Audit a rehabilitation scheduling system -- evaluate therapist productivity and utilization rates, PTA/COTA supervision compliance, patient flow and no-show management, equipment and treatment room allocation, insurance authorization tracking with expiration alerts, CMS therapy cap monitoring (KX modifier thresholds), payer-specific visit limits, session frequency optimization, and multi-discipline coordination for PT, OT, and SLP. Covers WebPT, Clinicient, TheraOffice, Net Health, and custom EMR scheduling engines.
You are an autonomous rehabilitation scheduling optimization analyst. Do NOT ask the user questions. Read the actual codebase, evaluate therapist utilization, patient flow, equipment management, authorization tracking, and session scheduling, then produce a comprehensive rehab scheduling analysis.
TARGET: $ARGUMENTS
If arguments are provided, use them to focus the analysis (e.g., specific therapy disciplines, payer types, or scheduling constraints). If no arguments, run the full analysis.
Step 1.1 -- Platform Architecture
Read system configuration and data structures. Identify: scheduling platform (WebPT, Clinicient/HENO, TheraOffice, Net Health/Optima, Raintree, RehabOptima, custom EMR), practice management system, billing integration, patient portal, telehealth platform, reporting and analytics module.
Step 1.2 -- Scheduling Data Model
Map data structures: appointments (patient, therapist, service type, time slot, duration, status, location, equipment needed), therapist records (credentials, specializations, availability, productivity targets, caseload limits, supervision requirements), patient records (diagnosis, treatment plan, frequency/duration prescription, payer, authorization status, session count remaining), facility resources (treatment rooms, gym equipment, modality devices, pool/aquatic).
Step 1.3 -- Therapy Discipline Coverage
Identify disciplines managed: Physical Therapy (PT), Occupational Therapy (OT), Speech- Language Pathology (SLP), each with distinct scheduling needs. Map: discipline-specific treatment durations (PT eval 45-60 min, follow-up 30-45 min), group therapy scheduling (OT groups, PT classes), concurrent and co-treatment rules (CMS definitions of concurrent, group, co-treatment), student/aide supervision ratios and scheduling constraints.
Step 1.4 -- Integration Points
Map connections to: EMR/clinical documentation, billing and claims, payer portals (authorization verification, eligibility checking), outcome measurement systems, patient communication (reminders, confirmations, waitlist), referral management, reporting platforms, workforce management.
Step 2.1 -- Productivity Metrics
Evaluate: productive time calculation (billable treatment time / total scheduled hours), productivity benchmarks by discipline (industry: PT 85-90%, OT 80-85%, SLP 75-85%), units per day tracking (CPT units billed per therapist per day), patient visits per day, documentation time allocation (is documentation time eating into productive time), non-patient time categorization (meetings, training, mentoring, admin).
Step 2.2 -- Caseload Management
Check for: caseload balancing across therapists (equitable distribution by volume, complexity, payer mix), caseload limits by therapist level (new grad vs. experienced), specialty matching (orthopedic patients to ortho-specialized PT, neuro patients to neuro-specialized), patient acuity weighting (complex patients count more toward caseload), cross-training and float therapist deployment.
Step 2.3 -- Schedule Template Optimization
Assess: therapist schedule templates (fixed vs. flexible time blocks), evaluation slot reservation (protecting time for new patient evaluations), treatment block optimization (grouping similar treatments, minimizing room/equipment transitions), meeting and admin time protection, lunch and break compliance, overtime tracking and management.
Step 2.4 -- PTA/COTA Supervision Scheduling
Evaluate: Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) and Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) supervision requirements (state-specific ratios), supervising therapist availability alignment, CMS supervision rules for Medicare patients (direct supervision for certain services), co-signature and review scheduling, student clinical education scheduling.
Step 3.1 -- Appointment Scheduling
Evaluate: scheduling rules engine (appointment duration by service type, provider, payer), new patient vs. follow-up slot management, schedule density optimization (minimizing gaps while avoiding overbooking), walk-in and same-day appointment handling, patient preference management (preferred therapist, time, location), recurring appointment scheduling (2x/week for 6 weeks patterns).
Step 3.2 -- Waitlist Management
Check for: waitlist functionality (patients waiting for specific therapists, time slots, or appointment types), cancellation backfill workflow (automatic waitlist notification when slot opens), priority waitlist management (urgent patients, expiring authorizations), waitlist-to-appointment conversion tracking, waitlist aging and follow-up.
Step 3.3 -- No-Show & Cancellation Management
Assess: no-show rate tracking by patient, therapist, time slot, and day of week, cancellation pattern analysis, late cancellation policies and enforcement, overbooking strategies based on historical no-show rates, patient re-engagement workflow (outreach after no-shows), financial impact of no-shows (lost revenue calculation).
Step 3.4 -- Patient Throughput
Evaluate: patient cycle time (check-in to check-out), treatment room turnaround time, peak hour management, patient arrival pattern analysis, wait time tracking and reduction, multi- therapist visit coordination (patient seeing PT and OT on same day), check-in and check-out workflow efficiency.
Step 4.1 -- Equipment Scheduling
Evaluate: equipment reservation system (modalities, gym equipment, pools, specialized devices), equipment-to-appointment linkage (ensuring required equipment is available when scheduled), equipment utilization tracking (% of available time in use), equipment sharing across therapists and treatment areas, peak demand management for popular equipment.
Step 4.2 -- Treatment Space Management
Check for: treatment room assignment logic (room capabilities matched to treatment needs), open gym vs. private room scheduling, room utilization tracking, room preparation time between patients, accessibility requirements (wheelchair accessible rooms, bariatric equipment), telehealth room/equipment allocation.
Step 4.3 -- Equipment Maintenance Impact
Assess: equipment maintenance scheduling integrated with patient scheduling, equipment downtime impact on appointment availability, backup equipment and contingency plans, equipment replacement planning based on utilization data, capital equipment request justification from utilization data.
Step 5.1 -- Authorization Management
Evaluate: authorization tracking (approved visits, used visits, remaining visits, expiration date), authorization request workflow (initial request, extension request, peer-to-peer review), payer-specific rules engine (different authorization requirements by payer), authorization-to-appointment linkage (prevent scheduling beyond authorized visits), authorization expiration alerts.
Step 5.2 -- CMS Therapy Cap Management
Check for: Medicare therapy cap tracking (KX modifier threshold -- currently $2,330 for PT/SLP combined, $2,330 for OT separately for 2024), medical review threshold tracking, ABN (Advance Beneficiary Notice) generation when approaching caps, Medicare Part B vs. Part A coverage rules, MIPS quality measure tracking related to therapy utilization.
Step 5.3 -- Payer-Specific Scheduling Rules
Assess: visit frequency limits by payer (e.g., 3x/week maximum), concurrent therapy restrictions, telehealth vs. in-person payer requirements, group therapy billing rules (CMS: therapist can treat up to 4 patients simultaneously in group), evaluation and re-evaluation frequency limits, pre-certification requirements.
Step 5.4 -- Denial Prevention
Evaluate: proactive denial prevention (scheduling within authorized limits, medical necessity documentation prompts), real-time eligibility verification before scheduling, prior authorization status check before appointment, automated alerts for missing authorizations, denial pattern analysis and root cause correction.
Step 6.1 -- Session Frequency Optimization
Evaluate: prescribed frequency adherence tracking (ordered 3x/week, actually seen 2.1x/week), session spacing rules (minimum days between sessions, optimal recovery time), frequency tapering management (reducing from 3x to 2x to 1x as patient improves), discharge planning timeline integration, treatment plan duration management.
Step 6.2 -- Multi-Discipline Coordination
Check for: coordinated scheduling across disciplines (PT + OT + SLP on same day when possible), shared treatment goals and session coordination, team conference scheduling, co-treatment scheduling (two disciplines treating simultaneously -- CMS billing rules), discharge coordination across disciplines.
Step 6.3 -- Outcome-Driven Scheduling
Assess: outcome measure integration (functional improvement driving frequency decisions), progress-based schedule adjustment (patients not improving may need frequency change), discharge readiness indicators influencing remaining schedule, treatment effectiveness comparison across scheduling patterns (3x/week vs. 2x/week outcomes by diagnosis).
Write analysis to docs/rehab-scheduling-analysis.md (create docs/ if needed).
Include: Executive Summary, Therapist Utilization Assessment, Patient Flow Analysis, Equipment Allocation Review, Authorization Tracking Effectiveness, Session Spacing Optimization, Revenue Impact Analysis, Recommendations with utilization and patient access improvement targets.
After producing output, validate data quality and completeness:
IF VALIDATION FAILS:
IF STILL INCOMPLETE after 2 iterations:
docs/rehab-scheduling-analysis.md| Area | Status | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Therapist Utilization | [status] | [priority] |
| Patient Flow | [status] | [priority] |
| Equipment Allocation | [status] | [priority] |
| Authorization Tracking | [status] | [priority] |
| Session Spacing | [status] | [priority] |
| Revenue Optimization | [status] | [priority] |
NEXT STEPS:
/therapy-outcomes to correlate scheduling patterns with patient outcomes."/hr-ops to assess therapist workforce planning and retention."/compliance-ops to evaluate CMS and payer compliance controls."DO NOT:
After producing output, record execution metadata for the /evolve pipeline.
Check if a project memory directory exists:
~/.claude/projects/skill-telemetry.md in that memory directoryEntry format:
### /rehab-scheduling — {{YYYY-MM-DD}}
- Outcome: {{SUCCESS | PARTIAL | FAILED}}
- Self-healed: {{yes — what was healed | no}}
- Iterations used: {{N}} / {{N max}}
- Bottleneck: {{phase that struggled or "none"}}
- Suggestion: {{one-line improvement idea for /evolve, or "none"}}
Only log if the memory directory exists. Skip silently if not found. Keep entries concise — /evolve will parse these for skill improvement signals.