What is the right way to handle your physical therapy billing fee schedule(s)? Do you use just one fee schedule or do you create multiple fee schedules for each of your insurance companies?
Some compliance officers that bestPT works with recommend to have a single fee schedule and to write off or adjust wherever necessary, while others advocate separate fee schedules for select payers.
As your physical therapy billing service bestPT allows for either approach. You can choose to have a single fee schedule that applies to all of your patients or get as specific as you would like creating a fee schedule for each insurance company. In our experience with nearly $400 Million insurance payments posted we have seen the need to accommodate both models.
If you are unsure which approach suits your physical therapy practice, then we recommend soliciting opinions from several compliance advisers. Ask them to explain why they recommend one method over the other. Pay attention to their reasoning about both maximizing revenue and minimizing audit risk. Once you make a decision, open a ticket to your SPOC to help you configure your physical therapy billing fee schedules with your physical therapy software to meet your practice needs.
https://bestptbilling.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/transparent-Best-Pt-re1-500x324.png00bestPThttps://bestptbilling.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/transparent-Best-Pt-re1-500x324.pngbestPT2013-04-11 19:07:572016-03-25 15:40:52How many physical therapy fee schedules does your practice use?
Paper is used everywhere in healthcare, including at your physical therapy practice. From intake forms to basic tests, paper is used to document information and test results.  One common form that is used across the country is the Dynamic Gait Form that was adapted from Shumway-Cook & Woollacott Motor Control: Theory and Practical Applications, 1995.
This form is on average four pages long. If you use this one form 125 times a month you will use one ream of paper (500 sheets).  Once you have seen the patient and recorded your results you must then either a.) scan the document into your system and attach it to the patient file, or b.) re-enter the data into your  EMR and include it with the patient file.
At this point at least three people have had to handle this document. Â One person needs to copy the document for mass use, a second person will need it during the treatment of the patient, and a third one to input the data into the system. While this seems to be a bit extreme and micromanaging the process of this one form, how many forms does your office use? How much time, excluding treatment, does this one form take to complete as a purely administrative task.
If the administrative task takes two minutes and you do this 125 times a month, you spend 250 minutes a month on this one form. That is over four hours a month for one person to copy and input just this one form. Â What if you have ten forms that take about the same time to complete. Â You would be paying one person a full week’s wage to just scan a form into a patient file!
What if the form was already in your EHR and automatically attached itself to the correct patient file? Â What if the form auto-filled demographic information from the patient file as soon as you opened it?
With xDocs you can boost compliance
The image here is a direct screen shot of how xDocs looks in bestPT’s physical therapy software system. Patient demographics are automatically loaded into the form.  Notice the pull downs to complete the form.  The greatest part about the entire process is that only one person needs to touch the document: the provider!  Once the form is completed, the document is saved and automatically attached to the patient file! The form also calculates the results to minimize math errors and the time, while only seconds, to do the calculation manually.
As your physical therapy practice management solution bestPT strives to save you time and money. The introduction of xDocs allows you to save minutes, both in learning the form and in using the form. This additional feature will allow you to spend more time with your patients and building your practice.
What is the right way to handle your physical therapy billing fee schedule(s)? Do you use just one fee schedule or do you create multiple fee schedules for each of your insurance companies?
