Brace Health resources

Direct answers for running a healthier therapy practice.

Practical guidance authored by the people who work on billing and practice operations every day.

26 resources

Latest guidance

Denial Investigations

How to Investigate PT Claim Underpayments

A paid claim may warrant underpayment review when the remittance is lower than the amount expected under the applicable contract and claim facts. Verify the benchmark, explain the variance, and then decide whether to correct, appeal, contact the payer, or close the review.

  • Underpayments
  • PT billing
  • Claim follow-up

Updated

Billing Operations

Look Up Medicare PT Reimbursement Rates by Locality

Medicare Physician Fee Schedule amounts can vary by procedure code, payment year, and locality. Use CMS’s lookup with the right code and locality, then check payment indicators and claim-specific rules; a displayed fee-schedule amount is not a guarantee of the final payment.

  • Medicare rates
  • Fee schedule
  • PT reimbursement

Updated

Insights for Practice Owners

How to Negotiate Physical Therapy Payer Rates

A PT practice can prepare a stronger rate request by connecting a focused ask to evidence the specific payer may value, such as specialized access, network adequacy, or near-term cost. The case and likely outcome vary by payer and market.

  • Payer negotiation
  • PT reimbursement
  • Practice operations

Updated

Billing Operations

Medicare 8-Minute Rule for Physical Therapy

For Medicare outpatient therapy, the 8-minute rule helps determine billable units for timed services measured in 15-minute units. Apply the current Medicare method to documented timed minutes; do not assume that commercial plans use the same method or include untimed services in the calculation.

  • Medicare billing
  • Timed codes
  • PT billing

Updated

Insights for Practice Owners

How Much Do PT Billing Services Cost?

The cost of outsourced PT billing depends on the proposal’s fee basis, included work, exclusions, practice volume, and contract terms. Compare providers using the same scope and period; do not assume a generic “standard” rate applies to every practice.

  • Billing services
  • Vendor comparison
  • Practice costs

Updated

Insights for Practice Owners

Why Did My PT Practice’s Collections Drop?

A lower deposit total is a signal to investigate, not proof of one cause. Compare like-for-like periods, then trace the difference through completed visits, payer mix, payment timing, posting, patient collections, denials, and accounts receivable.

  • Collections
  • Revenue cycle
  • Practice metrics

Updated

Denial Investigations

Claim Rejection vs. Denial in Therapy Billing

A claim rejection generally means the claim was not accepted for adjudication. A denial reflects a payer's decision not to pay all or part of an adjudicated claim. Check the actual response before deciding whether to correct, submit again, or appeal.

  • Claim rejection
  • Claim denial
  • Payer response

Updated

Billing Operations

How to Find Therapy Claims That Aren’t Progressing

A therapy claim is not necessarily stalled because it is old. Look for a missing acknowledgement, an overdue response, unresolved information, or a next action with no owner. Compare the actual claim history with the expected step—not just its aging bucket.

  • Stalled claims
  • Accounts receivable
  • Claim tracking

Updated

Billing Operations

In-House vs. Outsourced Physical Therapy Billing

In-house and outsourced physical therapy billing can both work. Compare who will own the full revenue cycle, how work stays covered, and what your practice must still manage. Salary versus a billing fee is only one part of that decision.

  • In-house billing
  • Outsourced billing
  • Billing accountability

Updated

Insights for Practice Owners

Is Brace Health Right for Your Therapy Practice?

Brace Health may be a fit for a therapy practice that wants a dedicated billing partner, close communication, and help carrying billing work through resolution. The decision should depend on your workflow, EMR, and agreed scope.

  • Billing partner
  • Therapy practices
  • Service scope

Updated

Billing Operations

Who Handles Old AR When You Change Billing Companies?

Old accounts receivable does not automatically become the new billing company's responsibility. Before a therapy practice switches, agree who will work earlier claims, who will post later payments, and what access and reporting remain available.

  • Accounts receivable
  • Therapy billing
  • Billing transition

Updated

Billing Operations

How Outsourced Billing Works With Your Therapy EMR

An outsourced billing team can work within your therapy EMR when access and workflows support it. Before starting, define who prepares claims, posts payments, follows unpaid balances, and supplies missing information. EMR compatibility does not mean every step is automated.

  • Therapy EMR
  • Outsourced billing
  • Workflow ownership

Updated

Denial Investigations

Physical Therapy Denials: Investigate the Root Cause

To investigate a physical therapy claim denial, start with the payer's actual response, compare it with the submitted claim and supporting records, and choose the next action under the applicable instructions. A denial code is a starting point—not a complete root-cause diagnosis.

  • Claim denials
  • Root-cause investigation
  • Therapy billing

Updated

Denial Investigations

Prioritize Therapy Denials Without Neglecting AR

Prioritize denied therapy claims by the risk of missing a deadline, their current status, and the action available—not balance or age alone. Keep the rest of accounts receivable visible so urgent denial work does not leave other claims without an owner.

  • Denial prioritization
  • Accounts receivable
  • Claim follow-up

Updated

Billing Operations

Switching Therapy Billing Companies: A Handoff Checklist

Before switching therapy billing companies, agree who owns old and new claims, preserve the access needed to work them, and assign each unresolved item a next action. A documented handoff manages transition risk; it does not guarantee uninterrupted cash flow.

  • Therapy billing
  • Billing transition
  • Accounts receivable

Updated

Denial Investigations

Therapy Claims: Correct, Resubmit, Appeal, or Call?

Choose the next step for a therapy claim from its actual status, payer response, and submission history. Correct inaccurate data, follow the required submission route, challenge a decision through the appropriate review process, or seek clarification when the evidence is incomplete.

  • Corrected claims
  • Claim appeals
  • Payer follow-up

Updated

Insights for Practice Owners

AI in Physical Therapy Billing: What It Can and Cannot Do

AI can help rehab billing teams spot exceptions, prepare follow-up, and organize evidence. It cannot replace clinical judgment, payer-specific verification, or a person accountable for approving and resolving the work.

  • AI in physical therapy billing
  • Human review
  • Rehab billing

Published

Insights for Practice Owners

How Brace Health Combines AI With a Dedicated Rehab Billing Team

Brace Health pairs AI-assisted billing workflows with a dedicated rehab billing partner. AI helps surface and prepare work, while a human biller reviews, coordinates, and follows claims toward resolution.

  • Brace Health
  • Rehab billing team
  • AI-assisted billing

Published

Billing Operations

How to Evaluate a Physical Therapy Billing Company

A physical therapy billing company should show more than a collections total. Evaluate how claims move from submission to payment, what happens when they are rejected or underpaid, and who owns each unresolved issue and next action.

  • Physical therapy billing
  • Billing company evaluation
  • Claim follow-up

Published

Billing Operations

How to Read a Physical Therapy AR Aging Report

An AR aging report shows how long balances have been open. For a physical therapy practice, the useful next step is to identify why older balances remain, who owns each one, and what happens next.

  • Physical therapy billing
  • AR aging
  • Claim follow-up

Published

Billing Operations

Which Billing KPIs Should a Physical Therapy Practice Track?

Physical therapy owners can start with five billing measures: submission lag, rejections and denials, AR aging, payment realization, and open exceptions. Each measure needs a consistent definition and a next action.

  • Physical therapy billing
  • Billing KPIs
  • Practice operations

Published

Insights for Practice Owners

10 Billing Questions Every Practice Owner Should Answer

A practice owner should be able to explain where revenue is stuck, why claims remain unresolved, who owns each next action, which failures recur, and whether billing performance is improving—without personally working every account.

  • Practice ownership
  • Billing scorecard
  • Accounts receivable

Published

Billing Operations

How Often Should Unpaid Medical Claims Be Worked?

Unpaid claims should be reviewed continuously, but not every claim needs the same follow-up interval. Set each claim’s next action from its current status, expected payer response window, filing or appeal deadline, value, and unresolved blocker.

  • Unpaid claims
  • Accounts receivable
  • Claim follow-up

Published

Insights for Practice Owners

Which Billing Tasks Should a Practice Owner Keep?

A practice owner can delegate routine billing execution, but should retain visibility into performance, authority over consequential decisions, and accountability for unresolved exceptions. Every handoff needs a named owner, response time, and clear completion standard.

  • Practice ownership
  • Billing oversight
  • Medical billing services

Published

Billing Operations

What Does a Physical Therapy Billing Company Do?

A physical therapy billing company should turn completed visits into resolved balances. That includes claim preparation, rejection and denial work, payment posting, unpaid-claim follow-up, patient billing support, reporting, and clear escalation when the practice must act.

  • Physical therapy billing
  • Medical billing services
  • Denial management

Published

Billing Operations

What billing work remains after a clean claim?

A therapy EMR can prepare and submit a clean claim, but it does not finish the revenue cycle. A billing owner still needs to resolve payer responses, underpayments, secondary claims, patient balances, and recurring workflow failures.

  • Therapy EMR
  • Physical therapy billing
  • Revenue cycle

Published

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