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Occupational Therapy Consulting and Billing Services

An OT practice that bills well has options. One that doesn't has problems. Our management and consulting services keep occupational therapy practices on the right side.

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Successful OT Practices Master Real-Time Documentation

The practices that collect what they earn document during the session, not after hours from memory. They build documentation into clinical workflow so the note happens while details are fresh and defensible. When the claim goes out, it carries the specificity payers require because the therapist captured it in the moment.

Your practice probably isn't there yet. Most aren't. Therapists finish the day with patients seen but notes incomplete. By the time documentation happens, details blur. Claims go out coded from memory, missing the language that justifies medical necessity. Denials come back. The pattern repeats.

We work with OT practices to fix the process, not just the billing. That means identifying where documentation breaks down, what's causing therapists to fall behind, and what changes actually stick. Some practices need operational redesign. Others need their billing function rebuilt. We figure out which and implement accordingly.

Occupational Therapy Reimbursement Starts at the Note

The gap between what you bill and what you collect usually traces back to documentation. Not because your therapists don't know their work. Because nobody taught them to document for reimbursement, only for clinical accuracy. Those aren't the same thing.

Individual denials look random from inside one practice. The patterns emerge when you see enough organizations making the same mistakes. Which documentation gaps trigger which denials. Which payers flag which codes. We bring that pattern recognition to your practice so you're not solving problems blind.

But documentation is only part of it. The consultants you've talked to before may have missed the bigger picture.

Occupational therapy practice billing and management consulting

What Generic Consultants Miss About OT

Timed codes work differently than procedure codes. The 8-minute rule. Mixed remainders. OTA supervision requirements that vary by state. Authorization processes that differ between outpatient, home health, schools, and skilled nursing. A consultant who doesn't know these details gives advice that costs money to implement and doesn't fix the problem.

You've probably already experienced this. Recommendations built for physician practices. Productivity benchmarks based on different economics. Changes that sound reasonable but don't account for how therapy reimbursement actually works.

We work with occupational therapy practices specifically because the business model differs from physician medicine. The documentation burden differs. The payer behavior differs. The margin structure differs. Our recommendations account for those differences because we've implemented them in practices like yours.

That experience across multiple OT organizations is what makes the difference.

An OT Practice Operations Consultant Sees the Difference

The fix that worked for a practice in one region applies to yours when you're dealing with the same payer behavior. We bring perspective from multiple OT organizations facing the same problems. You get approaches tested elsewhere rather than paying for someone's learning curve.

That's value you measure in collected revenue, not just advice you paid for. The question is what specific function needs attention first.

When Your OT Practice Needs Outside Help

Some problems sit on your list for months because nobody has bandwidth or expertise to fix them. Credentialing delays. Billing gaps. Transition questions. You know something isn't working but not what practices that work well do differently.

We take on specific problems with defined scope. Sometimes you need help with one function while running the rest fine. Here's what that looks like.

OT Credentialing When You Add Providers

Adding a therapist means credentialing with every payer you accept. Medicare, commercial plans, Medicaid. Each application takes time you don't have. Each payer has different requirements and timelines that nobody tracks consistently.

A new OT who starts in January but can't bill commercial payers until March represents two months of salary without offsetting revenue. Our credentialing services compress the timeline between hire date and billing date so new providers generate revenue sooner.

Credentialing is operational. Other decisions are strategic.

Occupational Therapy Practice Valuations and Exits

Retirement. Partnership changes. Sale. Merger. Each path requires knowing what your practice is worth.

Occupational therapy practice valuations depend on factors general appraisers miss. Payer mix. Referral relationships. Documentation systems that drive billing accuracy. SMCG handles valuations and transition planning for OT practices preparing to sell, bring in partners, or plan succession.

But most practices reaching out aren't thinking about exits. They're dealing with billing problems eating margin right now.

Occupational Therapy Billing Takes More Hours Than It Should

Late documentation creates late billing. Late billing creates cash flow gaps. When therapists work weekends catching up on notes, you're losing float on revenue that should have been collected weeks earlier.

A claim submitted thirty days after service costs more to collect than one submitted within the week. Payer timely filing limits turn late documentation into write-offs rather than delayed payments.

We take over billing for OT practices that can't afford the leakage. That means claims out faster, denials worked systematically, and collections that match what you actually earned. But billing complexity goes beyond timing.

Payer Rules Change by Setting

Outpatient OT bills differently than home health. School-based services follow different rules than skilled nursing. Multiple settings mean multiple requirements with different documentation standards, authorization processes, and reimbursement rates.

A modifier required in one setting may be wrong in another. Our RCM services help OT practices build billing systems that account for setting-specific requirements instead of treating all therapy billing as interchangeable.

The bigger problem is when your billing operation doesn't have the depth for OT at all.

What Gets Missed When Documentation Runs Behind

A billing operation that handles family medicine may not have depth for OT's specific requirements. The 8-minute rule calculations, modifier combinations, setting distinctions. Miss any consistently and revenue loss compounds month after month.

AOTA reports Medicare payment for OT services has dropped steadily since 2012, with cuts continuing through 2025. Practices that tolerated leakage at higher rates can't afford it now.

We audit OT billing operations to find where the gaps are and either fix them or take over the function entirely. That's usually where the conversation starts.

Occupational Therapy Practice Management on Your Terms

We scope to what's broken. Fix it. Step back or expand based on what comes next. No long discovery phases billing hours without changing anything.

The first conversation tells you whether we can help and what it would cost.

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Tell us where your occupational therapy practice stands and what's getting in the way. Billing problems. Credentialing delays. Transition questions. We'll tell you whether we can help.

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