Calculating your physical therapy billing rate includes multiple factors. These factors include your expertise, experience, and the value you bring to your clients. Here is more information about how to calculate an accurate billing rate:
Determine Your Hourly Rate
When determining your hourly rate, consider what makes you qualified to provide physical therapy services. Use your degrees, licensures, and years of experience to determine your value as a provider. Factor in any specialized skills or certifications that you may have. Take into account any non-medical services you provide, including patient advocacy, educational seminars, or journal contributions.
Try to be realistic when setting your hourly rate. Set a rate that is competitive with other physical therapists in your area. You can look up the going rate for other physical therapists in your area and compare it to your calculated rate. Adjust your rates to make them fair to both you and your patients. Set an hourly rate that accurately reflects the value of your services while staying reasonable and competitive in the local market.
Add Your Overhead Costs
Your overhead costs might include rent for a physical therapy office space, expenses for new equipment, employee salaries, and other costs associated with running a physical therapy practice. You should also take into account any expenses you incur while providing physical therapy services to your clients. This can include travel and treatment supply costs. If you provide in-home physical therapy services, these costs can be higher than for a typical in-office physical therapist. You can also include taxes as part of your overhead costs. Take the time to accurately estimate your overhead costs and confirm that you are charging patients enough to cover your overhead and make a profit.
Determine Your Desired Profit Margin
Your desired profit margin could be the amount you wish to earn from each billable hour. This can vary widely depending on your experience level, the type of services you offer, and the local market conditions. If you set your profit margin too high, you may struggle to find patients who are willing or able to pay your rate. If you set your profit margin too low, you may fail to make enough money to cover your expenses. This can affect your practice’s profitability. Find the middle ground and choose a profit margin that benefits you, your staff, and your patients.
Include Your Treatment Session Duration
The time it takes you to complete a physical therapy treatment session impacts your bottom line. Your sessions may be longer if you have many patients with long-term injuries or chronic conditions. Athletes and elderly patients may require more specialized care than typical physical therapy clients. These patients may expect or be willing to pay a higher fee for their treatment. Longer sessions can mean more money spent on supplies but more money earned hourly. They can also create less room in your schedule for new patients. If you aren’t seeing the number of patients you would like to on any given day or week, consider shortening the duration of your treatment sessions.
Consider Your Practice Location
Where your practice is located affects your billable rate. The cost of living in your area can impact the amount of money you can comfortably charge patients for physical therapy services. Some cities or neighborhoods have higher living costs than others, which equates to a higher fee for physical therapy services.
The demographics of certain locations, like cities with high numbers of retirees or senior citizens, can lead to a greater demand for physical therapy services. If you are located in an area with a high demand for physical therapy, you can charge a higher rate. Work with an online physical therapy billing service to determine the billing trends of your location and track your practice’s billing cycles.
Work With Top Physical Therapy Billing Services
Accurate physical therapy billing rates require careful consideration of your qualifications, overhead costs, practice location, service durations, and other factors. While charging a rate high enough to cover all of your practice’s expenses is necessary, try to remain competitive with other providers and fair with your patients. With careful calculation and implementation of a top physical therapy billing system, you can be successful in your calculations.