Why Physical Therapists Shouldn’t Worry About PQRS

Does PQRS seem like a major headache to you? Just more paperwork without any bump? Let’s look at it a different way. Here I Go With Another Sales Funnel Example Anytime that we are using direct-response marketing or content marketing and we are attracting people in… there is basically a 6 step process that we want to be thinking about our businesses. Step #1 is Lead Magnet. So this is…you have seen me do this where I’m offering a free video or a book or a free report something like that. Very low value, low time commitment, low ask and they get it for free. That just allows us to have an ongoing conversation with that person. Step #2 is Trip Wire. That is something with a little more commitment. Still something that is low-barrier and inexpensive…like a consultation or whatever. It kind of ramps them up…it gives that person a soft landing into our Core Service, it changes our relationship with time from prospect into buyer. Then #3 is Core Service. That is the 97001, 110, 140 if we are billing insurance. Or if we are playing the “cash pay only” deal, then it is whatever we charge per visit. Then Step #4 is Cash Pay, which is back-end services that we have. Step #5 is Return Path and Step #6 is Referrals PQRS Magic: Turning a Pain Into an Opportunity. Something magical happens now with PQRS and new Medicare regulations where we have to go through and track 9 different things. What we have to do on that first Medicare visit is ask the patient to step on the scale. We have the height chart and we look it up and 75% of the time we are saying, “Hey, your BMI is over 30. You need to handle this.” At least for us in the beginning, we were thinking “Wow, this is a really awkward situation. We are Physical Therapists. We are not nutritionists. We don’t have in-house…our 8,000 square feet is packed with PT. We don’t have anybody else in-house, so we need to refer out. This is a real pain in the neck.”