Friday, April 5, 2013

How Much is it Costing You Out of Pocket For Your Physical Therapy?




So we have reviewed why Pursuit Physical Therapy is cash-based, what evidenced based practice is and why it is important for you as a patient, and what is wrong with healthcare.  This post will show you the difference between a cash based practice vs and insurance based practice and how much it will cost you out of pocket.  Below is a table that shows the difference between a standard physical therapy practice and what it entails vs what Pursuit Physical Therapy offers.

Normal Standard Practice
Pursuit Physical Therapy Evidenced-Based Practice
3x  week for 4 weeks
12 sessions
2x a week for 2 weeks
4-6 sessions
No manual therapy
Manual Therapy
10+ exercises
4-6 exercises
60+ minute session
30-60 minutes session
Guided by health insurance
Guided by what the patient needs
Average out of pocket cost $500-1000
Average out of pocket cost $400-500
No incentive to get you better quicker
Incentive based



Many patients feel that they have insurance to cover their physical therapy and they do not want to pay out of pocket for physical therapy services.  So now we will review the difference in cost and an example of how much you pay out of pocket for each physical therapy service.  You think that since you have insurance that it will not cost you much out of pocket, but lets look at an example.   Now, every insurance policy is different, but we will use an example from what the average is that I have seen.  So we will factor in deductible, co-pay, and the miscellaneous bill that is sent to you house 3 months after you have received treatment.  Yes for some reason, with the standard insurance, sometimes they do not cover 100% of physical therapy services and I find more and more patients calling in 3 months after treatment saying that they received a bill from the hospital saying that they owe another couple hundred dollars for their treatment?? I know!

Normal Standard Practice Cost
Pursuit Physical Therapy Cost
3x a week for 4 weeks
4-6 treatment sessions
Average Deductable = $1000-5000
No deductible needed to be met
Co-pay = $20
No co-pay
Miscellaneous bill = $300
Each session =$75-100


12 visits x $20 = $240
6 visits x $100
                          + 300 

                          + deductible ($500)

TOTAL = $1040
TOTAL = $600

So a cash based model turns out to be a cheaper out of pocket expense for the patient after all!  You also receive a much better quality of one-on-one care with a faster outcome.  Is it worth it to pay that much out of pocket at a standard insurance clinic, getting double booked with other patients and need to be seen for 3x a week for 4 weeks???  To me, I would rather pay less and get better faster.   What do you think about a cash based physical therapy service and how much you have to pay out of pocket?

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