We Asked: Do you bill insurance? If so, has it been a positive experience?
If you don’t bill insurance, why not?

Here is what you told us...

I have been billing insurance for five years and am pleased with the majority of companies. I have found that offering direct billing as a service to my clients makes them more likely to commit to a plan of treatment, as there is little or no out-of-pocket expense. Insurance billing accounts for a large portion my business and I plan to continue to offer direct billing for my clientele.
Amilyn Kearney
Sydney, Nova Scotia

If more insurance companies accepted massage therapy, I still wouldn’t be a provider through them. I’m happy to fill out a SOAP note form, communicate with the physician, and give a receipt that the client can then file with their insurance and get all or a portion paid back to them. Typically, insurance companies would want to tell me what, how, when and how often my clients need therapy, but they don’t know how to do my job. Thus I don’t feel that they are qualified to tell me, the professional who specializes in soft-tissue dysfunction, how to give therapy to my clients.
Cheryl Middaugh
Indianapolis, Indiana

We have been successfully billing insurance for two years. The experience, though intimidating at first, has been not only pleasant, but also extremely lucrative. We have found that insurance adjusters are very helpful, especially when you present yourself in a well-educated and professional manner. We feel that the care needed to properly care for our clients is one that can be achieved best with proper education and attentive direction from the prescribing physician. Communication with the prescribing physician is extremely important. We feel it is essential that we stay within our scope of practice, allowing the physicians to see, through our clients, the medical benefits of a well-trained medical massage therapist.
Robert Sandefur
Dundee, Michigan

I do bill insurance. It’s difficult in California since we are not a licensed state. The first hurdle is to get the doctor to write the prescription. The next hurdle is to get the insurance company to approve the claim. I currently have a client for whom I bill Worker’s Comp. I receive about half the amount that I bill, many weeks after I bill it, and several times his claim was denied. He finally took the insurance company to court and now we can bill his insurance again. I choose to bill insurance for two reasons: It helps the client that I bill for and it helps legitimatize massage. It can sometimes be a pain, but it helps the clients and that’s my objective.
Kathy Gruver
Santa Barbara, California

I currently do not provide billing to insurance companies. I do provide receipts with requested information for a couple of clients who then submit them to their insurer (Worker’s Comp) for reimbursement. I have found that most of my clients’ insurers do not cover massage therapy.
Nancy Grueneich
Gasburg, Virginia