As stakeholders have worked to create a separate benefit category for complex rehab, they've also created something else: new acronyms.
They've worked hard to help people understand what complex rehab is and why it's important, and one byproduct of spreading the word is one of my favorite acronyms: CRT (complex rehab technology.)
CRT does exactly what an acronym should: it's easier to write, easier to say and takes up much less space in a certain reporter's stories and headlines than complex rehab technology.
Of course, it's not a wicked common acronym like HME, so I tend to use it sparingly, but it's nice to know it's there if I need it.
Also along the way in establishing CRT as a specialty in people's minds and defining it for lawmakers, NRRTS and Simon Margolis have decided to redefine a couple of their own acronyms.
In short, NRRTS has changed the “S” in its CRTS and RRTS credentials to mean “Specialist” instead of “Supplier.”
NRRTS registrants who have earned the Certified Complex Rehab Technology Specialist (CRTS) and Registered Complex Rehab Technology Specialist (RRTS) credentials will not need to do anything differently following the change, says Simon, except make changes on letterhead and business cards when they reorder in the future.
Simon told me he hopes the shift will better reflect a registrant’s role in the complex rehab service delivery process.
"We want to call our registrants what they really are: specialists," he said.
Makes sense to me.