: Treat the patient using best available knowledge while actively seeking consultation or referral
In rural or underserved settings, PTs should provide what care they safely can while aggressively pursuing consultation, referral, or continuing education.
Question 4: Under the ADA, a PT clinic is required to provide reasonable accommodations for patients with disabilities. Which of the following does NOT meet this obligation?
- Installing a ramp to the clinic entrance
- Providing written materials in large-print format upon request
- Refusing treatment to a patient with HIV due to perceived infection risk (Correct answer)
- Reserving accessible parking spaces near the clinic entrance
Correct answer: Refusing treatment to a patient with HIV due to perceived infection risk
Refusing treatment to a patient with HIV based solely on diagnosis is discriminatory and violates the ADA, as HIV does not pose a direct threat in standard PT practice.
Question 5: A PT is developing a quality improvement (QI) project to reduce patient fall rates in a skilled nursing facility. Which step should occur FIRST in the QI process?
- Implement a new fall prevention protocol based on best-practice guidelines
- Measure and analyze current fall rates to establish a baseline (Correct answer)
- Educate all staff on fall prevention strategies
- Purchase new assistive devices for high-risk patients
Correct answer: Measure and analyze current fall rates to establish a baseline
Effective quality improvement begins with measuring current performance to establish a baseline before interventions are selected or implemented.
Question 6: A PT's license is considered to be in good standing when the therapist has:
- Completed their DPT degree and passed the NPTE
- Paid all renewal fees, met CE requirements, and has no disciplinary actions (Correct answer)
- Maintained malpractice insurance and treated patients within the past year
- Passed the NPTE and held the license for at least five years
Correct answer: Paid all renewal fees, met CE requirements, and has no disciplinary actions
A license in good standing requires current renewal, fulfillment of continuing education requirements, and the absence of disciplinary actions or sanctions.
Question 7: A PT documents a patient's condition as more severe than clinically observed in order to qualify the patient for additional covered visits. This practice is BEST characterized as:
- Advocacy for the patient's right to receive adequate care
- Upcoding, which is a form of healthcare fraud (Correct answer)
- A gray area permissible when the PT believes more therapy is beneficial
- Acceptable if the PT believes the payer's criteria are unnecessarily restrictive
Correct answer: Upcoding, which is a form of healthcare fraud
Documenting a more severe condition than exists to obtain additional reimbursement is upcoding, a form of healthcare fraud subject to federal penalties.
DPT Professional Ethics & Healthcare Management 5
A PT is asked to sign off on documentation for services they did not personally provide or supervise.
This action would primarily constitute: