This PT Office Leveraged Spruce and Virtual Assistance

Summary

When Impact Physical Therapy combined the HIPAA-compliant Spruce communication platform with BBC Global’s virtual assistance, they were able to quickly address their front-end and back-end administrative operations. Instead of having physical therapists disrupt treatment to answer calls or respond to text messages, the combined solution removed administrative tasks from their plate so that they could dedicate all of their time to patients.

Introduction

When Impact Physical Therapy opened its doors in East Windsor in June of 2021, owners and therapists Chris Lang PT, Certified MDT, DPT, SCS and Marc Plawner PT, Certified MDT prioritized high-quality, one-on-one treatment for every patient as a competitive differentiator.

One of the primary challenges they needed to overcome during the early days of the practice was the lack of front-end and back-end administration. Hiring a full-time employee was not financially feasible given the amount of potential downtime as the practice ramped up. However, if the physical therapists took a DIY approach, tasks such as fielding calls, contacting insurance companies, and setting up clients in the EMR system would take them away from patients for hours every week.

Chris and Marc decided to use the HIPAA-compliant Spruce healthcare communication platform. Spruce enables doctors and patients to interact securely and privately across popular communication channels, including business phone, fax, texting, app-based secure messaging, and video telemedicine, all through one unified, cloud-based solution.

Spruce made certain processes far more efficient, but the physical therapists were still handling all administrative tasks in addition to treating patients.

The BBC Global Healthcare Virtual Services Solution

BBC Global’s virtual services provided the dedicated human element that was missing from Impact Physical Therapy’s front-end and back-end administrative operations. Instead of having physical therapists disrupting treatment or catching up at the end of the day, BBC Global’s virtual assistant removed administrative tasks from their plate while working remotely.

BBC Global spent several weeks collaborating with the practice to create and document protocols so Welmerly, their new virtual assistant, would know what to do in every scenario. For example, the process for verifying benefits can be completely different when dealing with workman’s compensation, commercial insurance, and Medicare. In addition to making processes more efficient and improving the patient experience, these protocols would enable a new virtual assistant to pick up the ball without missing a beat should Welmerly need time off.

Within a month, Welmerly was remotely answering phones, scheduling and confirming appointments, verifying insurance, following up with patients to discuss out-of-pocket costs, and fielding billing questions. Because BBC Global’s virtual services are integrated with Spruce, the practice’s secure messaging platform, Chris and Marc have the ability to review updated EMR data and phone and text threads each day.

Results: Greater Efficiency, Better Patient Experience, Sustainable Growth

“Before we partnered with BBC, we had Spruce, but we were constantly interrupting treatment to answer phones,” Chris shared. “Having Welmerly work remotely as if she were a member of our in-house team has allowed us to remove ourselves from the front-end and back-end processes that take up so much time. We’re able to maximize our time with patients and give them the care and attention they deserve.”

Impact Physical Therapy had set a goal of adding three to four patients per week. In early January of 2022, despite the Covid surge and cold weather, they welcomed 10 new patients in one week.

“We would not be able to handle that kind of volume without BBC Global’s virtual services,” Chris admonished. “Welmerly is able to work independently and rarely has to contact us with questions. This has helped us achieve our vision for providing high-quality, unrushed care while growing our practice.”

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