Most of us know the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on people’s health. The pandemic, which has claimed nearly a million lives in the U.S. and over six million worldwide, also thrust into focus another crisis that it fuels—mental health. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in the United States, one in five adults are diagnosed with a mental health condition. But sadly, only an estimated 46% receive treatment. Amongst youths, approximately 50% receive treatment. 

The impact of people not receiving quality mental health care is extensive. People with mental health conditions have a 40% higher risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Serious mental illness causes $193.2 billion in lost earnings each year. And 90% of people who die by suicide had shown symptoms of a mental health condition. These are just a few of the many consequences of a lack of mental health treatment.

So, what does all this have to do with branding?

At Therapy Brands, we’re mission-driven to help expand access to quality therapy services. Our platforms are used by over 30,000 practices in specialties that include mental and behavioral health, substance use recovery, applied behavioral analysis, and PT, OT, and speech therapy. Our solutions are designed by and for therapists. They make running a practice easier so that therapists can focus on caring for their clients providing mental health counseling and other essential services.

We recently facilitated a broadscale market research survey. Customers who were using our products were happy, but therapists who did not use our solutions said that our numerous offerings made it challenging to determine which one was right for them. I must agree. When it comes to practice management solutions, one size does not fit all, so we have built and acquired best-in-class solutions to meet the specific needs of therapists by practice specialty and size. That means lots of options, which can be tricky to present. A more integrated marketing approach was warranted. We wanted to make it easier for therapists to identify the best solution for them. We were also creating a lot of educational content to help therapists manage their practices. This content was getting lost in the numerous websites and social sites we supported.

How our resources looked before

How are resources look now

Our products before

Our products now

Beyond improving the user experience for therapy practices, we also had an internal need that we aimed to fill. The company has grown through both organic development and acquisition. It was time to celebrate our team as one team, one award-winning culture. A unified brand could help facilitate this appreciation for our collective value.

Our new branding is more than a logo change; it’s a way to express our fierce commitment to the people we serve. The visual identity is bold yet approachable. The messaging is down to earth–real talk for real people, not corporate speak. We have collapsed 14 websites into one, making it easy to access educational content and solution information. We have 16 Brand Ambassadors that are evangelizing the new brand and educating people about how it can make a difference in the work that our customers and our employees do every day. 

The rebrand was a team effort that incorporated every department and touched all employees and customers. I’m proud of the work and look forward to seeing how Therapy Brands can continue to help therapy practices thrive and serve more people with quality care.

Let’s be honest — no therapist got into their career for the billing. But billing insurance providers for services is inseparably bundled with the satisfaction you feel when your patients make progress. And there’s a lot riding on selecting the correct CPT codes for the services you provide. Failing to use the correct billing codes can result in delays or outright denials for payment, holding up reimbursement for therapy that’s already been provided. Even if your claim is accepted, accidentally using the wrong CPT code for a lower level of service than the one you actually provided results in less compensation for your. In fact, Healthcare Business & Technology estimates that poor billing practices cost healthcare providers $125 billion dollars annually. Especially for smaller practices, the health of the business depends on getting accurately reimbursed in a timely manner.

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With the pandemic, online studies, and work-from-home protocols, everyone can safely conclude that the school year that just ended has had more than its fair share of challenges to learners, teachers, and parents alike. Without a doubt, the next year will have its own unique challenges. As a speech therapist, you need to keep up with new activities to help your clients with speech impediments, delayed speech, and other speech disorders. Here at Fusion Web Clinic, we offer the only all-in-one clinic management software designed specifically for pediatric therapists. Schedule a demo with us to get a feel of our customized software. 

Tons of activities can help you in your organization to combat speech disorders in your clients. Every type of activity addresses a specific form of speech disorder. These are simple everyday activities that will go a long way to refine your clients’ speaking skills.

1. I-Spy 

This age-old game has never gone out of fashion. You can play it one-on-one with the child or with a group of kids, in the case of group therapy sessions. One person identifies a common object in the room, then gives a set of clues to help the child guess the name of the object. If the child guesses the name of the object correctly, they’ll have to use the word in a sentence. This game sharpens a child’s social and listening skills and helps practice sentence fluency. 

2. Hopscotch with Words 

This beloved children’s game, played in many parts of the world, can be instrumental as you conduct your speech therapy sessions. Draw hopscotch on the ground and write target words in each box. Have the child say the word in the box out loud as they play the game. You can add a twist by having the child use the word in a sentence. This game is part of the speech therapy activities that help with articulation, especially with problematic sounds, and sentence construction, as well as diction. 

3. Word Search Puzzles 

Word search puzzles are applicable to all ages. They vary in difficulty, ranging from easy puzzles with a few words to complex ones with words written backwards or diagonally. Choose the appropriate puzzle for the child’s age. When the child finds a word in the puzzle, have them say it out loud and use it in a sentence. You can download word search puzzles over the internet or make your own and customize them for your clients. Word search puzzles are an excellent speech therapy activity. They help with pronunciation, sentence construction, and the development of problem-solving abilities. 

4. The Alphabet Game 

There are many different forms of this game. The key aspect of this game is teaching the child to identify an object that starts with a specific letter of the alphabet. There may be multiple objects that begin with the same letter or sound. Give the child a specific letter or sound and have them identify objects that start with that sound or letter. This game is similar to I-Spy, but instead of giving clues to the objects, you let the child see and identify them. This game helps children with pronunciation. 

5. Word Treasure Hunts 

This is like hide and seek, but instead of looking for people, the child will search for hidden words and objects. Hide words or objects in the playground or sandbox and have the child look for them. The kid will win the game once they find all the words and objects and receive a prize at the end. For an extra feature, you can have the child construct meaningful sentences with the words or state the use of the hidden objects. You can play the game in group therapy to nurture social interactions in the children. This game is part of the speech therapy activities suitable for children aged 5-7 years and teaches them proper pronunciation, sentence construction, and develops healthy social interactions. 

6. Flashcards 

Flashcards can help kids get the hang of difficult sounds such as /l/, /r/, /s/, /sh/, /ch/, and voiceless /TH/. You should have customized flashcards for each child since every child needs unique speech therapy interventions. You can make this activity more engaging by providing the child with a separate, unrelated activity to do simultaneously, like coloring. You can also provide a reward when they finish the activity and pronounce all the words correctly and use them accurately in sentences. Flashcards help to refine pronunciation in children. 

7. Frog Hop in Speech Therapy Activities 

This activity is similar to hopscotch, only that you don’t have to draw the hopscotch on the ground. Write the words on paper and stick them on the ground. Cover the words with clear plastic film to protect them and have the child hop on the words like a frog on lily pads. When the child lands on a word, have them pronounce it and use it in a sentence. You can add an interesting feature by placing the words in levels according to difficulty and offering a prize at the end of each level, then a grand prize at the end of the activity. This fun game doubles as a speech therapy activity and still provides physical exercise. 

8. Mirror Exercises 

This exercise is specifically designed to deal with articulation issues. Most children with articulation difficulties do not know how to move their mouths to make sounds. Let the child face a mirror as they sound out words on flashcards. This will help them see how the mouth moves as they make a particular sound. For similar sounds, such as  /l/ and /r/, /s/, /sh/, and/ch/, you can pronounce each sound slowly with the child in front of a mirror to demonstrate the differences in mouth movement and lip positioning. Mirror exercises can help the child identify the differences in sounds and how to physically pronounce each sound correctly. 

9. The Name Game 

This is a simple activity, where you give the child a simple word and have them say a word that begins with the last letter of the previous word. It not only tests memory and spelling, it also helps develop proper pronunciation. This is a fun game that helps children identify different sounds and differentiate them correctly. 

There are tons of activities to refine a child’s articulation, language skills, social interactions, phonology, and measure their progress. Fusion Web Clinic keeps your practice management streamlined so that you have more time to focus on activities with your clients. Schedule a demo today to learn more. 

As a physical rehabilitation therapist, whether specializing in PT, OT, or SLP, you may have written off telehealth options for your clinic. After all, meeting with patients face-to-face is preferable to virtual visits. Perhaps you have adapted to teletherapy out of necessity during the pandemic. Regardless, teletherapy can help you expand the reach and impact of your practice even after we say goodbye to pandemic entirely. Though it may not be a great fit for every patient and every clinic, here are some post-pandemic benefits of teletherapy options.

An Overview of Teletherapy 

Contrary to popular belief, teletherapy has been in existence for a long time but only started gaining massive popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. With patients stuck at home, the only way therapists could connect with them was through online platforms. The best part is that a majority of Americans mainly connect with others on online platforms, so teletherapy doesn’t feel foreign to them. 

At first, clinics that offered teletherapy were mainly doing so out of necessity to ensure continuity of services, but even with the reduction of COVID-19 regulations, some clinics still see the benefits of virtual appointments.  

1. Flexible Scheduling  

It seems we’re all busier than ever. When you treat pediatric patients, it’s important to remember that parents and caregivers are also juggling school and work schedules. When patients and families don’t have to factor in commutes and can hold their session from any web-enabled device, it becomes much easier to find a time that works for them and stick to it 

2. Fewer Missed Appointments 

When your clinic offers teletherapy sessions, you’ll likely see fewer missed appointments. Since teletherapy appointments may better mesh with patient schedules in the first place as well as be a lot easier to accommodate within the day-to-day chaos of life, it’s easier for patients to attend more of their appointments.  And we don’t need to tell you that fewer missed appointments mean more revenue for your clinic.  

3. Lower Overhead Costs 

Though physical therapy isn’t by nature as easily transitioned from a traditional clinic, many of your clinicians may have found ways to adjust to working from home. With teletherapy, your practitioners can easily connect with the client while they are at home. This allows you to minimize some of the costs that come with running a clinic.  

4. Mobility and Transportation Concerns 

Working in the physical rehab space, many of your patients may have mobility concerns. Often this is why they are seeing you in the first place. If possible, per a patient’s treatment plan, holding teletherapy sessions eliminates the additional burden of getting to your clinic, which can help restore independence and boost confidence and comfort. The same can be said for patients who are physically able but still may not be able to find a way to you.  

5. Expanded Radius 

Offering virtual therapy services gives you access to an otherwise neglected client segment. Since most therapy clinics are located in metropolitan and suburban areas, teletherapy has a significant impact on people who live in rural areas and those that are far from the nearest clinic.  

6. Peace of Mind 

We live in a tumultuous world, and never really know what’s on the horizon. Many of your patients, and therapists too, may have adjusted to a home-based therapy environment and feel more comfortable with that mode of practice. And, with the tail end of the pandemic still among us with an uncertain future, you can rest assured that, with teletherapy, patients and therapists are safe.  

Quick Teletherapy Tips 

To ensure your teletherapy services are successful: 

1. Ensure your therapists have a stable internet connection. Downtime can be frustrating for patient and therapist alike and disrupt the flow of the appointment.  

2. Make sure the devices being used are functional, e.g., the microphone and the webcam works well. Test your platform beforehand too. Even amongst staff, make sure everything is in working order.  

3. Ensure there’s someone to guide the clients around the platform, especially on how it works, the best way to use it, the equipment they will need, etc. You can even have clinic staff call clients over the phone to make sure they’re all set up just before their appointment and explain it when they book their appointment. 

4. Ensure your practitioners have a safe and quiet environment where they can conduct sessions without distractions.  

5. Get a reliable platform that is HIPAA compliant. According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the platform used has to be secure. 

Get Started with Integrated Teletherapy  

The demand for teletherapy services is rapidly increasing, and it’s not hard to see why; it has fundamental benefits for both clients and medical professionals. In the United States, 1 in every 5 people is diagnosed with a mental health condition, but sadly, only 44% of them get treatment.  

With teletherapy options, however, clinics are able to serve a wider range of clients who can’t access therapy services who may otherwise be unable to or would experience challenges with in-office visits.  Could teletherapy be the answer to your growth and sustainability challenges? Schedule a demo today to learn more about how Fusion can keep your practice and your patients moving with teletherapy.  

If growth is one of the goals for your therapy clinic, marketing is probably on your mind. But, with all the needs of managing the day-to-day of your practice and patient care, you may not know where to start. Or, maybe you have started, but aren’t getting the results you hoped for. The problem may be that you lack a strong foundation.  

A well-planned marketing strategy will show prospective clients that your practice is both compassionate and competent enough to meet their needs. And, a big chunk of that strategy happens before your first email or social media post. Here are a few foundational elements we suggest putting in place to make sure your marketing campaigns are easy to put together and generate results.  

The Value of Marketing for Your Practice 

When it comes to the bottom line of your organization, marketing may be the last consideration for funds. However, marketing is only an expense if it doesn’t work. Still, starting out with some marketing campaigns can be daunting, especially when your expertise lies more with treating patients them attracting them.  

Marketing, however, doesn’t have to be scary. Start small and take it at your own pace. Implementing just one of these strategies at a time can bring more patients through your doors, without detracting from the rest of your practice management. As you grow and become more confident, you’ll find it easier to scale your marketing efforts. 

The Value Statement 

It’s important to decide what your organization stands for and how you will communicate that to patients. Start with a value statement that begins with “We believe…” or “Our mission is to…” Then, make a list of ways you exemplify your values. For example, if part of your mission is to bring peace of mind to families, you may want to list things like your helpful staff or take-home resources. This list can include what makes you unique, ways you add value to your audience’s experience, the way you lead your organization.  

Your statement should be a short paragraph or two, and you can list as many supporting items as you like, but try to keep the document to one page, so that you can focus on what’s most important. This value statement will be a living document that guides your marketing efforts moving forward. Everything you put out into the world should come back to your value statement. Pro Tip: A value statement is truly powerful and unique when you can’t swap your practice’s name for your competitors.  

Know Your Audience 

There’s no use marketing water to fish. It’s important to have a clear picture of who you serve. A neat strategy is to develop a profile for a fictional person who represents your audience. Give them a name and flesh out the details of their life. In order to inform your marketing strategy, it’s best to have an idea of where they might be interacting with your brand. For example, Sarah is a busy mother of three who spends a lot of time reading family life blogs to make decisions for her household.  

It’s perfectly fine to have multiple personas as well, as long as they are unique. So, Sarah from the previous example may be visiting your clinic so her son can receive therapy while recovering from a sports injury. Whereas Michael and his daughter may be seeking help with her muscular dystrophy. You may also want to consider Dr. Brown, who is the referring physician for many of your patients.  

Choose up to 5 personas to help you understand who you are speaking to and flesh out traits that will help you understand how best to reach them. Ask questions like: 

• What websites are they visiting? Do they read blogs? 
• Are they present on social media? If so, which platforms? 
• Do they listen to the radio? Podcasts? 
• Do they read magazines or newspapers? If so, what kinds? 
• Where do they shop? 
• What might their home life look like? 
• What is their financial position? 
• What might their interactions with other medical professionals look like? 

For referring doctors is may look something like: 

• How do their patients come to see them? 
• Are they specialized?  
• What organizations are they a part of? 
• What professional publications or websites do they read? 

Understanding who they are will help you communicate how you can solve for their pain points and make their lives easier.  

Competitive Analysis 

A key component of your value statement is understanding how your organization is unique.  You can’t know this unless you’ve taken a look at the competitive set – the other clinics in your area that may serve a similar population or provide a similar service. Do some research and determine what sets you apart. Doing so will help you understand where you may meet a need that isn’t otherwise being met. Make a list of key competitors, what they do well, and how you either do it better or offer something different.  

Brand Design 

Once you’ve decided on who you are, what you stand for, and what sets you apart from competitors, it’s time to decide on a logo and colors. Don’t worry, it doesn’t take a fancy graphic designer to put together a brand kit.  

Colors – Pick two coordinating colors. For consistency, you will need to find the exact identifier for that color. Either the red, green, blue values, the Pantone number, or the hex codes.  

Logo – Your logo will be the beacon for your therapy clinic. Pick something that not only embodies what you do or what you believe in but make sure it’s versatile enough to be used everywhere. This means it will work on both dark and light backgrounds, vertical and horizontal placements, etc.  

This may seem like a lot to think about, but not to worry there are great resources out there that make these design elements easy for those of us who might not excel in design. Free tools like Canva can provide templates to make it quick and easy. Still, need more help? Try a freelancing site. 

Website Woes 

The last foundational element of marketing is your website. You probably already have a website, but now may be a good time to make sure all the information is up-to-date and it’s very easy for someone to contact you. Especially in a world where much of the marketing you do will be digital, making sure you are driving contacts to a website that puts your best foot forward is key.  

Websites don’t have to be complicated or fancy, especially if your team doesn’t have the expertise, funds, or time to maintain its upkeep. A single, simple landing page will do with your contact information. You can always build as you go.  

The next step may be to add a few pages about your business. Include your value statement. Team bios. Photos of your clinic. All these elements can help humanize and put a face and a feeling to your organization. You can even consider adding a contact form or a blog where you can share success stories, thought leadership, and resources for patients and their families.  

Summing it Up 

Okay, so now you’re well on your way to building a super-strong foundation for your marketing strategy. Let’s review 

• Develop a value statement that includes who you are and what you offer.  
• Put together a persona of those you serve in order to understand the message you want them to hear and how they will come across it.  
• Analyze the competitive set to know where your clinic stands and what makes you unique.  
• Design an appealing brand that conveys what you’re all about and build credibility.  
• Build a website that is up-to-date and makes it easy for someone to get in touch.  

Marketing can be intimidating. At Fusion, we understand and make it our mission to simplify your therapy clinic’s practice management, so you can provide the best care possible to as many patients as possible. Schedule a demo of our EMR designed specifically for pediatric physical, speech, and occupational therapists to learn more about how we simplify practice management and empower your growth.  

Billing can be a pain. When you’ve got a therapy clinic, or even 3 or 4, to run, billing pains can be more than frustrating. The complicated process is not easy to navigate and can cause your revenue generation to suffer. A dedicated, well-trained billing team would be ah-mazing, but the cost of payroll may not be an option. And even with a billing team on staff, they could be wasting their valuable time with administrative headaches like tracking down claim denials and keeping current with coding guidelines. And mom-and-pop billing services may not allow you the visibility you need to feel confident in your finances.

But you’ve got to keep the lights on. Maybe you’ve got plans to open another clinic or want to bring about some much-desired improvements to your current locations. So, there you sit, struggling with inefficient billing methods. Luckily, there is an alternative.

Rather than trying to keep up with the daily humdrum of billing for your physical rehab clinics, entrust technology and the experts they work with, automate and streamline this process. You likely already use an EMR, so let that software handle your billing. Even better if it’s an EMR designed for your specialty and knows the ins and outs of billing for your specific practice.  

Of course, onboarding new software can be daunting. Fears of slowing down business during the onboarding process, training, cost, usability and so much more are all valid concerns. But, when you outsource billing to your EMR, the benefits far outweigh the costs. While you’ll incur an extra cost onboarding a new software, it goes a long way in making sure your clinic receives more of what it earns. Integrated billing services will help you get every dollar you earn rather than lose it in the claim management process.  

1. Streamline Workflows 

Billing, especially insurance billing, can be a nightmare for practitioners. Insurance companies do very little to support providers when it comes to submitting claims. As a result, many physical therapy clinics end up losing hard-earned revenue to denied and rejected claims, delayed payments, etc. etc. Not only that, the time it takes to rectify claims can be a real burden on your staff.  

With billing automation put in place thanks to your EMR software integration, you can get back to treating patients and rest assured that your revenue cycle is running efficiently and effectively.  

2. Protect Patient Information 

Your patients’ information should remain confidential and protected from unauthorized persons. Your EHR software is fully equipped with the technological infrastructure to make that happen at no extra cost to you. 

The software is also compliant with privacy regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This means all patient information is kept safe, and you shouldn’t worry. Instead, you should channel the efforts in restoring their health. 

3. Maintain a Steady Cashflow 

Whether you hope to expand, want to invest in your existing locations, or if you simply want to have a little more financial security with your current clinic operations, an efficient billing process can help you increase revenue generation even without increasing intake.  

When you trust physical therapy billing services to fix any holes that may be leaking revenue in your operations, your accounts will thank you. With billing experts and software automation working behind the scenes to prevent claim denials and reduce the time it takes for you to see reimbursements from insurance payers, your accounts receivable balances should decrease. Which means more money in your pocket.  

4. Save Time and Hassle with Complete Integration 

No doubt, you’re a pro at multitasking. Yet still, technology should reduce administrative burdens, not add to them. When you trust your EHR’s physical therapy billing services, you can access everything you need for effective practice management right from a single software instance. You can’t make a clone of yourself, but this is the next best thing. With complete integration of your clinical support tools and your billing service, you don’t have to spread yourself and your staff across too many log-ins and can keep a better eye on your practice and finances than you could by hiring a separate billing entity.  

5. Access Customer Support and Education Tools 

Factors like usability and training are normal and valid concerns when it comes to outsourcing any aspect of your practice management. Thankfully, when you trust your EHR, there’s one less system to learn. Plus, most competitive EMR products include a wealth of training for their users and helpful staff to get you started on the right foot and support you throughout your partnership. 

6. Run Comprehensive Financial Reports 

The key to effective practice management, especially when operating more than one clinic, are reports that provide insight as to the current state of your organization. With physical therapy billing services fully integrated with your EMR, you have an easily accessed ay on top of your payer payments with detailed billing reports. Generate graphs to identify the billing codes that make you the most money, which payers take the longest to pay, which payers owe you the most money, and much more.

Integrated Physical Therapy Billing Services: Final Verdict 

So, there you have it. Whether you’re currently outsourcing your physical therapy billing services to another company, have a team on board already, or have filled a toolbelt with billing tools, you and your organization could stand to benefit from billing services integrated into your EMR. Schedule a demo today to learn more about Fusion Web Clinic and our fully integrated billing service designed specifically for pediatric physical, speech, and occupational therapy.

From limited report specificity to roadblocks with visibility, many of our users reported grievances with the usability of our current Insights solution.  Our team is always listening and dedicated to always improving the services of our software. We’re proud to unveil our new Insights solution.

New Features and Improvements 

The new Insights reporting and analytics solution with Fusion is designed to be more intuitive, easier to use, and reliable for your pediatric physical, occupational, or speech therapy clinic. The new solution allows you to:  

• Run faster reports with more data all at once – become a lean, mean, data machine with speedier reports that encapsulate more data about your clinic.  
• See a description of every available field used to build reports – be more confident in your report building with a little bit of guidance along the way. 
• See applied filters at a glance – easily see exactly what data you’re looking at.  
• Apply flexible filters to every available field – create reports that get you exactly what information you need. 
• Edit a report on the same screen as the results and see your results faster – no more toggling back and forth.  
• See all results in Fusion without having to download a file – forget about document downloads and frustrating look-up functions. Have what you need, right within Fusion.  
• Create useful charts with a more guided, user-friendly experience – display your results in a way that makes the most sense to you and your team.  
• Save your reports to a section dedicated just to you – in just a few clicks, access the reports relevant to you.  
• Rather than recreating reports from scratch, copy and adjust an existing report – save time and headache with report cloning.  
• Share reports with non-Insights users (results restricted based on patient access) – disseminate information to those who need it.  

How Fusion Users Can Start Using New Insights? 

New Insights will be available soon for all users currently using Insights with Fusion. But not to worry, you’ll still be able to access the original Insights feature where previously created reports and data will be stored.  

Interested in Learning More about Fusion Web Clinic? 

Having data at your fingertips and running reports to get the information you actually need is key to managing your clinic. If you’re interested in learning more about Fusion Web Clinic and our other features such as Assisted Billing, scheduling, or teletherapy, schedule a demo today.  

Toddlers and younger children are in a key developmental stage, making their first strides towards confidence with speech and language. And what an exciting time. But it can be frightening for parents who are noticing their child’s language skills aren’t progressing according to certain benchmarks, opening the door for panic. With children so young, another response could be to put it off and wait a while, perhaps until the child is in school or until the family’s schedule can better accommodate sessions with a professional. After all, each child grows at their own pace and perhaps they will “grow into” their voice.  

However, when assessments show a child could benefit from treatment, it’s time to step in as a clinician and help those parents and caregivers embrace the journey they are about to begin. Patients, or in this case their caregivers, who are informed and empowered about their treatment plan, are more likely to succeed. So, let’s dive into some ways you can set the stage for successful speech therapy for toddlers.  

Prepare the Parents (or Other Caregivers) 

Before your initial evaluation appointment with the patient, make sure their caregivers are prepared for a successful session. Consider creating a checklist of to-dos to take care of before they meet with you. This can include items like preparing insurance information, reflecting on their concerns, writing down their questions, or listing observations. This can not only help you collect more information for your evaluation, it can soothe caregivers by giving them a task to accomplish.  

Explain the Benchmarks 

Caregivers, especially first-time parents or parents whose other children have developed speech and language capabilities without delay, may likely be unfamiliar with the nuances of steppingstones for healthy progress. With a crowd of friends and family or even the internet telling them what *should* be happening, they may need some clarity as to what is fact and what is fiction.  

Educate caregivers about the benchmarks their children should be meeting. Provide resources, like helpful .pdfs or video links you can share through your patient portal for parents to take with them.  

Explain the Assessments 

Now that your patient’s support understands where their child should be, help them understand where the child may be falling behind. It may seem obvious to you as a practitioner, but take the time to give some background about the assessments you chose, why you chose them, and your results. Present the data you uncovered and couple it with context to bring the situation to light. Proceed with sensitivity, assuring parents there is nothing *wrong* with their child and soothing worries they may have.  

Explain the Treatment Plan 

An obvious next step, explaining the treatment plan is critical. Help caregivers understand what you will be putting into action and your reasoning. Paint a picture of what the short-term and long-term goals are, and everyone will be better positioned as a team to get there together. Take the time to lay out what the time commitments and at-home responsibilities are. Prepare documents or share this information with them to refer to so they are not relying on their memory. Remember, paper notes can get lost, so utilize the technology at hand to create a place where all this information can easily be accessed in the future.  

Add Value with Updates 

When any aspect of their young child’s life is out of their control, the family can feel helpless and may need reassurance. As the journey progresses, provide frequent updates. “It’s working,” is simply not enough information. Include them in the process by relating your observations and thoughts. Show them data from your records to illustrate progress and trends.  

Set Expectations 

You are a therapist, not a miracle worker. Make sure everyone is aware of the limitations of speech therapy and, more importantly, caregivers know what is expected of them for treatment to be successful. Does everyone understand the payment policy? Are we on the same page about appointment commitments and cancellations? Ask questions to make sure there is no confusion or misunderstanding.  

Conversations about expectations can also bring to light issues that could disrupt treatment down the way like insurance coverage or the cost of treatment, scheduling issues and the like.  

Give out Homework 

We’ve touched on this throughout our list, but providing parents with further reading as well as  tasks for home can be therapeutic for parents, productive for your treatment, and healthy for  your patient.  

How Your EMR Can Help 

A lot goes into preparing a patient and their caregivers for the journey of SLP therapy, but you’re not alone. Utilize your EMR to relieve you and your staff from these burdens. With a practice management system like Fusion Web Clinic’s EMR, setting families up for success has never been easier. Schedule in-person and teletherapy sessions with ease, share information via the patient portal, handle billing, and even gather insights from an EMR specifically designed for pediatric speech therapy. Schedule a demo today to get started.  

Running a pediatric physical therapy clinic can be complicated. There’s more on your plate than patient care and, most of the time, onboarding more staff simply isn’t an option. Not to worry. Here are a few pediatric physical therapy practice management dos and don’ts. 

Do: Automate Administrative Functions 

There’s more to running a physical, speech, or occupational therapy clinic than excellent patient care. Administrative burdens are a huge pain point for practitioners of all specialties. When a clinic’s focus is split between assessments, treatment plans, intake, scheduling, billing, reporting, and more, clinic staff can end up running themselves ragged. Perhaps one of the most important practice management tips we can share is to entrust your EMR with these tasks. Look for practice management software that allows you to effortlessly manage schedules, securely stores documents for easy access, and provides insights to help you make decisions about your clinic. 

Do: Analyze What’s Working and What Isn’t 

How will you be able to improve the tomorrow of your clinic without knowing what is and isn’t working today? Reporting and insights should be an essential part of any clinic’s functional planning. Form better hypotheses and answer important questions like “What percent of my scheduled appointments end up being no-shows?” and “What CPT codes are generating the most revenue?” With an understanding of what propels your clinic forward and what is holding it back, you can optimize your activities to streamline your organization, build a more profitable practice, and more.  

Do: Offer Teletherapy 

The COVID pandemic catapulted telehealth from nifty tech to an absolute necessity. This need, however, does not disappear when the pandemic does. As a pediatric physical therapist, you may serve patients who struggle to meet with you in person due to mobility or developmental issues. So, continuing to offer teletherapy allows you to better treat these patients in a way that is inclusive and accommodating. Teletherapy sessions also allow you to broaden your reach, allowing you to serve patients and their families you may not have been able to treat before.  

Don’t: Forget about Billing 

Insurance billing may not come as easily to you as patient care. And that’s okay, but even if you’re seeing a steady flow of patients, your clinic could still be suffering financially from ineffective revenue cycle management (RCM). RCM is the process of creating charges, submitting claims to insurance companies, and the following those reimbursements through. Unfortunately, claim management is complicated and insurance companies aren’t making it any easier. Each has different requirements for claim processing, and it can be impossible for you to keep track of all of that on top of your patient care.  

Denied claims are rampant in the physical therapy world and could be costing your clinic revenue. When you onboard a billing tool like Assisted Billing with revenue cycle management, you can trust that your EMR is at the ready to make sure you’re maximizing your insurance reimbursements.  

Don’t: Spread Your Clinic Across Too Many Tools 

You wouldn’t see a carpenter carry identical hammers onto a roof, so why would you use more software than you need? In our modern digital world, we are inundated with promising miracle platforms, but having too many systems can easily get out of hand. Each new practice management tool brings with it new passwords, new security and interoperability concerns, more staff trainings, etc. Consolidate your tools to a single software suite where telehealth, documentation, billing, and anything else you may need are only a click away.  

Don’t: Wait to Onboard an EMR 

As a medical professional, everywhere you turn you see the changes happening in the health IT landscape. Regardless of what legislature is most up-to-date and how it affects you as a physical, speech, or occupational therapist, it’s time to either start thinking about onboarding practice management tools like EMRs or, if you already work with one, evaluating if it is going to best serve your clinic and your patients for the long haul. Meaningful use and interoperability may seem like a lot to digest, especially when patient care is your passion, and partnering with a trusted EMR can lay a clear path through the health IT revolution.  

Practice Management Done Right 

You know how to best treat your patients, make sure you have what you need to best take care of your clinic. If you’re interested in learning more about an EMR designed specifically for your specialty that is intuitive, advanced, and stays out of the way, schedule a demo with Fusion Web Clinic today.