Dr. Erson "Dr E" Religioso III DPT talks to Dr. Justin Trosclair DC on A Doctor's Perspective Podcast

Becoming a cashPT clinic has hurdles. Dr. Aaron LeBauer DPT discusses creating a fair fee, why not take insurance, onboarding and  training staff, answering the phone, discounting services, handling objections and his favorite seminars.

His backstory involves learning the limitations of his massage therapy offerings and realizing very early on in clinical rotations that he did not want to see 43 patients per day. That was his big revelation that he can do physical therapy treatment on his terms, give the patient the best of his time and efforts, not play the insurance game and just accept high end cash  rates. After being in the trenches and learning and having coaches of his own, he packaged what he has learned and now offers CashPT © coaching for others looking to break free from insurance and practice exactly the way you want to.

When you get paid $43 from insurance regardless of how long you  treat the patient or what actual treatment

you give to satisfy the code, on top of being used to making $85 for an hour 1

on1 as a massage therapist… Dr. LeBauer decision to go cashPT was practically a

given.

How do you handle the caller that asks "do you take my

insurance?"   What are the 2 reasons why a potential patient

would ask about insurance to begin with?

Do you discuss fees on the phone if they ask? How do you build value on the

phone so they come in for a consultation and exam -  knowing that they will pay cash?

Acknowledge the objections and redirect with questions to determine the

deeper why they want physical therapy, the motivation to seek treatment now

instead of earlier and what is actually wrong with you.

Why are patients referred by a medical doctor some of the hardest patients

to pay cash for services?

What questions can another physician ask a physical therapist to see what

kind of treatment they will provide your patients? Joint restriction, soft

tissue restriction or motor control problem with treatment like manual therapy,

exercises and patient empowerment.

PICKING A FEE

How do you pick a cash fee? Do you pull a number out of the sky, is there a

formula, does the size of the town and median income play a part, can you over

price yourself or is it just undervaluing your service?

If you charge a high fee per hour, what happens when the patient only needed

38 minutes that day? What ethical dilemmas can surface from that type of

payment model?

Should you charge a case fee: for example, headaches cost XYZ? Can the same

condition be a different fee from person to person or does it need to be

uniformed?

How do you charge for Results?

What about a unique cashPT fee amount for each individual person for their

unique condition? This fee could be $2500 and you might recommend it will take

7 visits to get better… so what happens if they aren’t better by 7 visits? Or

maybe they got better in 4 visits.. What do you do then?

Can you believe that with only 9 patients a week you could earn $100,000?    What are some of his go to formulas to help

doctors establish a fee schedule?

Does the doctor or a dedicated person “close the deal?” Is it better to have

a patient pay per visit or commit to 8 visits and spread the payments out?

Can you discount too much for a prepay?