Massage Insurance Billing
Massage Insurance Billing is the process of billing insurance for massage services. In most states, massage therapists can bill insurance when someone was in an auto collision or they were hurt at work. In some states, some individual health insurance companies are starting to ‘willingly’ pay for massage services. In other incidences, companies are buying CAM health care plans that cover massage therapy.
On March 23, 2010 President Obama signed HR 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. As it stands now, here is the excerpt from the health care reform bill passed:
“The provider non-discrimination provision (Section 2706) to be enacted into law reads in part: ‘A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall not discriminate with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider’s license or certification under applicable State law.’”
That basically means that health insurance companies will have to pay for massage.
While billing insurance has many challenges, it can be done when you know the ropes and what questions to ask. You will need to know how to fill out forms and keep SOAP notes and what you need to know to get paid.
The other part of this is that it is difficult to find out who is paying and who is not paying and which companies you want to get involved with so I am starting a massage insurance billing forum where you can network with others in your area to find out more and share what you are finding out.
When billing insurance, it means that you will be faced with many challenges like being asked to reduce your fees and having laws created locally that will try to stop you from billing for massage (as currently is happening in FL with MT losing the ability to bill for car accidents). Insurance companies dictate what they will pay and the number of sessions they will allow in their plans. The one thing that they do not understand is that massage can save them money in other areas such as eliminating the need for surgery and drugs for many conditions. If massage therapists want to be more accepted in the medical profession and respected, we will also need a strong, cohesive group to help lobby politicians and to make stands against insurance companies low pay rates. The more people who understand the process of billing, the more people we will have to be able to do just that. Even if you choose not to bill, it is important to know what is going on in the world of insurance billing.
You can now purchase this Ebook (PDF) and download Insurance Billing 101 for Massage for $21.95.
