Can CashPT Clinics Treat Medicare Patients?

In this week’s short video, I wanted to share a question I got a while back from one of my clients.

If you’re struggling with Medicare issues, I hope this helps!

The question I got asked is if you can treat someone who has Medicare, even if the person doesn’t care that they can’t use it.

Technically, no. There are, however, certain things you can do.

If this person just needs help with walking and some stretching, you can do exercise instruction or personal training with them. But if you’re going down this road of utilizing exceptions to the Medicare rule, there’s a few things you need to do.

You need to be well-educated on the policies and procedures and how it relates to a cash-based practice. You need to have a consent or agreement that the patient signs, and you need to be very clear that what you’re providing is not covered. Most importantly, you should consult an attorney to discuss where you lie in this and the possible ramifications of it all.

The best thing I can say is to read up about it. Patients won’t get it. Honestly, a lot of PTs won’t get it. Educate yourself before you take the risk.