Massage Insurance Billing Manual

I just wanted to let everyone know that I one of the reasons I am so passionate about the insurance billing issues going on is because they have directly affected my private practice that I have had for 18 years.

The issues I talk about are quite controversial and things are happening here in WA State that will influence other states. In WA we can become contracted providers with HMO’s and PPO’s which is quite different from just doing mva’s or L&I. It requires that you become credentialed with the insurance companies and sign a contract in which they do take control of you and your work. They determine what they are going to pay and what codes you can use. You will also have to deal with proving medical necessity which isn’t anything unusual, but the thing is they don’t provide any treatment guidelines or rules as to what they do and don’t allow.

When I first became a contracted provider and started billing HMO’s and PPO’s in about 2000, the insurance companies were paying $90 or so 1 hour session (4 units). The benefits were gracious. Clients could get unlimited sessions or a decent number of sessions for their health concerns. It was easy to get paid, clients could find you easily through the networks and life was easier.

Each year they have reduced our allowable fees, restricted the number of sessions, have asked us to prove medical necessity (which should be up to the doctors since we can’t prescribe), have made it harder to get paid. I have had to raise my rates for my cash clients to subsidize my insurance work. I have to work more hours and get paid less, meaning I have to see more patients and do more paperwork just to get paid the same as before all of this insurance stuff started.

For awhile I sold an Ebook called “The Massage Therapy Insurance Billing Manual” and recently made it available for free online (but with the presence of ads). My intention is to hopefully teach as many massage therapists how to bill insurance companies so they can begin to see first hand the issues involved in doing so. Then we will be able to define ‘Medical Massage’ for our profession and respond to what the insurance companies are doing rather than reacting. Right now we do not have the cohesiveness of a group to stand up to the insurance companies to ask for what we want and to be paid a fair wage.

For more on the insurance billing issues:

Issues and Ethics of Billing Insurance Compaines

What is the future of billing insurance companies? Do we even want to be able to bill insurance companies -Guest editorial 2005 - Massage Magazine

Insurance Billing section on www.thebodyworker.com

Posted in Building Your Practice, Insurance Billing | 1 Comment »

Desire

Desire is an interesting concept to study and be curious about. It is what drives us onto success and it is what will drive clients to us.

Desire is quite different from wants or needs. Our wants and needs are often ego driven. We want a new car, a nice house or other things outside of ourself. We think we need it. Real needs are the basics of life. We need air to breathe, food to eat and water. A desire comes from the heart.

A person has to desire a massage enough to make the phone call and make the appointment. They have to get fed up with where they are at in their life and want more or want something to change. They have to take responsibility for whatever issues they are experiencing - pain, stress or whatever it is= and take the step and call.

As a massage therapist building a practice, what you need is a strong enough desire to make it so. Just thinking that you want to have a practice isn’t usually enough or wanting to earn money is not usually enough. There has to be a burning desire to make a difference in your own life. It may require that things have to get bad enough and so that you can’t take it anymore and take the responsibility (the steps ) to making it happen.

Taking responsibility is just part of life and every year older I get the more I see how much responsibility it takes and how much more I need to take for myself.

I just recently read an article in Massage Magazine by Stephen Capellini on taking responsibility for your financial situation and connected it with taking control of others. He used the example of hiring other people and taking responsibility for them financially and saying that you need to take control of them too. While the financial part is one thing - yes you are responsible for paying them - taking control of them is impossible. The more you try to control, the less you will have in my view. I don’t think we can take control of anyone but ourselves. We can take control of our thoughts, actions and beliefs. It is a process of learning about yourself and becoming more conscious of yourself and actions and turning your desires into action.

Part of the problem often is people don’t know what they desire. Their desires have long ago been set aside so they can please someone else or they have been set aside because of the pain of not getting what they want. They give up their desires thinking that they can never come true. Part of taking responsibility is waking up those desires and taking control of your thoughts and learning that all of those things you have been telling yourself about not being able to get what you desire is a false belief -it is your inner critic clouding your vision, clouding your desire.

Waking up your desire requires patience, compassion and awareness of how you treat yourself when you start desiring something.

Resources for Waking Desire and Taking Responsibility

The Science of Getting Rich - Free ebook by Wallace Wattles written in 1910 which is one of the early works that has influenced the creation of the book and movie called “The Secret”. There is also a 30 day online course which I highly recommend. You can choose what you would like to pay to join.

“Wherever there is unexpressed possibility or function not performed, there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility seeking expression or function seeking performance. Every desire is the effort of an unexpressed possibility to come into action. It is power seeking to manifest which causes desire.”

Posted in Starting Your Practice, The Code of the Caretaker, The Wealthy Massage Therapist | No Comments »

Peer Supervision - What the heck is it?

The concept of peer supervision is fairly new to the massage profession. When you hear the word supervision one usually thinks of the usual - a supervisor at work who tells you what to do.

The type of supervision I am talking about comes from the clinical supervision process in the psychology profession which is more about a process of becoming more aware and present with ourselves so that we can be more present with our clients.

I have a few sections on my websites that attempt to explain supervision and the process but it is really hard to describe and explain.

www.massagepracticebuilder.com

www.thebodyworker.com which also has a redirect from www.peersupervision.com (which I hope to make into a separate site this year.)

To me peer supervision can help you jumpstart your practice or take your practice to the next level of deepening the experience of massage for your clients. It is just as important (if not more in my view) than any marketing plan or program. Peer supervision is a place where you can come to get your needs met for being heard and listened too so that you can feel a deeper sense of yourself.

It is what I am doing online in my free Yahoo Discussion Group.

The best way to actually get an understanding of what peer supervision is all about is to experience it first hand and participate in one.

I am now offering the opportunity to experience participating in peer supervision groups through a conference call starting in March meeting for 3 Fridays for 2 hours each. You can sign up or get more details on my website www.massagepracticebuilder.com

I also have all of the details on how to set up your own peer group at the website. The big thing to learn is how to listen. It isn’t about giving advice to people or telling people what you think. The hardest thing is to just listen and let the person experience whatever feelings they are having when discussing whatever issue. It is hard for most massage therapists to sit back and just listen and not have to do or say anything. It is also the basis for the therapeutic relationship that happens with our clients. Learning to listen to others is also a process of learning to listen to ourselves as we are less likely to be able to listen to others when we are needing to be listened to (being needy). So the whole process of being listened too in the process of peer supervision is what will allow you to listen more effectively to yourself and to your clients which can bring more to the healing relationship and your massage practice.

Posted in Peer Supervision, The Code of the Caretaker | 1 Comment »

Asking for what you want

Asking for what you want is one of the most interesting concepts and process and is what I think to be the key to the “Law of Attraction.” or basically for getting what you want.

What happens is that so often our fears get in the way of asking for what we want. There is also this expectation people have of thinking the other person will and should read our minds. They should just know what we want. It is the core of my theory about the “code of the caretaker‘ - we do for others what we so desperately need for ourselves. We set aside ourselves to take care of others.
It comes from the many years of asking for what you want and not getting it or being rejected or abandoned. How often we ask for what we want without really directly asking and then we retreat when we don’t get it?

Expecting people to read your mind is one of the ways we communicate in code. We do something for someone else hoping they will do the same for us.
We will complain about things.

“There is too much competition or the economy is bad.”

We do the same thing for someone else that we hope someone will do for us.

Calling to ask someone how they are when it is you who have something to say or communicate to that person.

Asking or saying what we need through asking the other person what they need?

Asking “Are you mad at me?” when it is you who are mad at the other person or the other really good one - “Do you want to talk about it?”

These are all really different forms of projection -seeing in others what is really in ourselves.

So asking for what you want as far as what you want in a massage client and massage practice is the basis for building a successful and rewarding practice.
First you have to know what it is that you truly want and take it step by step clearing up the “Yeah, buts” and self talk that you have that keeps you from asking for what you desire. Often people say they don’t know what they want and that is often just fear talking. They do know what they want but just are too afraid to acknowledge it. Discovering what you want is a process of uncovering the layers of doubt and self talk that has accumulated over the years. It is sometimes a process of trying different things and just finding out that you don’t want that. It is a matter of taking small steps in asking for what you want until you trust yourself enough to take bigger steps.

Dealing with the pain of rejection or abandonment and taking responsibility for your actions is part of the process. Taking responsibility doesn’t mean that you are wrong as some people may think. It is about saying “this is happening in my life as a result of my choices” and understanding that it isn’t good or bad - it just is and making the necessary changes to create something different for yourself.
It is standing up for yourself which requires building your self esteem enough so that you have the courage to ask for what you want. It requires working through the layers of self doubt and being easily influenced by the critical minds that surround you.

Marketing a massage practice or any other business for that matter, is really just about communicating what you want. If you are doing massage all it is really is letting people who want massage about what you do so they can choose whether or not to use your services. Knowing clearly what you want as far as a practice or job, starts with knowing yourself.

Peer supervision groups are support groups for professionals in the helping professions to help you deal with the issues that come up around asking for what you want.

I am offering teleclasses on the topic of creating and running your own peer supervision group. (and if in Seattle area - in person classes) To find out more see www.massagepracticebuilder.com

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The Sitebuildit! System

I just came from a lecture by my coach, Andrew Barber Starkey from Procoach Success system (He was Harv Eker’s coach - author of The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” ) and he was talking about following a system and I finally realized that is why I love Sitebuildit!- because it is the best online business building system there is - from start to finish.
You have probably heard that 80% of businesses fail in their first 5 years. But did you know that about 80% of franchise businesses succeed?

The reason for this difference is that they use a system that anyone can follow. They have all of the directions laid out and everything is in it’s place. A system must have 3 things to work:

1. The method or steps to be followed
2. Education - Everything you need to know about everything and you may or may not be afraid to ask about it.
3. Support- When things don’t go as planned or when you are in the process of taking the steps you need to take, you need support.

Sitebuildit! is another one of these systems that is tried and tested so that most who participate in it succeed.

The steps are laid out in the action guide manual which is also in video format so you can actually watch what to do.

You are educated in every step of the way through manuals, help guides, the tnt resources guide.

You are supported with the technical support department but more importantly the sitebuildit! owners themselves in an extensive forum bulletin board where you can find help for anything and everything you may have ever imagined.

The combination makes for getting results which is what makes a successful system.

Sitebuildit! isn’t for everyone though. What you need is something you are really passionate about and the commitment to sharing it with the world or making it happen.

“Why build JUST a Web site…
when you COULD build a Web BUSINESS?”
Visit the Sitebuildit! Headquarters or

watch the new SBI TV at www.workless-playmore.com

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