Providing Administrative Support for Physical Therapy Patients

Presenter: Olivia Marx, Nursing , Global Public Health Scholars

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For my practicum, I worked at McNerney & Associates, P.A. where I provided administrative support to physical therapy patients at the front desk. The work I did included scheduling appointments for patients, creating and adjusting the physical therapists’ schedules, taking payments, and communicating with insurance companies as well as other doctors’ offices in order to help streamline patient care. Throughout my time there, I learned a great deal about how health insurance operates, especially regarding physical therapy, as well as how important administrative staff are when it comes to advocating for patient care. While health insurance helps to reduce the amount of money patients have to pay out of pocket, it sometimes falls short and patients are left with expensive bills they weren’t necessarily anticipating. In my experience, some health insurance companies can be inconsistent in their coverage and even decline to pay for certain treatments that were initially said to be covered. In these cases, the front desk staff at the physical therapy office would have to call these companies on the telephone and advocate for the patients, trying to reduce their out of pocket cost. Overall, this work is extremely important to the field of public health, as these employees work to make sure everyone receives equitable and affordable care.