This episode is a lengthy Q&A full of questions sent in after I presented a webinar with WebPT called “Cashing in on Private Pay: The PT’s Guide to Out of Network.” We crammed a ton into that webinar and there were such great questions that we didn’t get to answer live, so I’ve done my best to get through as many as I can here.

More specifically, we discuss these cash-based practice topics:

• How I make treatment accessible for lower income patients (and why I don’t think cash-pay practices present an ethical dilemma when it comes to payment)
• How I feel about the ethics of insurance and cash pay practices
• Why I don’t treat many elderly, Medicare-age patients
• How I deal with online reviews and how to make sure your good reviews aren’t being filtered out
• Why more and more practitioners are converting their practices from insurance-based to cash-based, and why new practitioners are considering cash practices to begin their careers
• How I launched my business in a nutshell and what I’d do differently with my website if I could do it again
• Why I don’t market to insurance-pay physicians
• How we create content for my clinic’s web presence
• How I utilized MeetUp.com for networking
• Why I would consider operating two completely different practices/businesses instead of running one and splitting so that some therapists take cash patients and the others handle Medicare patients
• How I prefer to set up my clinic’s email marketing for videos and reports
• Why phone calls are crucial to build relationships with patients (and potential patients)
• My thoughts on the quality of care that in network versus out of network practitioners can provide
• How to find patients with the mindset to understand the value of one-on-one cash-pay PT, and how to tap into their emotions to guide your conversations about the value you provide
• What the fee schedule at my clinic looks like and why I use discounts and surcharges
• Why I rent space in my clinic to a massage therapist instead of employing one right now.
• My conversion rate of inquiries to patients after we discuss that my practice is cash pay…and why relationship marketing is so important
• Why I don’t accept LOP (letter of protection) for patients who are dealing with a lawsuit, and why they don’t pay me any differently than my other patients
• How I decide on what equipment I have in my clinic
• Why I don’t charge different rates for my initial eval and follow up treatment sessions
• My advice for increasing your rates without pushback and loss of clientele.

Resources:

• Web PT Webinar 
• Patientsites
• My FIRST in-person workshop! 
• Create My Therapy Website 
• Speechpad transcription services