Over 17 percent of accounts receivable for an average physical therapy practice are beyond 120 days since the date of service. Although this may not seem to be a problem, as it would be expected that the money will come eventually, in fact an unpaid claim that is 180 days overdue has less than 1% chance of ever being paid. In other words, the average rehab practice delivers almost one fifth of its services for free. Would billing outsourcing be an appropriate solution for this problem?

Extra Time and Reduced Cost Benefits

Traditionally, advocates of outsourced physical therapy billing bring up extra time and cost gains as two main arguments in their favor. The rehab practice owner uses the extra time for patient care, family, or practice development. Cost gains are typically measured in terms of salaries and benefits of reduced billing personnel. However, the first argument (extra time) is often irrelevant to therapists satisfied with their schedules and practice sizes, and the second argument too often turns into a wash in light of commission-based fees typically charged by the billing services.

Zero-Sum Argument Against Outsourcing

Opponents of outsourced rehab billing often use the deficient denial follow up argument, which is a variation of a "zero-sum argument." It is based on an assumption that physical therapy billing service has a limited capacity for follow up and physical therapists receive selective follow up based on arbitrary criteria, such as unpaid balance. A win in terms of follow up effort for one physical therapist is a loss for another. The rehab billing service provider may skip follow up entirely, collecting the fee only on claims that were paid without any manual intervention and causing the payments to each physical therapist to shrink because of forfeited erroneous or delayed claims. But the rehab practice owner with in-house billing operation has all of its follow up capacity focused on a single practice and so, the argument goes, the in-house billing service must deliver better results than the outsourced service.

Measuring physical therapy billing quality, i.e., the percent of accounts receivable beyond one hundred and twenty days, exposes the fallacy of this argument. Note that ten percent improvement in overall billing quality means ten times more to the bottom line than one percent reduction in billing costs. Therefore, an outsourced physical therapy billing service provider charging a percentage of total collections has a larger incentive to improve overall payment performance and maintain better client loyalty than to sell a deficient service to another physical therapist.

In conclusion, rehab practice owners must establish objective performance and compliance criteria and use them systematically and within individual practice context when deciding about billing service outsourcing. Note that billing quality is a key component of the billing cost computation and the decision to outsource the billing service is based on a multi-fold improvement in billing quality. The rule of thumb is that the new combined percentage of fees and uncollected revenue outperforms in-house costs and A/R, and such performance improvement can be verified independently and continuously.

When you're planning the trip of a lifetime, the last thing you want to think about is getting injured or ill while on your trip. However, accidents and injuries happen, and you need emergency medical insurance to help you get the best care possible while far away from home.

But Won't My Health Insurance Cover Me?

If you have health insurance, you should definitely check your policy to see what coverage is available when you're away from your home country. You will likely find that your regular health insurance offers no coverage or only 50% coverage for medical expenses. It likely will also not cover you if you need to be evacuated back home.

What Does Emergency Medical Insurance Cover?

It covers travel-related medical emergencies, whether you are a student studying abroad for several months, a businessperson, or a vacationer traveling for just a few days. In fact, you can purchase insurance for the exact number of days you'll be gone.

When you purchase your emergency insurance, be sure to check that the policy:

* Covers any preexisting conditions you have

* Includes an emergency assistance phone number you can call to help you find a doctor or hospital if necessary

* Includes emergency medical evacuation

You can also choose whether you want the policy to include additional coverages for baggage insurance, trip cancellation insurance, and trip interruption insurance.

Finding a Cheap Policy

Fortunately, emergency travel insurance doesn't cost a lot, often just a dollar or two a day. To get a cheap rate, go to an insurance comparison website. You can enter your travel information and insurance needs and you will then receive quotes from multiple A-rated insurance companies.

Looking to lower your monthly premium on your health insurance? High Deductible Major Medical Health Insurance may be the answer you've been looking for. Here's what it is and where you can get it cheap.

What is High Deductible Major Medical Health Insurance?

This type of insurance covers you only for serious injuries or illnesses. You select the deductible you want, which will usually be from $500 to $10,000 per year. You pay all your medical expenses up to this deductible, after which the company pays 100% of any additional medical expenses.

If My Deductible is so High, How Am I Saving Money?

You are saving money because, while your deductible is high, your monthly premiums are low. Consider this: your monthly premiums can be half of what you would pay for a traditional health insurance program. In addition, these types of health plans are often coupled with "insurance savings accounts."

What's an insurance savings account? You can think of it as a medical 401-K, in which you regularly deposit money-on a pre-tax basis-to cover your medical expenses until you meet your deductible. So if your deductible is $2,000, you would want to deposit $2,000 in your insurance savings account each year to pay for that deductible. When you have a medical expense, you draw money out of the savings plan to pay for it.

Sounds Great - Where Can I Find a Cheap Plan?

You can find free quotes for cheap high deductible health insurance plans quickly and easily by going online to an insurance comparison website. On such a site, you can shop for a plan any time by just filling out a simple form with information about yourself and your health insurance needs. You then receive quotes from multiple A-rated companies, which you can look over on your own time and choose the best plan for your situation.

And if you have any questions, the best comparison websites have insurance professionals on-hand who will answer your questions and provide information on how to lower your premium even further (see link below).

If you are self employed or do not get health insurance through your job, then it is something you are probably concerned about. Many people have been financially ruined because they got sick or had an accident when they did not have coverage, and many studies show that people with health insurance get better care! Even if you decided to budget for a health plan, you may have been declined for coverage because of a pre existing health condition. It can be very tough to find an adequate medical plan these days for lots of reasons!

However, maybe you haven't considered the combination of a high deductible, or catastrophic, health insurance plan with a supplement. The medical plan may have a deductible of $5,000, $10,000, or even $20,000! That sounds like a lot, but it will pale in comparison with the medical costs a person can incur because of a major accident or injury. Because the deductible is high, the premiums will be much lower. These types of plans also do not suffer as many rate increases, and insurance companies usually relax their underwriting standards too!

Of course, $5,000 to $20,000 is still a lot of money to have to pay, but it is also amount you could probably borrow or pay off. Think of this size of a deductible as a car payment. However, if you ran up a $100,000 or $1,000,000 bill because of a terrible accident or illness, it would be almost impossible for most you to find that much money from a lender. That would be like paying off a home mortgage, or maybe even the mortgage on a mansion! It would be much easier to handle the car payment, now wouldn't it?

But we are not done yet. Remember I mentioned supplemental plans. You can find cash supplements to cover unexpected accidents or sickness in the amount of $5,000, $10,000 or $20,000. Because these policies only cover this low amount, they are affordable and easy to qualify for! Now you have taken care of that unexpected bill.

You can also find a high deductible medical plan that qualifies as an HSA (Health Savings Account) plan. You can set up a savings account that actually pays interest. Contributions are tax deductible, within specified limits. And you can use the money in this account for many medical costs that health insurance plans do not usually cover.

So consider what you have now. You are paying $300 to $500 less for your catastrophic health plan every month if you are like many families Take some of that money and contribute to your tax deductible savings account, and then take a little more and pay for a supplement. You have a way to pay for doctor's visits and prescriptions, and you have coverage in case of a major illness! You will probably even have a little money left over to spend on other items in your family's budget. Also consider that, no only is the HSA account deductible, the premiums may also be deductible. I cannot help you find really cheap health insurance, but I can help you save some money!

More than half of all families with medical insurance in this country report that the cost of their monthly premium is a severe financial hardship each month, and fully 16% of all Americans can't afford health insurance in any form. So is it any wonder that almost every person in the country is looking for cheap medical insurance online?

The good news is that almost everyone can save money on their health insurance if they purchase it online. However, in order to find the very best price possible for your insurance it will be necessary for you to fill out the forms on the price comparisons websites in the right way so as to create the perfect low-cost policy to begin with.

Let's start with something simple. Did you know that you can save money on your insurance if you pay your premium automatically each month from your bank account? If your insurance company doesn't have the cost of billing you every month they pass that savings on to you. Keeping your credit clean will also save you money. All insurance companies base your monthly premium, at least in some small part, on your credit score - so be careful with those plastic cards!

If you really and truly want to find this then you can't smoke and you can't use chew. This should come as no surprise - so if you're genuinely serious about getting the best possible price for your medical insurance then you're going to have to give up smoking.

You'll also have to watch your weight. If you are overweight it should also come as no great surprise that you are not going to get the best possible price on your health insurance. Insurance companies look at your Body Mass Index (BMI) when determining your monthly premium cost, so the lower you can get that BMI the lower your cost of insurance is going to be.

Driving a fast sports car and taking part in extreme or dangerous sports or hobbies will also increase the cost of your insurance.

If you can find group health insurance you'll pay considerably less than if you attempt to buy it. Most people buy group health insurance through their place of employment, but if your workplace doesn't offer affordable group health then see if any clubs or organizations or associations that you belong to offer it to their members. You just might be surprised at the number of groups that do.

If you don't see your doctor very often and you're generally in good health then it might very well pay you to increase your co-payment to 50%. Increasing your co-pay will save you money every single month.

Similarly, increasing your deductible will also save you a bundle on the cost of your health premium every month. Just don't go overboard and increase your deductible past the point that you can actually afford to pay for it.

Ultimately if you want really cheap medical insurance you'll have to look online. In order to get the very best deal online you will have to find at least 3 different websites that encourage you to compare the prices of policies between different insurance companies. Because each of these websites only compares the prices from a small number of insurance companies you will need to look at prices from a minimum of 3 sites in order for you to see prices from the majority of companies so that you can feel confident you've found the lowest price possible.

But once you've seen the prices from at least 3 price comparison sites then you'll know for sure where the best price can be found and you can feel confident that you have bought the cheapest insurance available online and that you have saved the most money you possibly could.

The cost of medical insurance is enough to make anyone sick and because of that many people are now in the market for affordable high risk medical insurance online. While almost anyone can save money simply by purchasing their medical insurance online, a little extra effort spent in answering a few of the questions you'll be ask on the online price comparison websites could save you even more.

For example, setting up an automatic payment system for making your premium payments will save you money. If you are truly serious about finding affordable medical insurance then you can't smoke or use chew or any other tobacco products. If you currently smoke you will have to stop - or accept the fact that you will always pay more for your health insurance.

Unfortunately the same goes for being overweight. If you are overweight and you seriously want to save money on your insurance then you're going to have to try to shed at least a few pounds. The good news is that losing even a few pounds might move you down a rung on the insurance company's Body Mass Index - and if you're lucky enough for that to happen you could save quite a bit over the course of a year.

Group health insurance will save you money over individual insurance. If you can't get affordable group health at your place of work try asking at any clubs, associations or organizations that you belong to. You would be surprised at the number of groups and organizations which provide this to their members.

Do not participate in dangerous sports or take part in extreme games or other dangerous activities on a regular basis. Intentionally putting your health in jeopardy will result in your paying more for your health insurance. Driving a fast and flashy sports car or a head-turning muscle car can also increase the amount you pay for yours.

And did you know that your credit rating can affect how much you pay for your health insurance? It's true. Most insurance companies check your credit rating and the better your score the less you'll pay for your insurance.

If you don't see your doctor on a regular basis and are generally healthy you should definitely consider increasing your co-payment to 50%. Increasing your co-pay will reduce your monthly cost of insurance considerably.

Eating right, getting some exercise and just generally improving your health will also save you money on it as well as on your overall health care costs. Cut out all fried food, cut way back on the stops at fast food restaurants, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and get as much exercise as possible.

Exercise, by the way, can be something as simple as walking around the block a few times a week or biking with your kids to school or biking around town to run errands. If you like company when you exercise why not join a mall-walking club? Increasing your deductible is a sure-fire way to lower your insurance cost as long as you don't go overboard and increase your deductible to the point that you can no longer afford it.

And that brings us to our final way of saving money on your health insurance - buying your policy online. If you truly want to save the most money possible don't stop after looking at the prices for competing policies provided by just one site. Instead, check out competing prices on at least 3 different websites.

Also, try to answer the questions on each of the websites in the same way each time. This will insure that you are comparing the same policy each time - and that is one of the keys to saving money.

But as soon as you've gotten the prices from at least 3 different sites your job is done - just pick the lowest price you've found and you can feel confident that you have found the most affordable high risk medical insurance online.

Over half of all people who have medical insurance report that the cost of their premium is causing a severe hardship on their family's monthly budget. In fact, the cost of health insurance has gotten so high that over 40 million Americans are now without it of any kind.

Once answer is to look for cheap high risk health insurance online. This means different things to different people, but most people can agree that this is vital. One way to save money on it is to exclude certain diseases from your coverage.

Obviously this can become risky (in the event you come down with the disease unexpectedly) but it is one high-risk way to lower the cost of your insurance.

Increasing the percentage of your co-payment to 50% can save you a lot of money if you don't see your doctor very often each year, and you can always be guaranteed of saving money any time you increase your deductible. Just be careful to make sure that you can pay the deductible that you have agreed to each year.

Another way to lower the cost of your monthly insurance payments is to start a Health Savings Account - also known as an HSA. This is a special tax-free savings plan. The catch is that you can ONLY use the money from this tax-free account to pay for medical expenses. But because the money is tax-free you are getting a break on the cost of your medical bills.

In addition to a tax-free savings account you will also be required to buy a low-cost super-high-deductible health insurance policy. These policies have a minimum deductible for an individual of $1,200 and a minimum deductible for a family of $2,400.

With deductibles that high there is little chance that your health insurance will pay for any of your medical bills during a normal year. That's what the tax-free savings account is for. The advantage of the high-deductible insurance is that it acts as a safety-net in the event that you should suffer an unexpected catastrophic accident or illness that ends up costing you tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars - your life savings, your home and your other assets will be protected by the insurance policy.

Another advantage of the HSA is that any money left in your tax-free savings account at the end of the year is rolled over into the next year, allowing you to potentially build up a tax-free nest egg over time. Your employer or any insurance agent or bank or savings and loan or credit union can supply you with additional details.

If you decide to look for cheap high risk medical insurance online be certain that you take the time to fill out the forms on at least 3 different sites rather than relying on the price comparisons from just one site. By looking at the prices on 3 different sites you will be able to compare the prices from many more insurance companies so you stand a much better chance of finding the truly rock-bottom price for your health insurance.

Now simply compare all of the prices you have found from your comparisons on at least 3 different sites and pick the lowest price you find. Congratulations!

Finding cheap medical insurance companies in Alabama is becoming harder and harder to do. It seems that no medical insurance is cheap any longer. In fact, the cost of medical insurance has gotten so high that more than 16% of all families in Alabama are currently without health insurance of any kind. Fortunately if you find yourself in that position, or close to it, there are a number of things you can do today that can lower the cost of your health insurance as quickly as tomorrow.
If you haven't already set up the automatic payment of your monthly premium directly from your bank account then do so today. This isn't a huge savings, but every little bit adds up.
If you don't see your doctor very often in a normal year then increase your co-payment from 25% to 50%. This can save you several hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
If you can possibly afford it, increasing your deductible will decrease your monthly premium almost instantly. Just be sure that you have the resources to pay for the additional deductible each year before your insurance takes over.
If you smoke or use chew you simply must quit if you want any chance of finding the cheapest medical insurance you can. If you're serious about saving money then you've got to get serious about quitting smoking.
You've also got to get serious about improving your health in general. Stop eating at fast food restaurants - or at least cut back the number of days you do considerably. Do not super-size meals and do not buy french-fries or other fried items. Changing your eating habits is not as difficult as you might think.
Getting a little exercise will improve your health and help you lose weight. Walk around the block a few times each week. Ride your bike to do errands or ride your bike to school each morning with your kids. Join a group that walks around the mall each morning. Get up, get out and move around!
There's only one place for you to find the cheapest medical insurance companies in Alabama and that's online. It's not hard to find several websites that allow you to make comparisons of health insurance prices from different insurance companies. Just make sure that you check out the prices from a number of different sites rather than relying on just one site.
But after you've taken the time to make comparisons on 3 or more websites you should have sufficient choices to pick the very best rate for health insurance that you are likely to find.

It's hard to even think in terms of cheap medical insurance any longer. Medical insurance here in Alabama has gotten so expensive that more than 16% of all the residents of Alabama can't afford any medical coverage at all. Fortunately there is a radical new way for many people who can no longer afford health insurance to get coverage.
This new idea in cheap medical insurance in Alabama is called a Health Savings Account, or an HSA. An HSA is a self-directed tax-free medical savings account. Tax-free money is deposited into your special savings account which can only be used to pay for your medical needs throughout the year. Any money left in your tax-free account at the end of the year is rolled over into the next year, potentially allowing you to build up a nice tax-free nest egg over time.
Attached to this tax-free savings account is a low-cost super high deductible health insurance policy. These policies have deductibles of more than $1,200 for an individual and more than $2,400 for a family.
Because these policies have such high deductibles their monthly premium is extremely low, low enough for most individuals and families to afford. However, during a normal year these high deductible policies will not pay one penny toward any of your health care costs. Instead, you pay for all of these costs yourself out of your special tax-free savings account. In other words, you have to pay for your own health needs but you get to pay for it with non-taxed dollars, saving you at least 25% .
What is the purpose of the high-deductible insurance policy, then? The policy is a safety net in the (hopefully) unlikely event that you suffer some sort of catastrophic accident or that you become very ill and require long-term hospitalization or round-the-clock care. Such a catastrophic event could easily wipe out your life savings or even force the sale of your home - but with the high-deductible insurance policy your savings and your home will be safe.
You can learn more about these Health Savings Accounts where you work, or at your bank, savings and loan, credit union or at any insurance company.
But whether you are looking into an HSA plan or a more traditional health plan the first place you want to look if you want the very best price possible is online. There are literally dozens of websites that encourage you to compare the prices of health insurance policies at various insurance companies here in Alabama.
Check out the prices on at least 3 different websites if you want to be certain that you'll find the rock-bottom price for health insurance.