Last month we gave you some marketing tips to get your clinic in good health for the New Year. The next topic we want to consider is a little bit more serious. Many clinics have their billing practices in place and haven’t really considered what options are available. The truth is, your clinic has many options when it comes to billing and switching to a method that makes more sense for you could have a dramatic effect on your bottom line.

Billing is one of the most important considerations you have when running a physical therapy clinic. Billing can also be one of the more confusing aspects of running a practice, especially if you choose a method that doesn’t fit your management style. This month, we are going to be looking at best practices in billing on our blog. In addition to best practices, we’ll cover how to choose the most appropriate method for your practice, implementation tips, and more.

Experience is key. It’s important to remember that you want to have someone (employee or company) who has experience billing for physical therapy. You want to verify that whoever has control of your claims is well versed in the nuances of physical therapy. Having specialized domain knowledge can increase cash flow and decrease the amount of time it take for your claims to be processed. We would recommend finding a professional or a professional company that is trained in physical therapy billing.

The next question to ask yourself is whether you should outsource your billing or do your billing in house. It is likely that you already have one of these methods in place, but it’s always a good idea to audit your process and see what you can do to improve it. Constant improvement! Sometimes this may mean a few minor tweaks and other times, it may mean switching to another method entirely. Let’s first define each method of billing.