Physical therapy practices face multiple complexities, from managing patient records to ensuring compliance. And here’s the thing: these challenges are even more… well, challenging if you use traditional paperwork systems.
According to an American Physical Therapy Association study, 50% of physical therapists experience burnout. Most physical therapists reported that paperwork was the leading contributor to burnout.
One way to eliminate paperwork and streamline your practice’s operations is through automation.
Automating using physical therapy billing software helps you focus on delivering quality patient care and spend less time on paperwork.
But it’s not just about investing in any billing software in the market. You need to know what to look for. That’s why we’ve compiled this comprehensive guide to help you choose the best physical therapy billing software for your practice’s needs.
Key Features to Look For
Here are some features to look for in physical therapy billing software:
Compliance with healthcare regulations
Data security is an important factor for physical therapy practices. Check whether your physical therapy billing software complies with HIPAA standards. These rules and regulations protect your patient’s private health information (PHI) by requiring practices to implement robust security protocols.
And if you accept electronic payments like most physical therapists nowadays, the software must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) to ensure robust payment data security.
These protocols ensure patient data is stored, shared, and accessed with the highest level of confidentiality.
The software should support ICD-10 and CPT codes specific to physical therapy. In most cases, the diagnosis code stays consistent with subsequent physical therapy visits. The billing software should automatically pull the diagnosis codes from the previous visits.
This accurate coding for services rendered is vital for proper billing and claim submissions. If there are any changes needed in the diagnosis code for the current visit, the software should allow you to edit the diagnosis field before billing out the claim.
In addition, check for Medicare and Medicaid compliance and regular updates to align with the latest government healthcare programs and policies.
Claims management and automation
A good physical therapy billing software should automate the entire claim management process, from submission to real-time tracking.
Automated claim submissions help you save time and eliminate human errors which helps expedite reimbursement. With the reduced administrative burden on your staff, your practice can focus on delivering quality care.
The software should also have denial management features to help you identify, manage, and resubmit denied claims with corrections. You should be able to rapidly address any coding blunders before submission to reduce delays.
Upon submission, the software must have real-time tracking tools to help you monitor the status of your claims.
It’s also nice to have batch-processing features to help you process multiple claims at once, speeding up the workflow.
Integrated scheduling and documentation
A full, efficient schedule is vital for your physical therapy practice to maintain a healthy growth rate. However, paper scheduling and last-minute no-shows cause setbacks and lags that prevent you from realizing your goals.
Your physical therapy billing software should have a unified scheduling system seamlessly linking appointments to patient records and billing to avoid missed charges.
It should also have online appointment scheduling to allow your patients to book, reschedule, or cancel appointments 24/7 at their convenience, especially today when people are accustomed to managing tasks and services online. Patients appreciate accessibility and flexibility without the constraints of traditional working hours.
Online scheduling also reduces the administrative burden associated with manual appointment scheduling, allowing your staff to focus on more vital tasks.
The scheduling tools should have automated SMS or email appointment reminders to reduce the probability of no-shows.
Remember, you don’t want to suffer the inconvenience of flipping through your billing software and medical charting system like EHR/EMR. This means you should look for software with seamless EHR/EMR integration.
This feature streamlines your documentation process, allowing you to efficiently record therapy notes, treatment plans, and patient progress in one place. You simply enter patient data once and it goes through to the charging side too.
Most importantly, electronic medical records allow for easy data retrieval. You can access patient data and billing histories quickly during treatment or consultations.
Customizable billing options
The payment system within the software should improve your collection efficiency by providing invoices already prefilled with accurate patient details which can be easily submitted for insurance reimbursements.
Your physical therapy billing software should have tailored billing templates to allow you to customize your invoices to match the different requirements of patients and insurance companies.
The software should also support different payment structures through self-pay, insurance, and Medicare. This is helpful for installment billing or recurring payments for long-term patients.
Check whether the system supports diverse multi-payment options, including credit cards, ACH payments, checks, and e-wallets.
Finally, ensure the software seamlessly integrates with accounting software like Quickbooks for more streamlined financial management.
User-friendly interface
Time is precious in physical therapy and efficient management is a vital pillar in your practice’s success. This is why you need software with a user-friendly interface to ensure you and your staff navigate the system with ease.
For physical therapists, ease of use isn’t just about convenience. It’s a priority since you most likely juggle multiple roles, from therapist to administrator.
Imagine a system that’s as intuitive and easy to navigate as your favorite smartphone app, guiding you seamlessly through your patients’ records, billing history, scheduling, and documentation. That’s how physical therapy billing software should be.
An intuitive dashboard also reduces the learning curve for you and your staff, making the system’s implementation process faster.
Look for a system that grants you mobile access, either through a web platform or a mobile app. This increases the convenience by allowing therapists and billing staff to access the software on the go.
Key ease-of-use features to look for include:
- User friendly layout
- Error notifications
- Simple navigation menus
- Quick access to regularly used functions
It would also be nice to have customizable and flexible dashboards that allow you to tailor the layout according to your specific workflows.
Reporting and analytics
Reporting capabilities are essential for tracking your practices’ performance and aiding your decision-making process.
Look for physical therapy billing software that helps you generate reports with financial insights, such as revenue, outstanding balances, and operational costs. The system should also give you access to performance metrics like patient retention, appointment reference, and claim success rates.
This data should help you fine-tune your treatment approaches and make informed business decisions.
On top of that, reporting and analytics help you track your practice’s key performance indicators (KPIs), assist in strategic planning, identify areas of revenue leakage, and aid resource allocation.
Ultimately, these features help you maintain high standards of care and stay on top of practice efficiency and growth.
Patient portal features
Your patients want to feel like they’re in charge and actively participating in their treatment and recovery. A patient portal provides a great communication channel for you and your patients.
A patient portal should allow your patients to settle their payments securely, access and download their billing records for transparency, raise queries, and receive payment and appointment reminders. They should also be able to schedule appointments at their convenience directly on the portal.
These features also benefit you by streamlining administrative processes by reducing phone calls and in-person visits related to billing or scheduling inquiries.
It’s important to confirm that the messaging capabilities are HIPAA-compliant to ensure that they communicate securely with your clinic.
Customer support and training
Reliable customer support is vital when implementing physical therapy billing software. Look for a provider with 24/7 support availability via multiple channels including live chat, phone, or email.
The provider should also offer comprehensive training resources such as video tutorials, user manuals, and interactive webinars to help your staff maximize the system’s full potential.
You should also have access to onboarding assistance through step-by-step support for smooth software implementation. Ensure the provider offers ongoing support to help your staff troubleshoot issues that may come up during daily operations.
Check whether the provider offers ongoing software updates and improvements to stay current and compliant with regulations, plus training on new features to keep your practice ahead.
Benefits of Using the Right Billing Software
Here are some benefits you enjoy from investing in the right physical therapy billing software:
Streamlined billing processes and fewer errors
Billing errors, such as coding mistakes, incorrect patient details, and submission delays, are common in physical therapy practices using paper-based systems. These errors delay significant payments, negatively affect the revenue cycle management, and ultimately damage your practice’s reputation.
In addition, manual systems are fraught with inefficiencies and cost you time and money.
Upgrading to a modern physical therapy system with an all-in-one EMR integration streamlines your entire billing operations through automation. The system upholds the accuracy of your claim submissions, leading to faster reimbursements.
This creates a better experience for you, your staff, and your patients.
Improved cash flow through faster reimbursements
Whether you work by yourself or in a clinic setup, slow cash flow, and delayed reimbursements can significantly slow down your practice’s growth. Slow cash flow is commonly caused by missing documentation, coding errors, and delayed submissions.
Besides, you know how incredibly time-consuming and frustrating it can be to submit insurance claims only to have them rejected by the insurer.
Improved cash flow is one of the most significant benefits of physical therapy billing software. The system provides you with the right tools to increase timely payments.
The best physical therapy EMR system does the following:
- Organizes the bills
- Sends the bills out
- Tracks the bills
- Sends payment reminders
- Gives you clear insights into your revenue flow
With fewer errors in your claims, you experience fewer delays and rejections.
Remember, different customers have different preferred payment methods. The right physical therapy billing software improves your cash flow by accommodating multiple payment methods.
Enhanced patient satisfaction with transparent and efficient billing
Every physical therapy practice seeks to improve patient satisfaction. Billing errors, delays, and rejected claims can cause frustration for patients. They might receive incorrect bills or experience delays when sorting out payments, which leads to confusion and stress.
These issues may make patients hesitant to seek further treatment since they worry about financial hassles and unexpected costs.
The right physical therapy billing system improves patient satisfaction by making billing transparent and efficient.
On top of that, the patient portal allows them to check availability and book their own appointments. They can also cancel and reschedule as needed or raise queries directly on the portal.
This makes your patient feel like they’re playing an active role in their treatment. They become satisfied with your services and are likely to feel more inclined to do the prescribed exercises.
Streamlined goal tracking
Goal setting and tracking is an essential process of high-quality physical therapy treatment. It has also been proven that goal setting has numerous benefits, including increasing patient motivation to engage in the rehabilitation process, allowing physical therapists to accurately review the treatment progress, and reducing recovery anxiety.
The problem is that goal setting and tracking can be daunting and time-consuming if you’re using manual systems.
The right physical therapy billing software streamlines your processes by:
- Offering pre-made, standardized goal-setting templates to help you easily translate in-session information into client goals
- Providing automated and customizable progress and outcome tracking tools to offer feedback to clients and provide evidence to insurers
- Integrating goal setting, progress monitoring, and evidencing within an all-inclusive platform. This means you don’t have to transcribe goals and outcomes between programs
Cost Savings
Running and maintaining outdated physical therapy billing systems is a loss-making cause for your practice. Archaic systems have numerous hidden costs associated with maintenance, manual work, and fixing errors.
These costs quickly add up and hurt your bottom line.
While an automated billing system has initial costs, it can save you a lot of money in the long run. For example, most modern systems are cloud-based, which eliminates the need for costly on-premises hardware and IT support.
Since most system providers offer regular updates, you don’t have to pay extra money to maintain or upgrade outdated software.
Automated billing systems replace paper-based invoicing with electronic billing. Implementing such a system helps you eliminate costs associated with paper, printing, and postage.
In addition, the right physical billing software provides you with reports and analytics to help you make wise business decisions. These reporting features help you spot unnecessary expenses so you can cut costs strategically.
Due to the numerous benefits, you can consider the initial costs as an investment.
Tips for Selecting the Best Software
At this point, you might be ready to invest in physical therapy software. Here are some pointers to help you get it right:
Evaluate software demos and free trials
Before committing to certain software, ask for a free trial or demo account to get hands-on experience with the system. This allows you to evaluate the system’s functionality, user interface, and performance based on your practice’s needs.
Remember, you’re not the only one in need of the system. Involve your administrative staff and other physical therapists in the evaluation process to ensure the software meets their needs too.
Determine KPIs and metrics to help you evaluate the system’s performance. You can use metrics such as user-friendliness, error reduction, claim success rate, and general efficiency improvements.
Also, assess the vendor’s support during the trial. The vendor’s level of responsiveness and helpfulness shows you what to expect once you commit.
Read reviews from other physical therapy professionals
You’re likely to experience what other physical therapists experience with the software and the vendor. That’s why it’s important to read reviews from other physical therapists like you.
Look for reviews on vendor-specific platforms like their website and social media pages, as well as third-party review sites like G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, and TrustRadius. Check what other customers are saying about the software’s ease of use, customer support, and overall satisfaction.
Pay attention to consistent feedback that might raise some red flags, such as poor customer support, software glitches, or hidden costs.
Most importantly, be sure to prioritize feedback from practices similar to yours in terms of size and specialty. Their needs and experience will likely match your own.
Ensure compatibility with existing systems
Chances are that you already have existing medical charting systems in place, such as EHR/EMR. Failure to ensure that your physical therapy billing software integrates seamlessly with your current systems may lead to data integration issues, inefficiencies, errors, and increased workload.
Verify whether the physical therapy billing software integrates with your current EHR/EMR, accounting, and practice management system for seamless data exchange and workflow integration.
Look for software offering robust API support to facilitate the seamless integration of multiple systems, reducing operational disruptions.
Check whether the system accommodates the sharing of data between systems without manual intervention to maintain efficiency.
Also, confirm whether the system vendor offers data migration support from your old system to the new one to avoid data loss and downtime.
Consider scalability for growing practices
The best physical therapy billing system is one that future-proofs your practice. Your practice needs changes as your practice grows. You don’t want to shop for a bigger and more complex system once your needs change.
Choose scalable and flexible software that accommodates your practice’s growth. Scalable software adapts to increased workloads, like larger patient volumes, expanded services, and additional locations.
Also, evaluate the software vendor’s flexibility when it comes to pricing. Look for a system with tired pricing or modular plans that allow you to add users or features as your needs evolve.
In addition, look for a vendor with a proven track record of supporting growing practices and rolling out regular updates to keep the system robust.
Conclusion
A physical therapy billing system is more than just an invoicing system. It plays a vital role in the day-to-day operations of a physical therapy practice. It helps you automate and optimize your processes.
Selecting the right billing software offers numerous benefits, such as increased patient satisfaction, streamlined operations, improved cash flow, better goal setting and tracking, and cost savings.
When selecting billing software for your physical therapy practice, you need to prioritize your needs. What works for another practice might not work for yours. The right billing software meets your needs and matches your requirements.
While transitioning to an automated system might require effort and initial costs, the long-term benefits to you, your staff, and your patients make it worthwhile.
Take your business to the next level. Schedule a demo with Stax Bill today.
