With the new year approaching and resetting of deductibles, here are some things to consider when deciding to pay out of pocket for mobile concierge physical therapy (even when you have insurance!).
1. Receive personalized and better quality care – 1 on 1 services delivered to your home, when it works for you, without utilizing billable services utilizing other support staff and time not spent with your therapist.
2. Time is not of a concern but results are – By utilizing 1 on 1 services delivered to you, get 4-6 times the amount of quality health care spent with your physical therapist, versus waiting weeks to get the same anticipated amount of clinical time spent.
3. Not letting your health insurance dictate care – no pre-authorizations, visit limits, treatment restricitions that tend to limit progress and end up resulting in more costs in the long run.
4. Less frequent visits – National averages for physical therapy services in an outpatient facility is 8-12 visits, mainly due to the fact on time actually spent with the patient. In most cash pay services (excluding surgeries) typical time of recovery is usually 4-5 visits.
5. LESS EXPENSIVE CARE OVERALL – Take a look at the numbers: Average Deductible roughly $1,500 to $5,000. Add on average copay of $35-40 dollars per visit. This can run you up to $200 for an initial evaluation, $130 dollars + for follow up visits. Example: 10 visits in traditional outpatient clinic can run you about $1,360 ($190 + $130 x 9). More importantly, may not even touch any progress yet because average time spent with your therapist over that time frame is roughly 2.5 hours. CASH PAY for same amount of time spent with therapist: $120 x 2.5 = $300 in less than 3 visits, not 10.
6. No more unnecessary trips to MD for referrals, expensive tests, medications, surgeries. Adds to more unnecessary expenditures before even getting you in the door.
7. “Well my insurance covers everything once deductible is met?” That’s great, and I truly understand, you’re paying into it and want to utilize it, but goes back to what you are truly looking for in your recovery. What is most important to you? Is saving a little money helping you get back to spending more quality time with your family sooner? Is it getting you back on the field quicker? We must value ourselves! Having a tailored game plan to your needs should be priority one and in turn should correlate less time away from your family and less most spent to get the care you need!
8. Full transparency – I see this alot especially working in outpatient orthopedics for 10+ years. You go through the evaluation, the PT will say I need to see you in here 3 times per week for 6 weeks and you’ll be fine. I did not realize we can see the future. Yes, we are trained to understand physiology and the healing process and recovery, but every individual is different and each session can produce different results. By addressing your needs in the here and now and full transparent/unrestricted communication each visits, you are in control of your own recovery each session, not waiting weeks on end until you were told it would be better by.
9. Accountability – You are our only concern, not what your insurance reimbursement is. We are here to serve you. This makes us 100% accountable to you making sure you are happy with the overall experience you are getting. No more “let me see you again next week and make sure you’re fine”.
10. Customized to you – Don’t need full hour sessions but may really like dry needling or cupping. Not injured but unsure of starting back to the gym and want some more supervision on your wellness program, since we treat without restrictions, we can custom tailor programs to best benefit you.
