Private Health Insurance participation is growing due to the long waiting times for treatment and the perceived improvement of service you would receive under the private sector. This is looking under threat now and needs to be addressed before things deteriorate further.
Over the last 3 years we have seen one private health insurance company reduce their fees payable to private physiotherapists twice. In total the amounts payable now stand at £30 per visit which has to be invoiced to the insurance company and would probably be received 30 days later.
Most policy holders seem to have an excess attached to their policy which usually means when the invoice arrives its value reflects this. We then need to chase the patient for the excess payment who has long since completed their treatment and is sometimes reluctant to pay.
The introduction of Physiotherapy Referral Agencies into the private Health Insurance arena has further squeezed the margins for private physiotherapists. These agencies secure contracts with the health insurance companies and act as a go between. Obviously they take a percentage and thus negotiate the fees payable to the physiotherapist down in order to make more profit.
If you want the work you have to accept the reduced fees and some of these agencies will favour the lowest fees for their referrals.
Another aspect that is of concern is that the physiotherapy agencies will apply an NHS mentality to the treatment protocols. By this I refer to the concept of home management and exercise prescription as the treatment plan. Mostly the client is offered 4-6 treatment sessions of physiotherapy treatments and if more sessions are required there seems a reluctance to be able to get authorisation.
The majority of these agencies now require Initial assessment reports, update treatment reports and discharge reports filling in online which is time consuming and unless this is carried out during the appointment is more cost to the practitioner.
If practitioners have to do this during the treatment session then the patient receives very little hands on treatment.
The whole patient experience seems to be overlooked once again and by adopting this NHS style of cost cutting approach the patient’s treatment appears secondary to the business aspect. Hitting targets and making things cost effective are the focus and instructions are highlighted about delivering reports on time otherwise you will lose the work.
Having fully understood the NHS system of physiotherapy, it appears not good for patients. Targets focus on waiting times and not patient satisfaction and effective treatment. One would think that once the patient decides this NHS system is non effective and results in long waiting times and they opt to pay a premium for a private health insurance scheme that things would improve.
The only thing that seems to be improved is the waiting times. The physiotherapy treatment’s seems to be being controlled in an NHS style of management now and thus it will be forced to deliver the same service.
It’s ironic that by going private, because you are dissatisfied with the physiotherapy service you receive on the NHS, you expect something better! In fact you are likely getting little better in the private sector.
The best way to get value is to find an insurance company who does not use a “go between” or request that you pay for the treatments yourself and claim the money back from them. Although this is not satisfactory, at least you get to decide who treats you and if you are paying the physiotherapist yourself you can evaluate if you feel the treatment meets your expectations.
The concern is the way this section of healthcare is heading because the tendency is to try and reduce physiotherapy fees to practitioners, not only fees are reduced but also allocated treatment sessions in order to save money. This means your practitioner receives less money for their time and has less time to try and help you with your particular problem. The result being you are receiving a second rate service while paying for private health insurance.
If all the physiotherapy practitioners insisted upon their full treatment fees and asked the patients to pay the balance between the full fee and the reduced fees available from the insurance companies, it would highlight to the patients that their insurance company are not offering sufficient cover for their needs. This hopefully would result in many patients cancelling their policies and transferring them to other more reputable companies who offer to pay the physiotherapists a proper rate for the job.
It would not take long for the insurance company to revise this strategy of reducing physiotherapy fees. Unfortunately as physiotherapists are flooding into the private sector after graduating because of the lack of opportunities for work in the NHS, their will always be someone willing to accept work at reduced fees.
This means that this system is unlikely to change and will get more and more cut throat resulting in practitioners either turning away work, working for reduced fees and giving patients less time or treating patient in a multi bed situation ( patients treated with others in separate cubicles by one physiotherapist)
The advice is to think carefully before you choose your Private Health Insurance provider. Check out points I have highlighted and see if you have restrictions on physiotherapy fees. Ask for how much they allow for treatment fees and then compare this to the fees charged by the physiotherapist you wish to use.
At Atlas Pain Relief Centre we are totally patient focussed and want to help you. www.solihullphysiotherapist.co.uk
Restrictions imposed upon the physiotherapists make this very difficult and in private clinics may result in a 2 tier treatment protocol.
This could result in better treatment for private self funding patients and a lesser option for Private Health Insurance patients which has been introduced because of the cost cutting activity of the Private Health Insurance Industry.
