Private Self Pay Physical Therapy Practice Can Save You Money And Time

Nowadays, more physical therapy practices are transitioning into a self pay business model. The reason being this allows the clinician to provide better care to their patients, which can save the patient money and time. There is a lot of misinformation on how this model works, so I figured it would be appropriate to address some questions.

Why Self Pay?

In a traditional clinic you are probably asked to come in 2-3 times per week for a certain length of time depending on the nature of the injury and what your insurance company allows. Each appointment is probably 45-60 minutes long, and your therapist, no fault of their won, probably spread their time amongst multiple other patients. So in reality you probably end up receiving 20 minutes one-on-one with your therapist and the remainder of the time just supervised by an aide or unsupervised. Now, this many not be the case for all, but the trend is growing for insurance based clinics to operate this way, which is why I left that model and started SWIFT Physical Therapy and Performance.

Self Pay Vs. Traditional Practice

Let’s take a look at the costs of an insurance based clinic vs the cost of going to a cash or concierge style clinic. An average physical therapy co-pay is $40.00-$50.00. So if a patient were going to an insurance based clinic 3 times per week they would be spending $120.00-$150.00 per week or about 60 minutes of their therapist’s attention ($40.00-$50.00 per visit x 3 visits per week).

Now over the course of a 4 week treatment period they likely spent $480.00-$600.00 ($120.00 per week x 4 weeks) in co-pays alone, this doesn’t even factor in their deductible (which could double their cost). Add to that, drive time to and from the clinic as well as time missed from school/work coming to the clinic 3 times per week, they are spending quite a bit of money only to receive part of their therapist’s attention.

At a cash based or concierge clinic like SWIFT Physical Therapy & Performance we are able to spend more time with the patient (60 minutes per visit) since we only see one patient at a time, therefore getting faster results in fewer visits. This same patient at SWIFT Physical Therapy & Performance would spend significant less over the course of a 4 week treatment program, and the packages you purchase. At the end of the program there is no surprise bill that comes 3 months later to cover a deductible, instead that patient may actually get reimbursement directly from their insurance company (reimbursements vary based off each patient’s personal policy).

Self Pay Physical Therapy Savings

Essentially the same upfront/out of pocket cost of going to an insurance based physical therapy clinic, you can choose a cash based/concierge clinic where you will: receive one-on-one care for an entire visit, receive better outcomes, spend less time driving to and from a clinic, and have no surprise bills.

Now please keep in mind these numbers can vary depending on your co-pay and deductible, but this example helps illustrate how using a cash based/concierge clinic can actually save you time and money. So next time you are looking for a physical therapist consider using a clinic that focuses on quality of care vs the quantity of patients they see.