Physical therapy blog with useful information about physical therapy software, best practices for using technology, physical therapy industry events and news from WebPT.
PT blog with with up to date information on how to make the most of your PT management system. Shared comments from PTs are also available on our blog.
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.
Many clinic owners don’t pay quite enough attention to how billing tactics can effect their business overall. It’s one of those scenarios where the phrase “You don’t know what you don’t know” seems appropriate. Let’s take a close look at one billing method that can improve the health of your practice and give you the most visibility and control over billing practices.
In house billing is all about control. Deciding to go with an in house billing solution has a lot do with you as a business owner. If you currently have a hands on approach and want to see each and every detail that goes in or out of your clinic, then in house billing is probably your best option.
In house billing means that you have at least one billing employee on your staff that is in charge of submitting all of your claims and seeing them through he collections process. One benefit to this method is that you can select the employee yourself. This gives you the ability to choose someone who is not only a fit at your office, but also is an expert in physical therapy billing. Being able to choose with whom you work and to verify their knowledge level offers a great sense of security for your practice. If you choose an outsourced billing service, you may not in all cases know exactly who is filing the claims for your clinic.
The next consideration you need to think about for in house billing is what software to use. Before you start looking at every software out there you should contact your EMR company (if you don’t have one, go here) and see what systems they integrate with. This will not only help you to narrow down your search, but also make sure that you don’t have to do double entry of your information. Some clinics that ignore this important step have to enter in each patient and each charge twice, because they have two systems that do not communicate with each other. Everyone has their reasons, but buying a system that doesn’t communicate with your EMR seems counter-intuitive.
As a physical therapist, what does it mean to outsource your billing? Is it worth it to have another company handle your claims? It’s a big change, so what does the on-boarding process look like?
These are all excellent questions for you to consider. Even if you think you’re satisfied with your current billing circumstance, it may be worth re-evaluating. It’s always smart to periodically invest some time in auditing your processes and business vendors/partners. You never know if better solutions are out there!
Let’s talk outsourced billing. Of course, your first question is probably about cost. What does outsourced billing cost? We’ve found that it’s usually between 6% to 12% of claims collected each month. You’ll need to consider whether or not the monthly fees are worth it for you and your clinic.
Outsourced billing my be right for your clinic if you’re seeing a high turnover in front office/billing staff. You may need to calculate your total costs for the additional employee(s) plus the cost of the billing software and clearinghouse fees. One of our partners, Software Advice, created an extensive list of considerations and cost break downs that you may want to check out.
A big factor can be the total amount of claims collected. Is your staff (would your staff) really collect the maximum amount? It’s quite possible that more seasoned, dedicated billers could collect more for you and your clinic. You work hard for every dollar you earn. You want a billing company that does the same. Ask for specific examples of how they have caught small claim errors and tracked down every possible dime for their clients. As a business owner, you know that that sort of persistence and attention to details is priceless!
When deciding on an outsourced billing service, it’s also key to consider your visibility to your claims and the collections process. It is after all, YOUR money! With any outsourced partner, make sure to ask about transparency and whether or not they touch your revenue.
Speaking of transparency, are the billing professionals in the United States or offshore? Some outsourced billing companies literally outsource your business to offshore teams. If it’s important to you, make sure to ask the actual geographic location of the team managing your patients data and claims.
Today we're excited to share Ann Wendel's social media resources for physical therapists. Ann is the owner of PranaPT and active on social media. Thanks to Ann for being a resource!
WebPT has asked me to share my personal top 5 physical therapy resources in social media. This is by no means an extensive list; it is simply a list of the folks I check in with on a daily basis to share research, hash out practice issues, address topics of interest, and generally stay on top of what’s new in our profession. Enjoy checking these folks out, and feel free to add suggestions!
1) Evidence in Motion and My Physical Therapy Space
On Twitter, Founder of EIM, Larry Benz provides a “knowledge exchange studio” that provides CE, Post Professional Certifications, Executive Program/DPT, Musculoskeletal Transitional DPT, Residencies and Fellowships, and a blog which covers topics relevant to PTs. EIM is comprised of leaders in education, research and business practice.
2) The Manual Therapist Blog by Erson Religioso, DPT
Erson is a P.T. in private practice in N.Y. State, as well as part time faculty at Daemen College and adjunct faculty at D’Youville College. He is also a mentor for Daemen College, McKenzie Institute, and the Evidence in Motion Fellowships in OMPT. He maintains a blog and is the creator of The Edge, an affordable tool for instrument assisted manual therapy.
3) Mike Reinold, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC, CSCS
Mike is a clinician, researcher and educator; additionally, he is the Head PT for The Boston Red Sox. His website contains journal articles, clinical pearls, book and product reviews, and links to his own products, which include videos and continuing education resources.
Today's blog post was contributed by Alex Zarazua, a stellar member of the WebPT Support team. Thanks Alex!
Earlier this morning thousands of WebPT members were greeted with a number enhanced features and a new color scheme as we improved our system this weekend. Approximately 25 members suggested improvements to our application which we developed and implemented in our latest release!
We are so thankful for our contributing members that help improve the system via our Ideas Portal. Today we’re excited to introduce a new and improved Ideas Portal to increase the searchability of current ideas and encourage engagement across the entire WebPT community. Members now have the ability to participate by reviewing, commenting and voting on ideas as well as see where their ideas are in the development process.
Our Insurance Authorization manager was improved with new visit count features that will let your staff keep track of visits and authorizations more easily. Members now have the ability to see the number of patient visits per policy across all cases and reset those visit counts as necessary.
Other updates include billing and documentation enhancements, added functionality to the Home Exercise Program, an addition to the Neuro Vascular section and overall system enhancements. Members have access to a detailed list of improvements under the News & Updates section of the Dashboard.
If you have more ideas on how we can make WebPT better we want to hear them. Email them to support@webpt.com or visit our Ideas Portal!
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.
When it comes to marketing your physical therapy clinic, most of the commentary out there has to do with referrals from physicians. This is no doubt a key to creating a successful practice, but there is another base of referrals that is equally as crucial to nurture. I am talking about referrals that come directly from your existing patient base. Word of mouth referrals are the most powerful.Having your services recommended is the best way to establish trust in your community. Becoming an important part of the overall health of the community is a sure fire way to create a sustainable business.
The bottom line in all marketing, regardless of marketing to physicians or to patients, is to develop relationships. Meaningful relationships with the customer base you already have will lead to peer referrals that can be hugely valuable to your business.
What tactics have you employed to nurture referral patients in your practice? We’d love if you could share one idea that has worked for your practice.
I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard. -Estée Lauder
Let’s talk about your business. If you’re a private practice owner, you know how important is to get paid by the insurance companies in order to keep the lights on. You didn’t start this practice just to make money, though. If you’re like most private practice owners, you started your clinic to treat patients and control your own destiny.
You may not want to consider yourself a sales professional. Sales can sometimes be considered a dirty word. The good news? True sales is all about building valuable relationships. You started this business to build relationships with your patients and help them get healthy again. So are you in sales? The answer is yes, whether you’ve realized it or not.
Sales is all about making connections and sharing your passion. While the word “sales” may not be your cup of tea, generating revenue and delivering excellent services are the driving forces of any business.
Today we are featuring Part II of our interview with Ann Wendel from PranaPT about opening a PT clinic. If you missed Part I, click here. Thanks again Ann!
As with starting any business, there’s bound to be the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tell us about a time that was “bad/ugly” and what you learned from it.
You have to really believe in yourself and you can’t give up. This felt like the most reckless thing my husband and I have ever done! I left a job making a comfortable salary and went right out on my own – there was no easing into it this time. So, I started and the schedule was completely blank. With two kids, it’s really difficult to save up the recommended 6 months of expenses. We had to just keep going past the initial “What are we going to do?” The good news is that as a P.T., you’re always going to find a job. Always having options is good. The huge demand for PTs is not true of all industries, especially in today’s job market.
If you could go back and do one thing differently what would it be?
There were a lot of things I could have changed. I learned from all of it though; so, in the end I wouldn’t change anything. I try to make the best decision I can at the time and run with it. Each thing, good or bad, added to my knowledge base. At the time, each thing seemed like the right thing. Over time, I’ve become a little more sure of myself. There’s no way to not be naive when you’re young. You just need to have a sense of humor.
Haven’t made the switch from paper to an EMR (electronic medical record) yet? It’s natural to have hesitations and concerns. When you’re making a big decision, it’s sometimes helpful to hear from those who have gone before you.
Our friend, Katie Matlack, over at Software Advice recently conducted interviews with several companies currently using EMRs. As a result, she was able to compile a list of the top 8 pieces of advice from real users.
One of the three interviews was from current WebPT member, Ian Kornbluth of Neurac Institute. Ian owns two physical therapy clinics in New Jersey. Ian’s advice to those looking to move to EMR is to get software that is specific to your specialty. In Ian’s case, WebPT was actually created by licensed physical therapist Heidi Jannenga, PT, MPT, ATC/L and her husband, Brad Jannenga. In the article, Ian says the transition from paper “pretty easy and painless.”
|
Contact Sales Contact Support |
Address |
Privacy and Security |
