Today we're excited to release Part I of our interview with Ann Wendel from PranaPT. Thanks to Ann for being candid and sharing her story of opening physical therapy clinics with us.

Tell us a little bit about you and your practice.
I graduated from University of Delaware in 1992 with a BS in P.E. Studies, concentration in Athletic Training. My goal was to work in sports medicine. I worked as an ATC in a sports medicine clinic for 3 years while taking more pre-requisites, then applied and was accepted to University of Maryland’s Physical Therapy Program. I graduated with with my Masters in 1998. I started working in a hospital right after graduation. They rarely hired new graduates to work PRN; but, I had more experience because of my years as an Athletic Trainer, so I got the job. I worked in acute care, neuro, and outpatient ortho. From 2003 to 2006 I went out on my own and ran my private practice in space I sublet from a Pilates studio. My next step was to work for a larger Orthopedic practice. I worked there for 4 years until October 2011, when I went back to my own business, Prana Physical Therapy. I now work as an independent contractor for Core Wellness and Physical Therapy in a co-op building. We end up co-treating patients and being more collaborative. We do different but complimentary techniques.

Tell us something we wouldn’t know. This can be an interesting fact, a fun anecdote or even a more formal piece of information about starting a PT clinic.
For my current business, we don’t take insurance. We’re a cash-based clinic, and out of network providers. As I left to start my new business, I had some Medicare patients that wanted to follow me. What I learned through research is that if you don’t accept Medicare, you can’t treat Medicare patients. It’s illegal to accept cash payments from Medicare patients for physical therapy (see Section 40 of the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual from CMS). Medicare patients can only pay out of pocket when they see a P.T. for “Wellness” (i.e. general conditioning and not treatment). This is a little known fact that is devastating for a small practice (read Ann's blog post on the topic for more info). These are the folks that typically need care beyond what Medicare can pay, and they are not able to come see you. If you didn’t know about this and you got audited by Medicare you’d be in trouble. The way the code is written, the only practitioners who cannot opt-out of Medicare are P.T. and Chiropractic.