Websites for Massage Therapists

May 20, 2012 Julie Onofrio Massage Websites

A website for a massage therapist has to work – it has to get the website to the top of the search results for the words massage in your city.  It then has to get the reader to click on the listing and go to the massage website.  Once they get to the site, it needs to get people to call to make the appointment.

People who are searching for the keywords massage your city and who find your site are more likely to be your ideal client – they are already looking for a massage therapist.  Sure they might be price shopping or something like that but once they get to your site that is very content rich on top of being optimized, people will know you are much more than a low cost massage place.

A content rich website will build trust with potential readers. It will show them the difference in your work and people will be saying “I want you to be my massage therapist”.  Some people may say that when there is too much content it is a turn off.  It might be to some but those will most likely be those just shopping around for the cheapest massage.

Search engine optimization starts with the domain name, then the metatags, and then is a matter of using the keywords correctly in the pages.  It is also a matter of making sure your pages are linked together.  Search engines work because of hyperlinks.  They follow links and follow keywords.  Getting other websites to link to you will also be helpful.  You can do that by writing articles on other websites and posting on blogs or forums related to massage.

I have much more info on massage websites on my other site www.massagepracticebuilder.com

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Should you get into taking insurance?

May 14, 2012 Julie Onofrio Massage Insurance Billing

One of the questions I hear often from Massage Therapists is should I get into billing insurance for massage?  The answer is not always straight forward.  Billing insurance is both a blessing and a thorn in the side.  Being able to bill insurance for collisions and work related injuries can help people who are in serious pain and help them get back to their life.

You will have to find out if you can bill auto insurance in your state.  From what I understand, in most places you can.  Find out from other massage therapists or if you get a client calling saying they were just in an accident, get their insurance information and call the insurance company.  Tell them you are a MT and you have been just referred a patient.  You will need to tell them the claim number and the persons name.   Tell them you are licensed as a massage therapist and have a prescription for massage (yes you need a prescription) and ask if they will cover massage.  Tell them what CPT code you will be billing and some may need to know the diagnosis code that will come from the doctor.

The things to ask are how much will you be paid per unit of massage.  The CPT codes which indicate the procedure that was done is paid in 15 minute increments so an hour would be 4 units of massage.  The most common codes are 97124  and 97140.  Tell them you will be billing one of those codes and ask what they will pay.  Find out when you will get paid.  Some policies are Personal Injury Protection or MedPay.  Will they pay you before the case is settled.  Most will depending on the available benefits on their plans.  Most will have a certain amount that can be paid up front as the massages are done so you won’t have to wait years to be paid.  After benefits run out, you will have to wait to be paid.  You just have to decide if it is worth it and if you have enough cash flow to wait.

The other most common form of insurance is workers compensation or Labor and Industries as it is known in some states.  This is insurance for those who are hurt at work.  In most states you can bill for work related injuries but there are usually strict rules and limits.  You can usually find fees schedules on the workers comp. board websites.  Most will also have billing manuals or more help to learn how to bill insurance.  You have to find out what you will need to do in order to get paid.  You may have to sign up with them first and get a provider number.  You will need to know how many sessions you will be able to bill for.  There are some stated though that don’t really pay enough to make it worth your while but if you do need clients, even a low rate of pay is better than no income for that hour.

So you will need to decide if billing insurance is right for you.  Figure out your cost per client and if taking insurance will increase your profits.

You will then need to lean how to bill and how to do SOAP Charting. Hands Heal: Communication, Documentation, and Insurance Billing for Manual Therapists (LWW Massage Therapy and Bodywork Educational Series)  is a comprehensive manual for doing chart notes that will support your massage work.  It is important to show improvement in your sessions and document properly.

Insurance Billing 101 for Massage Therapists will also get you started in learning how to bill.

 

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Things they never tell you about being a massage therapist

April 29, 2012 Julie Onofrio Become a Massage Therapist

Being a massage therapist is becoming a popular career choice for many.  People are drawn to the field for many reasons- wanting to help people is one of the main reasons and wanting to have a career where you can make a difference compared to having a corporate job where you often feel like a prisoner at your desk.

The massage school admissions people seem to forget the details though and most do not even know to ask about these kind of things and many of it won’t really matter to most – it is just part of ‘the job’.  People want to know if you can make a good living and things like that.  Just like any career, the answers depend really more on YOU and your abilities to put everything you learn in massage school together into something that creates a successful massage career.

So here goes:  things that they don’t tell you about when thinking about a career in massage

  1. You will be doing a lot of laundry.  Each client requires a fresh set of very clean and sanitized sheets, face covers, bolster covers, pillow cases/covers.  5 clients a day – 5 days a week.
  2. You will need to know how to fold a fitted sheet (if that is what you choose for your massage sheets- most do)
  3. There are some really hairy guys out there that will challenge your use of oil/lotion and application methods in order to give an effective massage.
  4. Yes, You will need to trim your nails really, really short or you will be scratching the client.  They will need to be filed smooth and kept that way.  Forget long nails, fake nails or fancy nail polish.
  5. Yes, the big E (erection) happens. Men do weird things – ejaculate on tables, into towels, ask for happy endings, mess up your sheets and will challenge your boundaries.
  6. You will get clients that have crushes on you, want to date you, want to give you expensive gifts. (Dating clients is illegal in many states and is against the code of ethics of most associations.)
  7. No you don’t have to take math, but you have to take basic college level anatomy and physiology – science! You need math to do your bookkeeping, taxes and such.
  8. Clients may come in sick, with runny noses, icky skin conditions, smelly feet, dirty hair and will come in right from the gym/workout sweaty from head to toe and expect you to touch them.
  9. You will glide through massage school easily and graduate with honors and get a high paying ($45 an hour or more) right away – NOT.  Massage school often brings up peoples issues around touch and will often be a big growth process.  You will learn more about yourself.
  10. You want to be a massage therapist because you want to help others.  They don’t tell you that helping others is the surest way to end up in burnout and that there are many deeper issues around helping others that are more about you than anything else.

What do you wish someone told you about becoming a MT?  What did they tell you in the admissions department or during school that you wished you had known about before deciding on a career in massage?

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Researching Massage Schools

April 28, 2012 Julie Onofrio Become a Massage Therapist

Researching massage schools in order to find the best massage school is really a process of knowing as much as you can about the career and about the massage profession in order to be able to separate the hype from what the massage school is really about.  The biggest thing to remember is that a website that provides you with all of the information up front about what you need to know, has a higher chance of being a reputable massage school.

The sites that are listed on the top of the first page of the search results many not always be the best choice.

Some of the things that I think you will need to know are the obvious things:

  • Tuition.  The cost of massage school ranges anywhere from $5000 to $25,000.  Massage schools will make you call them to get the prices or make you contact them so then they have your contact info to keep calling/emailing you to get you into their massage school.  You have to figure out what massage school is really worth, how much training you will really need and balance that with what you can afford to pay.  Since entry level pay is about $15 an hour and you usually only work about 25 hours or less, you obviously will have trouble paying for school loans at a higher priced school.
  • Who are the teachers?  Are they actually certified teachers?  Have they been teaching more than 10 years?  One of the things about teachers is that there was such an increase in massage schools over the last 10 years or so, that massage schools started hiring their last year graduates as massage school teachers.
  • What licensing will you need to practice massage?  How many hours of training will it take in your state and what tests will you have to take to get your state massage license (if there is even a state license.)
  • What is it really like to start your own massage business or find a job in massage?  Basically this is the time to really know yourself what it is like so you can compare it to what the schools are telling you.  Schools will try to make it sound more appealing just to get you into the classes.

Remember, Massage Schools are in the business of filling their massage schools with students.  You can read more in my Book - A Career in Massage -Is it for you?  available in paperback, Kindle and PDF and also find a list of Massage Schools.

 

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Massage For Fibromyalgia

April 1, 2012 Julie Onofrio Pathology

Massage for fibromyalgia can help relieve the pain and stress of fibromyalgia.

From what I have seen in my private massage practice, working with fibromyalgia is usually a combination of getting people to a Naturopath or nutritionist who can work with them on diet.  The results usually show that fibromyalgia is usually a combination of adrenal stress and inflammation.  It is also found in people under very stressful conditions such as losing a spouse or being in a very bad car accident.

If you are a massage therapist working with someone with fibromyalgia, it is important to start slowly and work gently with the patient/client until you can establish how much pressure you can use with out aggravating the condition.  Each person is very different.  I have had people who need really deep tissue work and some can only stand very light effleurage.

You can read more about massage for fibromyalgia on the main site.  There is a list of articles I have found online that talk about massage and fibromyalgia and also a list of good books.

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