Continue Your Education from Your Office
From Evidence to Outcomes: Patient-Centered Falls Care Across the Continuum
Thursday, August 27, 2026
4:00pm EST / 1:00pm PST (60 mins)
Speakers:
- Julie Gala, MA CCC-SLP, HealthPRO Heritage
- Erin Merklinger, MS, ORT/L, HealthPRO Heritage
- Sara Turnbull, PT, DPT, RAC-CT, HealthPRO Heritage
Falls are among the most common and costly adverse events affecting older adults and medically complex patients, yet effective falls care goes far beyond simply “preventing a fall.” This webinar will provide rehabilitation leaders and clinicians with a practical, patient-centered framework for addressing falls across the continuum of care. Participants will review the foundational concepts of what constitutes a fall, key intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors, and evidence-informed strategies for falls prevention, post-fall recovery, and safe return to function.
The session will translate evidence into real-world implementation across settings, including hospital, skilled nursing, home health, outpatient, assisted living, and community-based wellness programs. Faculty will address how to tailor education, interventions, and discharge planning based on setting, cognition, caregiver support, and transition-of-care needs. Participants will also examine how to track meaningful outcomes, reduce rehospitalization risk, support healthy habits and wellness after discharge, and align falls programming with value-based care priorities. The webinar will conclude with an advocacy update on the SAFE Act, which seeks to expand Medicare access to PT and OT falls screening and prevention services during wellness visits.
- Define a fall and describe common clinical, environmental, and behavioral contributors to falls risk across patient populations.
- Identify evidence-informed falls prevention strategies that support safety, function, and patient-centered outcomes.
- Incorporate cognitive status, executive function, fear of falling, and patient engagement into falls-related assessment, intervention, and discharge planning.
- Explain how falls programming supports value-based care goals, including reduced utilization, improved transitions of care, and sustainable patient outcomes.
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