Timed units and the 8-minute rule
Timed treatment codes convert to billable units based on documented minutes. Miscounting units is the most common and most repeated error in therapy billing — in both directions.
Specialties › Physical Therapy
Physical Therapy Billing Services
Physical therapy is a high-volume, low-dollar-per-visit specialty, which makes it unforgiving. A small systematic error — units miscounted, a certification that lapsed, a modifier missed — repeats across hundreds of visits a month before anyone notices. ERG bills outpatient PT, OT and rehab clinics with a focus on unit accuracy and keeping plans of care current.
What makes it hard
Physical Therapy billing challenges we solve
These are the issues that repeat every month in physical therapy practices — and the ones we fix at the source rather than reworking claim by claim.
Plan of care certification
Therapy requires a certified plan of care, recertified at intervals. When certification lapses, otherwise clean visits deny and often age past appeal.
Modifier 59 and edit pairs
Several therapy services are bundled by default when performed together. Correct use of distinct-service modifiers separates legitimately separate services without inviting audit risk.
Therapy thresholds and medical necessity
Extended courses of care require documentation attesting to continued medical necessity, or claims stop paying mid-episode.
Visit-volume A/R
A PT clinic generates far more claims than a surgical practice at a fraction of the value each. Small denial rates become large dollars, so systematic follow-up matters more than one-off appeals.
Coding depth
Common code families we work with
- 97161 / 97162 / 97163 — PT evaluation, low / moderate / high complexity
- 97110 — therapeutic exercise
- 97112 — neuromuscular re-education
- 97116 — gait training
- 97140 — manual therapy techniques
- 97530 — therapeutic activities
- 97010 / 97014 — modalities (payer coverage varies)
Listed for context only — this is not billing advice, and payer policy varies. Our certified coders work to AAPC and AHIMA standards.
Denial prevention
Top denial drivers in physical therapy
- Units billed not supported by documented treatment minutes
- Expired or missing plan of care certification
- Bundled service billed without an appropriate distinct-service modifier
- Continued care without documented medical necessity
- Maximum daily units exceeded for the payer
We root-cause denials by payer and procedure, then fix the upstream workflow so the same denial stops recurring.
Why ERG
What you get with ERG
Specialty-trained billers
Your account is worked by people who bill physical therapy every day — not a general pool learning your rules on your claims.
95%+ net collection rate
Relentless follow-up on every claim, with aged A/R worked rather than written off.
No long-term contract
Performance-based pricing — a percentage of what we collect. Stay because the results are good, not because you are locked in.
5–10 day onboarding
We run parallel with your current process until the transition is verifiably clean.
Human-led, AI-supported
Our certified coders work every claim; AI tools help them catch more before submission.
HIPAA-compliant throughout
Strict PHI controls, access limits and staff training across the whole workflow.
FAQ
Physical Therapy billing — common questions
Do you handle the 8-minute rule and unit calculation?
Yes. Timed-unit accuracy is the core of PT billing. We reconcile documented treatment minutes to billed units before claims go out, which prevents both denials and the under-billing that quietly costs clinics revenue.
Can you track plan of care certifications?
Yes. We monitor certification and recertification dates so claims are not submitted against a lapsed plan of care — one of the most preventable denial causes in therapy.
Do you bill for occupational and speech therapy too?
Yes. We bill outpatient PT, OT and speech therapy, including multidisciplinary clinics billing several therapy disciplines under one practice.
We are a small clinic — is outsourcing worth it?
High claim volume with low value per claim is exactly where systematic follow-up pays. We price as a percentage of collections, so the cost scales with what we actually recover for you.
Client results
What practices say about working with us
★★★★★Clean claims out the door faster means cash in the door faster. Our cash flow finally smoothed out.
— Michelle T., Owner
★★★★★Our A/R days dropped from 58 to 31 in one quarter. First time in years I actually trust my numbers.
— Sarah M., Practice Manager
Next step
See what your physical therapy practice is leaving uncollected
A no-obligation A/R analysis. We review your aging, denial patterns and coding mix, then show you exactly where the recoverable revenue is.
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