Physical Therapists operate in a highly-collaborative environment in order to give maximum therapy results for every patient. Effective patient care makes for long-term success. But, managing a private PT practice is also very similar to managing a small business. PT practice owners have to make sure that his patients and his business are both in the pink of health.
To quote a research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and commissioned by the American Hospital Association (AHA), administrative “paperwork for physical therapists and related caregivers adds at least 30 minutes to every single hour of patient care provided!” (PDF)
In the age of automation, the focus isn’t on paperwork but on patient care. From appointment scheduling, patient follow-up calendars to documentation and billing and collection, efficient data and documentation flow minimizes the need to manually enter redundant information. For example, if an attending Physical Therapist records the patient care information at the onset of treatment, this same information is carried over in the individual patient record for all succeeding appointments. Errors in billing is drastically minimized or eliminated because PTs use pre-loaded and clearly-indicated CPT codes–automatically. If you’re considering using a PT management software, you might want to consider the following key features:
• Patient Evaluation and Documentation of Findings. Regardless of setting, PTs can efficiently create assessment reports to document the unique strengths and deficits of their patients.
• Patient Treatment Plans. This feature allows a Physical Therapy Clinician to design a unique and comprehensive treatment plan for each patient based on patient’s current condition and values and their PT practice experience and expertise.
• Patient Scheduling. Depending on the treatment plans, organizing follow-up PT sessions can be a grueling task. Managing appointments from re-scheduling requests, cancellations and waitlisting is easier when this feature is available for PTs and Practice Administrators.
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• Patient Billing. This feature is critical in ensuring billing and collection are seamlessly integrated and aligned with actual treatments performed and conducted by the Physical Therapist on his patients. As mentioned above, the ease of data and workflow minimizes billing errors and costly claims denials and reimbursement delays.
Do you find yourself more and more exhausted from the day-to-day order of business. If you find yourself lacking time and/or energy because of inefficiencies in your clinic, it’s time to shift your focus back on patient care. Tracking documentations, billing status, following up on appointments can add up and eat up more time than you’d ever think. To effectively manage your PT practice and regain control of your patient’s treatment progress, you need to think about the various tools available to you. But consider the software tool that serves your specific needs.
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