I am the patient of an amazing manual therapist who is winding down her private practice and introducing me to her referral sources, asking them to start sending me patients rather than her. (I know, pretty amazing!) Anyhow, an orthopedist replied to her email introduction with some common and very important questions and comments about cash-pay PT. Below I share his primary questions and my responses on how to explain my practice when referring his own patients. I think the statements made below are going to become steadily more fitting for out-of-network clinics as the situation with rising copays and deductibles continues to worsen.

Q: Do you take insurance at all? If not, do you give patients the option to file on their own?

My biggest hurdle getting patients to [Retiring Therapist] has been the cash pay only scenario.

A: We are 100% Cash Pay but we DO provide receipts that patients can use to file self-claims if they’d like to do so.

And I hear ya on the “hurdle” with cash pay. However, We’re now seeing an interesting shift that is making it an easier hurdle for most people to jump:

Q: What is the typical cost per session for cash-pay PT?  

A: PT copays and overall deductibles continue to climb such that people are often paying more to get PT at an “insurance-based” clinic vs clinics like ours because they’re paying over $200/session until their deductible is met.

And even if they’ve already met their deductible, PT copays are often over $50/visit these days. Most insurance-based clinics ask patients to come in 2-3 times/week whereas we usually only see patients once/week ($150/session) and tend to need fewer total sessions than other clinics.

Furthermore, at clinics like Carter Physiotherapy, patients are getting a full hour one-on-one with a highly specialized manual therapist rather than what they get at many insurance-based clinics which involves spending a lot of time with techs, PTAs, and modalities like Ultrasound and heat packs … often being treated by staff who are treating more than one patient at a time.

Public knowledge of the above facts is almost nonexistent so that’s where these talking points can really open the eyes of patients when presented with a high-value cash-pay option (in which they can still send self claims) vs. an insurance-based clinic.

So those are some things that may make it an easier option to present and a lower hurdle to jump, especially for patients with high deductibles and bad PT benefits … in most cases, patients like these will come out ahead financially AND physically when getting treatment at our clinic.

On another note:

Ben and I would love to come do a bit of shadowing when you’re doing some knee/shoulder PRP/stem cell injections. I think we could be great referral sources for you over time and would love to see the process. If this sounds good to you, let me know what times/days you tend to schedule those procedures and we can try to set something up.”

…

Quick note on my last statement above… always make it easy and desirable to continue the conversation and deepen the relationship with any potential OR established referral source!

Interested in the cash-based private practice model? 

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