Internet technology has become thoroughly integrated in physical therapy practices, to the point that it is nearly unthinkable to run a clinic or therapist’s office without IT support for billing, patient records and a host of other things. Probably the most important of these is physical therapy billing software.
However, medical school teaches physical therapists how to help patients get their lives back. It usually doesn’t give them the necessary grounding in IT to make sorting through software options a breeze. For the IT novice, trying to figure out what physical therapy billing software is the best option can be a bit overwhelming. A brief search of options online pulls up a slew a of websites for billing software all praising themselves to the sky and swearing that it is impossible to run a physical therapy practice without them.
It isn’t a good idea to grab the first physical therapy billing software that pops up, any more then it’s a good idea to grab the first medicine you find at the pharmacy – it may not be what you need. When a person goes to the pharmacy to get medicine, usually before they go the figure out what the problem is, and what kind of medication they need to help. In the same way, knowing ahead of time what a physical therapy billing software needs to be able to do can help determine what the right software program is.
There are a few questions that can help simplify the search for the right software. It’s kind of a process of elimination to find the perfect fit.
What services are needed?
Physical therapy billing software can come on its own, or as part of a package. Options range from full practice management suites that include electronic health records and online scheduling, and everything else they can come up with, down to a no frills billing program.
A physical therapy clinic that already has a good scheduling system set up doesn’t need the full package, but may benefit from having electronic patient records along with physical therapy billing software. Look for a software program that meets needs, without overdoing it on the extras.
How big a practice does it cover?
Physical therapy billing software varies from programs designed to support a single therapist to programs set up for a full clinic with doctors, physical therapists, nurses, technicians and assistants all involved in patient care (which means involved in billing!)
The right software will be able to work with the number of people involved in the practice, with enough flexibility for the practice to grow and change as time goes on.
Is it easy to use?
If billing software is too complicated, it makes running a physical therapy practice harder rather than easier. After all, the idea is to simplify a physical therapy practice, not add more hoops to jump through! Luckily, many physical therapy billing software websites offer free demos of their software.
After the answers to the first two questions have been established, test out the demos of the various software platforms that suit the physical therapy practice. Find the one, or ones, that are easy to understand and simple to use.
What support systems are there?
This is a crucial question – if a billing software program doesn’t have a good support system, a relatively small problem can become a major hassle.
A good support system should:
- have real people that can be reached for help
- back up data frequently so records can’t be lost
- respond promptly to bug reports, requests for assistance or other messages
The best way to find out if a physical therapy billing software has a good support system is to look for reviews from other people who have used it, or to speak with local colleagues and find out their experiences with different software programs.
Taken together, these four questions can be used to filter through the wide variety of options, to find the physical therapy billing software best suited to any practice.
Unfortunately, even the best billing software can’t take all the headaches out of dealing with billing even worse, insurance companies.
Pretty much every insurance company has their own way they want a bill sent to them, with their own codes and forms and hoops to jump through. For many of them, it is necessary to get add-ons to billing software to support their unique requirements.
An alternative to adding new bells and whistles to physical therapy billing software for each insurance company the practice deals with is to sign up with a medical billing clearinghouse.
A medical billing clearinghouse is set up to receive electronic billing paperwork, from a variety of billing software programs, and automatically transfer it to the form each individual insurance company insists on. A good clearinghouse will scrub the claim for errors, and send it to the insurance company.
If the claim is rejected, the clearing house sends the rejection notice to the medical practice, with an explanation of the insurer’s error code in plain English.
The primary benefits of using a clearing house are:
- sort out problems with claims in a shorter amount of time
- fewer rejected claims
- saves time and effort in submitting claims to insurers
- reduce time it takes to receive payment
The most important benefit of physical therapy billing software and medical billing clearinghouses is the same: working together, they save time and simplify the billing process.
Physical therapists don’t go into the medical field to spend hours dealing with bills and accounts. If that was their interest, they would have become accountants. Physical therapists want to work with people, to help them feel better and improve their lives.
Too often, physical therapists spend hours wrestling with billing and accounts, trying to get information and payment from insurance companies, and punching in data entry for various claims. Physical therapy billing software and clearinghouses let therapists put their focus and energy on their vocation – helping people; knowing that the accounts and billing are set and in good order.
