Even if you have insurance, why should you self pay for physical therapy? It’s a great option for great care for those who have higher deductibles, decreased coverage from their insurance, or those who just want higher quality care.
Here’s why…
1. You get more personalized, high-quality care.
Your sessions are all about you and the goals you want to reach. This means that your care is truly a partnership between you and your physical therapist and there is no middle man insurance company (who has never laid eyes on you) saying what you should or shouldn’t get for treatment or visits.
One on one
In our practice, we treat you in the comfort of your home or place of your choosing, so you will always be treated one on one. Due to declining reimbursement, most clinics have to double, triple, and even quadruple book patients. This means that you will likely only get one on one time with your therapist for maybe 15 minutes of the appointment. The rest of the time will be spent with support staff or figuring it out on your own. You are hoping that you are doing the exercises correctly and feeling it in all of the right places.
This awareness is essential to your success ands helps you “re-educate” muscle groups so that you break old habits that may be reinforcing your pain or mobility problems. Read here for more about how physical therapy should look. We are able to get so much more done in our treatments when compared to an in network clinic. When you self pay for physical therapy, we are able to assess you, answer your questions, and provide feedback during the entire appointment. No sharing your therapist.
2. You don’t have to be seen as often to get great care.
Typically in network you go 2-3x per week to the clinic in order to get your care. A lot of this has to do with the fact that clients are booked in multiples in other clinics and therefore need to be seen more often to get results. I always tell patients that there are opportunity costs for every decision that you make. Most of our clients are seen 1-2x per week depending on their need and diagnosis. This means less time set aside from work or family activities and less time spent driving to the clinic (our clinic eliminates drive time—period).
Choosing to spend 3 hours at therapy and spending likely another 3 hours driving to a clinic per week is 6 hours of your life that you could have spent on other tasks. This increased efficiency allows you to get better faster without taking as much time out from life and the things that you need to or love to do.
3. It’s not much more expensive than in network care.
In network copays and coinsurances can quickly add up throughout the week (usually $90-$150/week). Also, you end up paying extremely high rates toward a deductible that you may not meet ($2,500-5,000 typically for individual plans). This is before your insurance is going to kick in toward your care. Usually for about the same price, you can see a physical therapist who will deliver highly personalized care and set you up with the exact things you need to be doing between visits to ensure your success.
We can also provide documentation so that you can get reimbursed up to your insurance company’s out of network rates for care. As a bonus, these rates are generally more than in network care. This makes seeing a self pay physical therapist even more affordable. Who doesn’t love getting money back from their insurance company?
4. Your insurance company does not dictate your care.
Spoiler alert—insurance companies exist to make a profit. The more care they can deny, the more they profit. Both patients and providers lose. This is how it usually works…
Your insurance company says that it covers “medically necessary” physical therapy services. This means that there are typical benchmarks like walking a certain number of feet. Or being at a certain “acceptable” strength level. Also, scoring a certain score on a standardized measure. Usually, this translates to being “good enough.” These don’t translate to getting you back to full function. It definitely does not mean that you are out of pain. Insurance companies only care if you can do your daily activities without higher risk of reinjury—period.
Limited visits
You get cut off from care after only a few visits. Also, the therapist does not know that you will get cut off ahead of time. This makes it difficult to know how to appropriately progress your care.
This can also lead to pre-authorization requirements that can hold you up from getting care. Even when visits are approved, they are in small increments. This happens by a pre-programmed algorithm, and does not take into account your circumstances. These decisions are made by a computer. In the best case scenario by a therapist or a nurse who has never seen you.
There is no middle man when you self pay for physical therapy. It is a partnership between you and your physical therapist. You get what you need to reach your goals.
5. You have greater access to your physical therapist.
In a small, intimate practice like ours, we believe in open communication. And most self pay practices feel the same. Therefore, all of our clients get our cell phone number to text or call with any questions. You receive answers between sessions. No waiting around for your therapist to call you back the next day.
We encourage all of our clients to reach out at any time. Sometimes, it’s getting a question answered about an exercise. Or, it’s knowing if what you’re experiencing is expected can bring such peace of mind between sessions.
We understand that you need someone to guide you through the process. So, we provide accountability and seek to exceed your expectations to provide you the healing experience that you deserve.
If you have questions about if self-pay therapy may be right for you, please reach out at anytime by clicking here.
(c) [2021] [Intuitive Choice Physical Therapy and Wellness]
