If you’ve been following our recent blogs, you may have noticed that we’re deep diving into the unique challenges facing different specialties across healthcare. This week we’re all about physical therapy and uncovering the challenges facing PTs nationwide.
According to Cross River Therapy, in 2022 there were 578,565 people employed in the physical therapy industry in the US, and the job growth is expected to increase by 18.2% over the next 10 years.
With this growth, patients have more options when choosing a practice, and can even look to in-home care or telehealth services for virtual therapy. This increase in competition means that physical therapy practices may see less patients, so financially, it’s more important than ever to maximize reimbursements. Problem is: reimbursement rates are on a steady decline.
Declining Reimbursement Rates
Across the healthcare industry, payers are reimbursing practices less and less. At the recent NYC HeathTech Summit hosted by J.P. Morgan and Adonis, 43% of healthcare leaders in attendance reported that declining reimbursement rates are the biggest threat to healthcare margins in 2025.
This issue is particularly prominent in the physical therapy space. Since 2016, physical therapy reimbursement rates have decreased by more than 10%, and they’re expected to drop another 3.4% in 2024 according to Breakthrough.
The ripple effect of declining reimbursements can be felt across the physical therapy industry. Practices are bringing in less revenue, which results in a need to take on more patients. The increase in patients often means you’ll need to either hire additional staff to handle the workload or increase the workload of your existing staff and risk burnout.
Whether it be a result of staffing challenges or an inability to afford the rising cost of drugs and medical supplies, practices that collect less revenue ultimately are not able to provide the same caliber of care for patients.
Physical therapy practices need a way to maximize reimbursements so that they are not compromising on quality of care.
Reaching Revenue Potential
In an effort to maximize reimbursements, many providers are turning to revenue cycle technology. A tool like Adonis Intelligence can help teams reach their revenue potential in an industry where payers are consistently cutting reimbursement rates.
Two ways Adonis Intelligence enables your team to maximize reimbursements are:
- Detecting Denial Trends: Intelligence consistently monitors your revenue cycle to detect denial trends. With Intelligence, teams get alerted on anomalies detected by predictive analytics to stay ahead of denials and Accounts Receivable (A/R) issues. This enables your team to more quickly address denials, prevent future denials before they occur, and increase speed-to-cash.
- Identifying and Actioning Underpayments: Adonis Intelligence provides a one-stop-shop to significantly minimize your underpayments problem and help you recover tens of thousands of dollars more in revenue each year. The platform continuously monitors your revenue cycle and compares the payments coming in with what is expected. The platform flags you when true underpayments arise, enabling you to prioritize the claims you need to appeal and preventing you from getting caught up with false flags.
With Adonis Intelligence, physical therapy practices can combat the decline in reimbursement rates by maximizing their bottom line revenue. Stay on top of denials and trends, identify and action underpayments, and more, with Adonis Intelligence.
