Medical Billing for Physical Therapy Practices

Proper medical billing procedures are essential for the health of a therapy practice. Developing efficient and up-to-date medical billing policies and procedures can be complicated. Several resources and options available to practice owners.

Considerations

• Depending on the size and complexity of the clinic, medical billing can be completed by a trained, in-house employee or outsourced to a billing and collections company. The benefits of billing in-house include increased control and personalization whereas the benefits of ourtsourcing include access to skilled coding and billing professionals and the most current information and technology. Outsourcing your practice's billing can be more costly as payment for this service is usually a percentage of collections.

Resources

• The American Physical Therapy Association offers information regarding coding and billing updates for the profession of physical therapy. Ingenix also publishes an annual billing resource specific to physical therapists titled "Coding and Payment Guide: For the Physical Therapist" which includes updated coding and billing rules for the current year. It also give tips for increasing reimbursement and billing efficiencies.

Expert Insight

• Medical billing errors can be costly. Practice managers must stay current with billing and coding procedures as well as individual insurer requirements. Billing procedures are monitored closely by agencies such as Medicare for inaccuracies or fraud.