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Kareo Success Story: (Billing) Pain Relief for Physical Therapy Clinics
By Alesa Lightbourne | October 20, 2021
Physical therapists are masters at rehabilitating aching muscles and joints.But often, they put off the rehab necessary to get their own clinic’s finances in order.
“I’ll admit to having had e-billing phobia” says Phyllis Duran, abundance specialist at Buena Vida Physical Therapy and Wellness in Las Vegas, New Mexico. “I resisted switching from paper for the longest time. But my boss had experience with Kareo Billing and reassured me that I’d get all the support I wanted once we decided to upgrade our systems.”
In less than a month, Duran was a power user on Kareo Billing. Singlehandedly, she now does the work of three people, and has cut reimbursement time by 75%.
In honor of National Physical Therapy Month, we are sharing Duran’s tips for other PT clinics to achieve similar results.
Duran didn’t believe her boss at first, and worried that learning an e-billing system would take forever. “To my relief, Kareo had the greatest training program I’d ever seen,” she says. “It’s set up in a very intuitive fashion. Still, sometimes I’d call them 10 times a day. I asked every stupid question in the book. Because I didn’t know the terminology, often I didn’t even know what to ask. Kareo’s support team just kept walking me through each new scenario until I was comfortable. They really put me at ease.”
To get maximum efficiencies, Buena Vista adopted WebPT, software that interfaces seamlessly with Kareo. The clinic creates patient profile and stores therapist notes in WebPT, then assigns ICD-10 codes with Kareo. Duran verifies claims for accuracy, hits “submit,” and later gets a report from Kareo on payment status. “With paper systems, I was accustomed to waiting 30 to 45 days for checks to come in from insurance companies,” says Duran. “With Kareo’s integrated solution, we often receive a payment within a week. It literally transformed our cash flow situation.”
At Duran’s previous job, she generated bills manually once a month for each patient. At Buena Vida, she uses Kareo to bill each time a patient is seen – processing at least 10 times the volume of invoices. “We see more than 30 patients every single day. Thanks to Kareo, I can handle the invoicing myself with no problems. If we didn’t have Kareo, we’d need to hire several more people to do the work,” she explains.
When it’s time to bill a patient, Buena Vida uses Kareo’s Patient Statement services, which prints and mails easy-to-understand invoices. The statements give a patient the option to pay online in the Patient Portal, which helps speed payments. Patients can view the cost of services, how much insurance has paid, what they themselves have previously paid, and the adjusted amount. This cuts down on the amount of billing queries the practice receives, trims postage costs, and expedites payment.
“It keeps our clients happier too, because the process creates fewer complications,” Duran adds. “Clients like being informed about billing status, and they like being able to pay with a credit card, either in the clinic or through the patient portal. Anything we can do to make life easier for our clients is great.”
“Because of Kareo, we’re better able to deliver on our mission – providing wellness solutions for people of all ages and needs,” says Duran. “I honestly wouldn’t know what to do without it.”
To see how Kareo can help take the pain out of billing for your physical therapy clinic, visit us here.
“I’ll admit to having had e-billing phobia” says Phyllis Duran, abundance specialist at Buena Vida Physical Therapy and Wellness in Las Vegas, New Mexico. “I resisted switching from paper for the longest time. But my boss had experience with Kareo Billing and reassured me that I’d get all the support I wanted once we decided to upgrade our systems.”
In less than a month, Duran was a power user on Kareo Billing. Singlehandedly, she now does the work of three people, and has cut reimbursement time by 75%.
In honor of National Physical Therapy Month, we are sharing Duran’s tips for other PT clinics to achieve similar results.
1. Pick a user-friendly billing system with great support.
Duran didn’t believe her boss at first, and worried that learning an e-billing system would take forever. “To my relief, Kareo had the greatest training program I’d ever seen,” she says. “It’s set up in a very intuitive fashion. Still, sometimes I’d call them 10 times a day. I asked every stupid question in the book. Because I didn’t know the terminology, often I didn’t even know what to ask. Kareo’s support team just kept walking me through each new scenario until I was comfortable. They really put me at ease.”
“With Kareo’s integrated solution, we often receive a payment within a week. It literally transformed our cash flow situation," says Duran.
2. Integrate everything.
To get maximum efficiencies, Buena Vista adopted WebPT, software that interfaces seamlessly with Kareo. The clinic creates patient profile and stores therapist notes in WebPT, then assigns ICD-10 codes with Kareo. Duran verifies claims for accuracy, hits “submit,” and later gets a report from Kareo on payment status. “With paper systems, I was accustomed to waiting 30 to 45 days for checks to come in from insurance companies,” says Duran. “With Kareo’s integrated solution, we often receive a payment within a week. It literally transformed our cash flow situation.”
3. Find new efficiencies.
At Duran’s previous job, she generated bills manually once a month for each patient. At Buena Vida, she uses Kareo to bill each time a patient is seen – processing at least 10 times the volume of invoices. “We see more than 30 patients every single day. Thanks to Kareo, I can handle the invoicing myself with no problems. If we didn’t have Kareo, we’d need to hire several more people to do the work,” she explains.
4. Use technology to put patients first.
When it’s time to bill a patient, Buena Vida uses Kareo’s Patient Statement services, which prints and mails easy-to-understand invoices. The statements give a patient the option to pay online in the Patient Portal, which helps speed payments. Patients can view the cost of services, how much insurance has paid, what they themselves have previously paid, and the adjusted amount. This cuts down on the amount of billing queries the practice receives, trims postage costs, and expedites payment.
“It keeps our clients happier too, because the process creates fewer complications,” Duran adds. “Clients like being informed about billing status, and they like being able to pay with a credit card, either in the clinic or through the patient portal. Anything we can do to make life easier for our clients is great.”
As Kareo celebrates National Physical Therapy Month, it is proud to partner with the dedicated professionals who help rehabilitate millions every year from surgery, disability or chronic pain.
“Because of Kareo, we’re better able to deliver on our mission – providing wellness solutions for people of all ages and needs,” says Duran. “I honestly wouldn’t know what to do without it.”
To see how Kareo can help take the pain out of billing for your physical therapy clinic, visit us here.
Submitted by cher.knebel on Wed, 2021-10-20 10:26
About the Author
Alesa Lightbourne is a prize-winning author, professor and former dean of an international business school. As a freelance writer, her clients have included Fortune...
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