WebPT Blog - physical therapy billing
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0 CommentsFeb 22, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Today's post is contributed by Greg Babiec, Physical Therapist, and Owner Evolve Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation in New York. Greg is also a member of WebPT. You can follow him on Twitter at @DrBadBack. Thanks, Greg, for contributing your insights and expertise today!As a PT, understanding how health insurance works can sometimes be an unpleasant yet important part of the profession. Of course, treating patients is our primary role but since we spend so much time with our patients, taking an opportunity to educate them about their insurance can set us apart from other health care professionals. I recommend a bit of research about the insurances you deal with most and a good place to start is on the APTA website.
In my experience there are a few key things that we as PTs should know about insurance:
1) Understanding the insurance verification
2) What is the patients responsibility
3) What is your responsibility as the PT
Once a patient attempts to schedule an appointment for PT, most PT clinics have an administrative staff member perform an insurance verification. I think all PT’s should do a few just for the experience. If you have never done an insurance verification before, its very simple and usually is best done with a phone call to the insurance company. Once the patient provides you with their information, call the insurance company to speak to a representative.
The rep will tell you about the co-payment, co-insurance, deductible and maximum out of pocket costs. Do a web search for these terms or read something like this so that you know the difference. The rep will also tell you if the patient needs authorization, how many visits they get and if there are special forms that need to be filled out. Try to get a good understanding of what needs to be done so that you know what the patient needs to do and what things you need to do.
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Feb 6, 2012| Mike Mannheimer
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.
