Physical Therapy Billing: Engineering the Ideal Physical Therapy Practice
With the right information, strategy and coaching, it is possible to build a successful physical therapy private practice.
Nitin Chhoda explains how an automated physical therapy documentation and billing system can play an important role and help your practice succeed, allowing you to achieve the “ideal physical therapy practice” that drove you to start your practice in the first place.
Technology has changed the way that many industries and businesses work and succeed.
The benefit of implementing new physical therapy billing technology is that it allows us to make leaps and bounds forward, adjusting not just the little things but changing the way we work in a fundamental way.
It always helps to go back to the example of email because it is so stark.
Physical Therapy Billing — Before
Before email, all correspondence was sent on paper or communicated via telephone. Anything important had to be written down over and over again to ensure that the information was not lost.
Couriers bringing important physical therapy billing documents in a single day were the fastest way to exchange important documents, besides actually setting meetings and sitting down together.
Today, information travels instantly. Email has changed the way that every single business performs, bringing incredible efficiency and speed to even the most mundane jobs.
Physical Therapy Billing — Today
Physical therapy billing software has the potential to make that kind of dramatic change for physical therapy practices. Making the changes that are possible with physical therapy billing software will not be quick or simple. In fact, the more time you take and the more focused you can be, the better the results when you make the change.
But in the long term, there is no alternative for physical therapy billing and practice owners and management. Success in the future is going to depend on keeping up with the standards. Right now, you have the opportunity to set the standard and be ahead of the crowd.
The Ideal Practice
Start by imagining what the ideal physical therapy practice would look like if you could use physical therapy billing software that was fully integrated into the entire practice, from patient intake to treatment plans to patient discharge.
How would you implement a program if you could automate as much of the physical therapy billing process as possible? Can you imagine a system that is proactive rather than reactive?
There are many ways that an ideal physical therapy billing practice could function. Of course, the primary concern of every physical therapy manager or owner is to provide excellent care to all patients who walk through the door. Today, excellent care and streamlined technology are intertwined.
The Advantage of Having an Automated Physical Therapy Billing
If the therapist has all patient information at their fingertips, presented in a highly intuitive and efficient manner, the therapist can provide better care.
If the treatment plan is lined up and set in advance, with everyone on board, the patient knows what to expect.
And if the physical therapy billing staff can work together to ensure that the patient’s treatment plan is covered by their insurance company, the patient can relax and know that each time they visit your office, they are not risking a surprise bill in the mail a week or two later.
Technological physical therapy billing advances can be burdensome if the staff is not ready. But if you can imagine a better work environment for everyone, you can communicate the advantages to the staff. As a group, you can get excited about making big, positive changes. As a practice, success and growth will be realistic goals.