Getting Fit Without the Pain
(09/27/10)

Click HERE for Current News Articles from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)

Thank you for choosing Athlon Physical Therapy for your physical therapy needs. We have put together some information to help you prepare for your first visit.

• Please wear or bring comfortable, loose fitting clothing that will allow the therapist to expose the affected regions of the body. Exercise wear such as sweats, t-shirts, and shorts are recommended.
• Please plan to be in our facility for 60-90 minutes for your first appointment. Your therapist can tell you how long each follow-up appointment will be, usually 60 minutes.

Please arrive 15-20 minutes before your scheduled appointment time if you will be completing the new patient paperwork in the office. For your convenience, we also have this paperwork on line if you would like to complete it ahead of time. Additionally, please bring the following items to your first visit:

• Your health insurance card. We will need to make a photocopy of this card to ensure we collect all necessary information to bill your insurance company.
• If we will be seeing you for a worker’s compensation injury, please bring any information you have regarding your claim (claim number, adjustor’s name & contact information).
• Physician’s order / prescription
• Co-payment if applicable. Co-payments are due at the time of service and will be collected at that time. We will verify your benefits, including copayment amounts as a courtesy at the start of your care. Please note we accept cash, check, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING YOUR FIRST APPOINTMENT

• During your first visit or evaluation, a licensed physical therapist will examine you and discuss your medical history, why you are seeking physical therapy care and any other concerns. Your therapist will complete a series of tests and measures; for example measuring flexibility and strength, as well as your ability to perform specific functional activities. Following the examination, your therapist will review their finding with you and with your input, outline a treatment plan and therapy goals designed to help you recover and get back to your regular activities as quickly as possible.

Do you accept my insurance?

Our facilities and providers are contracted with most major insurance companies such as Medicare, Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna, and many workers’ compensation insurances. We are happy to bill your insurance as a courtesy to you and will assist you in determining whether your insurance benefits will cover our services.

Is Physical Therapy covered by my insurance?

Because all individual plans vary in restrictions and requirements, we encourage you to contact your insurance company to understand the extent of coverage you may have available for physical therapy. It is important to be aware of any limitations that your insurance plan entails such as:

• Any unmet deductible
• Co-pay or co-insurance amounts
• Pre-authorization requirements
• Visit limits (annual)
• Maximum dollar amount in coverage
• Primary Care Physician limitations

How can I find this information?

Call the contact number that is listed on your insurance card, or go to the payer’s website and register your account. Ask for specific Physical Therapy benefits and verify any of the above requirements.

How can your front office staff help me?

After you make an appointment with one of our clinics, we will be contacting your insurance company to verify your benefits and do our best to understand your specific coverage limitations. We’ll provide you with a copy of this summary of information at your first appointment. Keep in mind that these are the benefits quoted to us by your insurance company which are subject to changes beyond our control.

How do I find out how many treatments my insurance will pay for?

Physical Therapy benefits are usually considered part of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation services. Your insurance may limit the number of visits per year, and/or a specific dollar amount allowed for these services. Massage Therapy, Chiropractic treatment, Occupational and Speech Therapy can also be included in this group. If this is the case, your Rehabilitation insurance dollars or number of visits allowed may be spread among all of these services.

What information do we need from you?

We strive to provide top notch customer service by communicating to you any insurance coverage issues that may arise. However, health insurance benefits can be complicated and confusing. To minimize this, we need your correct insurance information, address and phone numbers. We ask that you alert us with any concerns, problems and changes as they arise.

We appreciate your understanding that any patient co-pay, or estimated co-insurance, and deductible responsibility will be made at the time of service and remaining patient payments will be made promptly after receiving your statement.

When will I receive a bill?

As a courtesy, we will bill and assist in obtaining payment for the physical therapy services you receive. It typically takes between 45 and 90 days for you to receive a statement.*

• Upon receiving services, our central billing office bills your insurance and works directly with your insurance company for processing.
• Potential issues and benefits limitations are facilitated through this process.
• Insurance company acknowledges receipt of and processes your claim.
• You will typically receive an EOB (Explanation of Benefits) from your insurance company.
• Insurance company informs the billing office of the "allowable amount" for your services and processes your claim accordingly.
• Central billing office will issue your statement for the amount that your insurance company assigns as your responsibility.
• Depending on your length of care, your monthly statement may or may not include all dates of service. Each visit will be listed on the statement.
• You can pay your balance due by check, credit card, or by calling our billing office at 866-387-7778. You can also make a payment on your account by visiting the clinic you were treated in.

*Please note that circumstances beyond our control can often delay billing. If your insurance company denies benefits, inaccurately processes your claims, or delays the acknowledgement of your claims, we will strive to inform you any time we identify the problem.

I don’t have insurance coverage, but need physical therapy. What are my options?

We offer a cash rate program for those clients without insurance coverage, or for services rendered outside what your benefits will cover. Please contact your nearest clinic to inquire about our cash rates and any other options available.

If a third party is liable for your injury, please contact your nearest clinic for a review of your circumstances to determine how we may be able to assist you.

For Billing, Account, and Payment Related Questions: 866-387-7778

What do the insurance and billing terms mean?

Below are some of the more common insurance terms that you may encounter.

Co-Payment: This is the amount the insurance company requires the patient to pay on the day of service.

Allowed Charges: An "allowed charge" is the amount an insurance company pays for services received by their client that is provided by an in-network provider. The in-network contract we have with an insurance company requires us to accept the "allowed charge" for any services provided.
Co-insurance: Your contract may state that you are required to pay a percentage of the allowed charges. For example, you may have an 80% – 20% plan, which means that the insurance company will pay 80% and you will pay 20% of the allowed charges.

In-Network Benefits: These are the benefits your insurance company will pay if we have a contract with them. After the insurance company receives our bill for services rendered, they will determine the allowed charges they will pay for each service. We are bound by our in-network contract with the insurance company to accept their determination of allowed charges.

Out of Network Benefits: These are the benefits that your insurance company will pay if we are not a preferred provider, or directly contracted, with that company. The patient may be responsible for a higher portion of the total bill.

In order to save you time, we encourage you to fill out the forms below and fax them to the clinic before your first visit. You can also print them out and bring them with you to your first visit.

The following forms require Adobe Reader .

ENGLISH VERSION

• New Clients
• New Clients (Fort Lowell Physical Therapy)
• Returning Clients
• Returning Clients (Fort Lowell Physical Therapy)

SPANISH VERSION

• New Clients
• New Clients (Fort Lowell Physical Therapy)
• Returning Clients
• Returning Clients (Fort Lowell Physical Therapy)

We want you to be a part of the new, free medical directory we’re looking to provide to the greater Tucson region. It’s a convenient, valuable resource for both physicians and patients.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

*** Under no circumstances will we sell your information. ***

Physical therapists are experts in movement and function. The primary goal of physical therapy is to treat people who have suffered injury or illness and maximize function. Physical therapists do this by developing specialized treatment programs to help restore mobility, reduce pain, increase fitness levels, prevent injury, or slow the progression of irreversible medical conditions.
To achieve these goals physical therapists employ the following interventions:

• Therapeutic Exercise – both on land and in water
• Aquatic Therapy
• Manual Treatment Methods including joint mobilization and elements of massage/soft tissue mobilization
• Physical Agents: heat, cold, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, infrared and traction
• Patient Education including postural advice, ergonomic instruction, home exercise, energy conservation, fitness information and more…

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What diagnoses are treated by physical therapy?

A: Specifically, we treat the following conditions:

• General Orthopedic Injuries:
• Sprains, Strains, Fractures, Nerve entrapments
• Post-operative Rehabilitation
• Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction
• Carpel Tunnel Syndrome
• Arthritis
• Back & Neck Pain
• Headache
• Posture problems, including scoliosis
• Osteoporosis
• Rehabilitation after a serious injury (e.g. work-related, auto accidents, sports)
• Amputations
• Balance or coordination problems / Fall Prevention
• Vestibular Rehabilitation
• Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
• Lymphedema and post-cancer conditioning/rehabilitation
• Women’s Health Issues
• Prenatal and post-partum issues – low back pain, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Incontinence and Pelvic Pain

Q: How often should I refer a patient, i.e. what frequency and duration is appropriate for therapy care?

A: In general, most patients with musculoskeletal conditions attend physical therapy 2-3x/week on non-consecutive days. Length or duration of care is dependent on many variables including patient age, diagnosis, fitness level, severity of injury, just to name a few. On average, patients are seen in therapy for 3-6 weeks. If you are unsure of the most appropriate frequency and duration, the physical therapist can make a recommendation based on their evaluation findings. You can also put an initial frequency and duration on the prescription and if the therapist feels more or less therapy is indicated this can be communicated via physical therapy progress reports faxed to your office.

Q: What should I write on the physical therapy prescription?

A: Most physicians list the diagnosis as well as the statement “evaluate and treat.” This phrase lets the physical therapist know that the physician is requesting that they evaluate and treat the patient for the condition listed on the prescription. The therapist will complete this evaluation and fax over a copy of the report to the physician office.

If you ever have questions regarding appropriate referral to physical therapy, please do not hesitate to contact one of our therapists.

Click on any of the following PIER documents to view. Adobe Reader is required for viewing.
	Exercise Instruction	Exercise Instruction Summary
	Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis	Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis Summary
	Low Back Pain	Low Back Pain Summary
	Neck Pain and Cervicogenic Headache	Neck Pain and Cervicogenic Headache Summary
	Shoulder Pain	Shoulder Pain Summary
	Whiplash	Whiplash Summary

Evidence Based Medicine or Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is increasingly relied upon in this era of medical cost-cutting as the standard for clinical practice.¹ Evidence Based Practice is defined as the “conscientious, judicious, and explicit use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients“. At its highest level, current best evidence for treatment consists of randomized clinical trials and systematic reviews of those trials published in peer reviewed journals.²

Although EBP is increasingly turned to as the standard for the medical community, keeping-up and incorporating current best evidence has likewise become increasingly difficult for a clinician already being run ragged in a busy practice. For example, every few years the medical literature at least doubles in size³ and only 10 % of articles published in core medical journals are both high quality and clinically relevant.⁴ Needless to say, staying abreast of developments in one’s own area of interest appears to be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The regional leader in providing evidence-based rehabilitation, Athlon Physical Therapy is pleased to present you with Athlon Physical Therapy PIER, a series of research summaries designed to help you keep abreast of the current best evidence with regard to physical therapy intervention for patients with musculoskeletal disorders.

Athlon Physical Therapy PIER represents a recognized EBP tool (preprocessed evidence) that is presented in a concise, fun, and user-friendly format to help you stay up-to-date with the current best evidence in rehabilitation science and provide you with information for decision making. For example, Athlon Physical Therapy PIER can assist referral sources in knowing which patients are likely to benefit from physical therapy referral. They can also be used internally by physical therapists to improve their ability to provide evidence-based care in the management of their patients with musculoskeletal conditions.

For a given problem, (eg. Low Back Pain), interventions are identified based on evidence related to that problem along with categorizing which patients would benefit from referral. This is done in an information dense, bulleted format that can be read in less than 2 minutes along with more detailed information attachment for those with further interest. Each Athlon Physical Therapy PIER summary is written by Drs. Robert Wainner and John Childs, both of whom hold a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Pittsburgh and have extensive clinical research publication records, including leading medical journals such as Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Spine, and Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation to name a few.

We at Athlon Physical Therapy look forward to serving you and your patients by providing evidence-based physical therapy services and collaborating closely with our referring providers.  Please let us know how we can be of assistance.

Regards,

Kelly Sanders, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC

References

1. Simel DL, Dujardin B. The clinical examination: An agenda to make it more rational. JAMA 1997;
   277:572-574.
2. Guyatt GH, Rennie D. Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: Essentials in Evidenced Based Clinical
   Practice.: JAMA, 2001.
3. Durack DT. The weight of medical knowledge. N Engl J Med 1978; 298:773-775.
4. Sackett DL, Straus SE, Richardson WS, Rosenberg W, Haynes RB. Evidence-Based Medicine: How to
   Practice and Teach EBM. London: Churchhill Livingstone, 2000.