Why did we decide to start our own practice and why cash-based?!
Many people have asked us why we opened Functional Physical Therapy and why on earth we decided to be a cash-based practice! In a society where the cost of everything, especially healthcare, is increasing, it seems a little counter-intuitive not to accept insurance. There are several reasons why we went down this route and you may be surprised by some.
1. We wanted to provide high quality care with treatment provided exclusively by a physical therapist.
How many times have you been to physical therapy where you sign in, pay your ever-increasing copay, spend 15-20 minutes with a PT, followed by another 20 minutes of exercises with a rehab aide and maybe finish with ice or heat? This happens all too often in our current system, and insurance companies are partly to blame. In today’s rehabilitation setting, insurance companies dictate how much our physical therapy services are worth. They determine how many PT visits you get per year regardless of what ailment you have and can arbitrarily decide not to cover certain PT visits even after you have received the treatment. With reimbursement rates decreasing, physical therapy clinics that accept insurance are forced to decrease treatment times so they can meet their bottom line, pay their staff and keep the lights on. Unfairly, this effects your treatment. This was one of the biggest reasons why we opened Functional Physical Therapy. We are considered to be out-of-network with all insurance companies, but as a result, we do not have to follow the same rules. We spend a minimum of sixty minutes with patients, allowing us to not only better understand what is happening in your body, but spend significant time treating what we find. Where your traditional PT clinic has you schedule 2-3 times a week, we typically schedule 1-2 times a week.
2. Patients can submit the bill to their insurance company for reimbursement
We provide a superbill that you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. What is a superbill? It is a receipt that contains all the necessary information the insurance company needs in order to provide you with a check. It has the codes we billed for your treatment session as well as your diagnosis (ICD-10) codes and our tax/license information. Since it is never a guarantee that you will get reimbursed, or how much, it is beneficial to call your insurance company prior to coming in so you know your benefits. Depending on finances/reimbursement rate and what your condition is, we can best determine the frequency of visits you need. So yes, you are fronting the money in the beginning, but you may get some of it back!
3. Work – life balance
Yes, we do have a little bit of a selfish reason for starting a clinic of our own. Having worked in many different settings from corporate settings to travel contracts, PTs have to work a lot to make ends meet, which means we are tired. And when we are tired, your care suffers. Having our own clinic where we can make the rules, means that you get better care from a more attentive therapist, and can recover faster, which you deserve!
There were many challenges to opening a practice – were we doing the smart thing, would people actually come? Yes, patients have walked through our doors and we have re-discovered the fun in our work. Being able to spend more time with patients allows us to use our skills to the fullest, allowing our patients to get better faster. Now adding that extra patient to our day, or coming in on a weekend, is not seen as a burden, but an opportunity to help another person.
