Michele S Jang, PT
This is just my personal perspective of the healthcare industry. I do not speak for any other physical therapy owner. My goal here is to let the public know how the changes in healthcare have affected my business.
First the good news; we saw 306 more patients in 2014 compared to 2013. I wish there was more good news to report, but there’s not. Yes, I am glad to have served an increased numbers of patients.
Now for the bad news; despite seeing an increase in the number of patients, we made about $6,500 less than we did the previous year! How can that be? Our reimbursement rates were slashed. We were forced into contracts to accept smaller payments for our services. Simultaneously, we had an increase in demand for documentation with higher regulations & restrictions surrounding people being seen for physical therapy.
Last year, in the same month I received a couple of letters. One letter expressed that if I was to participate in seeing subsidized health plans I had to agree to a non-negotiable cut in reimbursement rates by approximately 30%. I also received a letter from my health insurance saying that my personal healthcare premiums were going up, as they typically do every year, and that there will be other increases in my premium in order to offset cost of providing subsidized plans.
There was the promise of seeing a plethora of patients who would now have insurance and be able to utilize my services. We have not found that to be completely true. A number of these plans have very high deductibles so many are unwilling to come in for treatment.
Yes I am glad that more people have health insurance. However, it does not seem to be “affordable”. For my business to be viable, I have to treat more clients, which means hiring more help to treat clients. Taking on more employees entails inheriting additional cost such as increases in liability insurance, taxes, administrative cost, marketing, etc.
This is a dilemma I face. I don’t have an answer on how to “fix” the healthcare system. I went into this profession to try to help people. I am an optimist at heart and I will hold onto the fact that we truly help to change people’s lives for the better no matter “what the cost” is.
Michele S Jang, PT is a physical therapist who likes to look outside the box. She has been a physical therapist for over 20 years and has extensive training in manual therapy or the use of hands to help rehabilitate the body. Michele has been an instructor both in the United States and abroad. She offers Free Consults on Tuesday afternoons. Michele also has a team of therapists at Spirit Winds who offer an array of expertise on exercise, fall prevention, foot and shoe assessments, body mechanics and proper breathing technique to increase awareness and healing. Michele can be reached at 805 543-5100 or .
