Alaska Massage Therapy Billing: Requirements & Client Communication

Question
Is it true in the state of alaska a massage therapist can not be paid for services rendered with out a doctor in the same building,this is what I was told today, I am all set up for billing and have billed out already,Now what do I tell my clients? And the person I hired to do the billing?Am I just ou all this money? I have been a massage therapist 25 years,help and thanks

Answer
Greetings, Levitta. I am unsure of the laws regarding massage in Alaska. You can look them up at the American Massage Therapy Association (I think that it is at www.amta.com, but I am not sure.) They occasionally list the laws for the states. In many cases, it is the rules of the insurance company that deictate what hoops you have to jump through to get paid. Some do require at least a doctor's referral, and quite a few do require that a dr be present (or at least in the same office) for the insurance company to pay for it. They just want to make sure that the treatment is needed, and a dr's referal shows that.

This is the down side to having insurance companies cover massage: they begin to put all sort of regulations on the treatment, including dr's referrals or their presence, length of treatment and the price of it. I would contact the insurance companies and see what their regulqations are. In the future, you will know what they need or you can call the prospective client's insurance company to get all the details. If you do need a referral and don't have one, then you might need to look to your clients to cover your charges, or you'll be out the money. One thing that you can do is place a note on your front desk or your intake form, explaining that if thir insurance company does not cover the cost of the treatment, then they might have to cover it themselves.

I hope this was of some help, Levitta, and I appologize for the time it took to reply (we have lost our computer to the vagueries of modern electronics.) Please write back if you have any other questions, and also feel free to rate me on AllExperts.

Sincerely,
Christopher Hall