FAQs

At Back in Action, you will always be 1 on 1 with your physical therapist for the entire length of your selected appointment time. You will have the same physical therapist for the entire course of your treatment, which results in more successful treatment as a result of the consistency in your care. By closely monitoring your progress, issues or concerns are addressed quickly, and your recovery stays on track. Back in Action provides an intimate environment to help you relax and focus on your body’s recovery. Heather is compassionate and caring and you will feel the difference this makes in your care.

Musculoskeletal Examination: This includes an assessment of structure, muscles, and tissue to determine impairments in range of motion, strength, and/or joint mobility. Active Release Techniques and Manual Therapy: Postoperatively or post injury you may experience soft tissue restrictions as well as myofascial trigger points or tightness in traumatized muscle. We work to normalize muscle tone, eliminate myofascial trigger points and decrease tissue restrictions with manual techniques that can successfully resolve pain. You may also have joint restrictions that will benefit from manual therapy techniques to restore motion and function. Therapeutic Exercise: To achieve your maximum function, typically an individually prescribed exercise program is necessary to further progress in range of motion, strength, and joint mobility. Often a home program will be recommended to reinforce long-term results.

Back in Action is committed to providing you with the highest quality of care and in order to maintain that level of excellence we ask that you provide at least 24 hours notice of a cancellation. We do realize that things come up that make it impossible to keep your scheduled appointment. Such as illness, transportation issues, hazardous driving conditions, or family emergencies. Cancellations without 24 hours' notice will be accepted in these circumstances on a one-time basis only. Any additional instances will be subject to a $50 charge and must be paid at your next scheduled visit. Not showing for your appointment (no-show) is unacceptable and a fee of $50 will be charged in every instance. This fee will be expected to be paid at your next scheduled visit. This fee is not covered by your insurance, and it will be your responsibility to pay no matter what type of coverage that you have. If the fee is not paid, you will be billed, and this balance is subject to collections. Please be considerate of other patients and our schedule and call as soon as possible if you are unable to attend your scheduled physical therapy visit. Everyone's time is valuable. We will respect your time and just ask the same from you.

You can make an appointment with Back in Action directly, without a physician referral. Just click the request an appointment button on our home page and we will call to get you scheduled.

Yes, most definitely! Back in Action will create a comprehensive, personally tailored treatment plan for you that will help you reduce and/or eliminate pain. We specialize in specific pain management treatment techniques that are very effective. Check out our informational page on Active Release Techniques to learn more.

Many conditions can be successfully treated without the expense, pain, and longer recovery associated with surgery. Conservative care like physical therapy is often the first approach recommended to help patients.

In a cash-based treatment model, the physical therapist enters into a contract with the patient to provide physical therapy services in a manner that both parties have determined will help them reach treatment goals most efficiently. The patient pays at the time of service, allowing the therapist to focus attention on providing the best possible service while keeping administrative costs low. You may pay for services using actual cash, a check, or a credit or debit card. Typically, coding for physical therapy services provided (CPT codes) is determined using a complex matrix of "timed codes" and "untimed codes". This often results in confusing patient bills, as the amount billed to insurance will vary visit to visit based on the exact services provided that day. Cash-based billing eliminates this confusion and allows for clarity in decision making on the part of the patient and their provider. Documentation for evaluations, treatment visits, and progress notes are performed just like any physical therapy practice and comply with all legal requirements.

VALUE. It's that's simple. You get what you pay for. When you see a cash-based physical therapist you are taking the power of authority back into your own hands and out of the hands of the insurance companies. Do you value playing basketball on the weekends? Let’s work on that. Do you value being able to run that marathon well rather than just sort of okay? We can work on that too. You set your goals, and no one can tell you how much they are worth. When you see a cash-based physical therapist you are also likely getting more time with your therapist per dollar than going through insurance. In this day and age, it is likely that your deductible is going to be close to or greater than $1000 per year. This means that you will be responsible for the entire bill (which you will receive anywhere from 4-8 weeks from appointment date). This doesn’t even factor in copays per visit if you have them. With cash-based physical therapy, there are no copays, no deductibles, no out-of-pocket maxes to meet (that are rarely ever met without some sort of medical catastrophe). Plus, most insurance plans allow for out-of-network benefits and will accept “Superbills” (basically itemized invoices) from providers for partial reimbursement (Even CHEAPER per minute!) At Back in Action, you will be given a Superbill and can file for reimbursement with your insurance company. Heather realizes that the concept is scary for some. Believe this, the decision for her to become cash-based is not one that she took lightly. However, her decision to pass up on insurance contracts means leaving the convenience of a revolving door of patients in the name of pursuing value-based treatment for her clientele. At Back in Action, we want to provide care to our patients that is not dictated by billion-dollar insurance companies. We want to provide a value to our communities that operates outside of the norms of a traditional healthcare company. We want to develop a practice that is not victim to the typical causes of burnout that plague our profession. What do you want? Want value in the service you are provided? If so, schedule an appointment with Heather today and experience the difference.

Most insurance companies, with the exception of Medicare, Medicaid and some HMOs, will provide payment for services received "out of network". Going out of network means that you can choose to see a physical therapist who is not a participating provider with your insurance company. Many patients choose to receive services out of network in order to see the physical therapist of their choice. The end goal of documentation and billing is the same - getting paid - it's just that, in the case of cash-based services, it is the patient who is waiting for reimbursement rather than the provider.

This simply means that the therapist has not entered into a contract with individual insurance companies to receive reimbursement based on their contracted rates. There are MANY insurance companies, each with their own contracted rates and regulations, and Back in Action's energy is best spent working with patients. It is important to note that in network provider status is not currently based on education, experience, skills, or treatment outcomes, but is often determined by the number of providers in a demographic area.

In many cases, the out-of-pocket expenses for a course of physical therapy will actually be LESS for services provided at Back in Action. In large part, this is due to the ability to charge less per visit, with these charges being well below the national average charge submitted to insurance in a typical fee for service outpatient practice. Back in Action can charge less because the simplified cash-based fee structure streamlines billing and does not require hiring billing personnel or paying fees to a third-party billing service. This allows Back in Action to focus all energy on patient care and allows patients to make informed decisions regarding the costs of their health care choices.

The process is actually quite simple: Back in Action will provide you with a super-bill, like an invoice, at the time of service, and you may submit that invoice and receipt to your insurance company for reimbursement. The invoice has all of the necessary information (business name and address, tax ID, national provider identification, license numbers, etc.) as well as the patient’s ICD-10 (diagnosis) and CPT (billing) codes. You may choose to submit bills following each visit, one time per month, or at any other interval, typically up to one year following your treatment visit.

Outpatient physical therapy services are generally covered under Medicare Part B, provided the service is considered medically necessary to treat a disease or condition. Under current Medicare regulations, it is illegal for a physical therapist to accept cash pay from Medicare patients for services that may be covered under Medicare, even if the services provided meet all treatment, documentation, and HIPAA requirements and have been prescribed by their physician. In some cases, a Medicare beneficiary may pay cash for services that are no longer considered medically necessary, for example a "wellness" program. Failure to comply with Medicare rules in every case, even with best intent, could result in a federal investigation, fines, or other legal action. The Medicare Benefit Policy Manual is available in full as a series of downloads at CMS.gov; outpatient physical therapy benefits are discussed in Chapter 15, which is currently 289 pages.