What NOT to say if you are an out of network OT Clinic
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[00:00:00] When I started my clinic over 10 years ago, I didn't know what to tell people when I told them I was out of network as an occupational therapy clinic. My name is Hoang. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist. I want to share with you a couple of things not to say if you're out of network.
[00:00:20] As an occupational therapy clinic. So I had no guidance on this when I first started. Cause everyone told me just get in network, but it wasn't that easy. It was more challenging to get into network. Most network places were closed. Some of them were just. Like crappy reimbursement situations that you would just lose money if that's all you did.
[00:00:46] Here were a couple of things that I said a lot of the time. So I just, I think about these conversations and I cringe over, what I said. So here [00:01:00] are a few things not to say if you're out of network. Don't say unfortunately, right? Don't say the word unfortunately. I'm going to explain to you why afterwards, don't say sorry, but right, don't say sorry, but, and then the other thing isn't a word, it's it's when you go into full on explanations of why you're not in network.
[00:01:24] All right, so I'm going to share with you some stories when people would come in, people would come in and they like. Their hands were cut up because I, the way I marketed myself at the beginning with my clinic was just a lot of post surgical cases. So if you're an occupational therapist, just imagine what are what are you really good at and what are you marketing?
[00:01:44] What are you putting out that you do really well? So I. I work with, a hand surgical cases really well. Like I get great results and all that good stuff. Go Huang, I'm a certified hit therapist. And so I was putting a lot of that [00:02:00] energy out, but I didn't know how to receive the energy of, but do you take my insurance?
[00:02:07] So they would come in, they were caught. And they were, the first question would be like, do you take my insurance? And I would be like unfortunately I don't take your insurance and then I would go on and, try to explain to them, why they should work with me . So I would encourage you not to do those things and I'm gonna share with you what you could say instead.
[00:02:30] The other thing I would go on and on about was I would just apologize. I'm sorry, I really. I really know how to help you. If you give me a chance like your hand surgeon sending you here because I'm the best, and my price is reasonable, so those were some of the things I said, and then the other thing was just go into explaining why and here's the reason why I'm saying don't say those things if you're out of network [00:03:00] and what I want to bring you back to is, patients are, your potential people are calling you because they Have a particular problem that you can solve if your website.
[00:03:14] So my website was like, I work with hand cases. I, if you have surgery, I can help you. So someone's calling and they're like, I have hand surgery. I had a hand surgery. I cut myself. And I just remember this one guy. I have hand surgery. I cut like several tendons. I cut a nerve. Like I really need to get in and I'm all sitting there Oh my God, I'll take his insurance.
[00:03:38] What if he says no to me? And I really want to help him, all that stuff. So already you're putting yourself in this mindset that there. That they're just going to say no just because of insurance and truth be told patients want a solution to their problem they have a particular problem, and they're calling you because [00:04:00] you might be able to help them and That's a match like if they have a problem And you actually know how to help them then you meet them with a hey act I can't help you.
[00:04:09] Let's discuss, what are you looking for? What's most important to you? And then you can say fortunately I don't, I use instead of using, unfortunately, I use the word fortunately, I don't take your, fortunately, I don't, I'm an out of network provider.
[00:04:23] Don't take insurance, but here is how I can help you. Here's how I can help you. And then you basically speak to them in a way that talks to them about what they need and about your services, right? So that's really the biggest thing saying, are we a match? If you think about any relationship you're not trying to convince people to be with you and you're not trying to convince people.
[00:04:49] That you're the best person out there, you're saying, okay, what is your need? And do I have what you have to, what you do? I have to offer what you're looking for. And if the answer is [00:05:00] yes, then you can have a really great conversation with how you can help them. If you start off with, unfortunately, I don't take your insurance sorry, but We don't work with your insurance say, yeah we're an out of network provider Am I okay to explain to you what that looks like or how we work right?
[00:05:23] Those are some questions that you could start off with And this is a very easy way to rule in and rule out who actually wants your services and who doesn't. And I had a really hard time with that at the beginning. One of my, clients that came in at the very beginning was probably one of my first cash paying patients.
[00:05:44] He didn't even care about insurance. But I was already so defensive about the fact that I was an out of network provider. I was amazing. He even said, yeah, I want to work with this person. She's, even though she's, she sounds like [00:06:00] she's desperate, he didn't have insurance. He didn't have insurance.
[00:06:04] And he was just like, listen, I cut my hand and I was told you are the best person to help me. Yes, I am. Tell me more about what's going on with your hand. Where are you at right now? And then I shared my expertise and I was like, yeah, I've seen hand cases like this all the time. I'd love to get you started right away.
[00:06:24] These are time sensitive. And so I'm going to make room in my schedule. Can you get here in the morning or can you get here in the afternoon? That's going directly for the, hey, I can help you. And here's how I can help you. And then I explained a little bit about why it's so important to get in really fast.
[00:06:40] Because, attending cases can be really complex. And I don't want anything, I don't want him to have to wait and have it get bad, but I didn't say all those things when I first when I was first on the phone with him, he, they do was just like I'm ready to come in and it was me because of my own [00:07:00] mental blocks around insurance that kept it.
[00:07:04] kept the conversation harder than it needs to be. And I want to ask you as an occupational therapist, where are you finding yourself on phone calls, training staff that they say those words unfortunately, Or sorry, but, or go into long explanations of why you don't take insurance, right?
[00:07:26] And not giving yourself the benefit of the doubt that you can help this person, right? Where in your business is that happening? Because I can tell you right now, like when I look back, I lost business because I was unprepared to know what to say. When explaining that I'm out of network, right? Or how out of network works.
[00:07:53] So I would encourage you, to think and look at that because it was something that I never looked [00:08:00] at, that I never realized that I was doing. I was, I was pushing people away and they were trying to come in through the door, so I want to encourage you to think about where you might be pushing people away by just saying words like that.
[00:08:16] Unfortunately, I can't help you with your insurance. No, fortunately, I can help you with your X, Y, Z problem. Would you like me to explain how out of network how we work with out of, how we work as an out of network provider? And there's going to be a handful of people who say, yeah, I only want to come to therapy if you're in network.
[00:08:42] Great. I'm so glad that I was able to help you clarify that if that's all that, your need, then I'm not the best person to help you. Let me refer you to your in network providers, but here's how I can help you. So we have a [00:09:00] script in my office. If they only want to be in network, we just ask permission.
[00:09:05] Hey, can we follow back with you to see if you've got the help you need? Cause sometimes in network facilities are so limited for what that person might be looking for. And that's all they know to look for. So we just ask permission to follow up a handful of people say, yes, a handful of people say no.
[00:09:25] Great. Now my, now I can focus my time and attention on the person that says, yes, I can follow up with them. But you're not even giving yourself a chance to work with people. If you say words like, unfortunately, I don't take your insurance. You can say, you can turn it around and say, fortunately, I don't take your insurance, but here's how we can help.
[00:09:49] Instead of saying, sorry, but you can say Based on everything you're telling me about your X, Y, Z problem, I can help. Here's [00:10:00] how we can help. Would you like to hear more about how we can help you or how we work? Those are some words that you can say instead of saying that.
[00:10:09] And then don't go into explaining why. Oh my God, that was probably some of the worst things that I did when I first started. I would explain to people why I'm not in network. And I would come off the bat like so defensive saying, Oh I'm not in network because this and that and the other people don't care, truth be told, they don't care.
[00:10:30] They want you to solve their problem. If they're coming in pain. They don't care that you don't take their insurance. They're just like, can you solve me with my pain problem? Can you help me with, I had a laceration, I had surgery. Can you help me? Absolutely. Now there are cases when some people do ask why You don't take insurance, right?
[00:10:55] And you should have a reason, you should have a very short [00:11:00] answer, and then get back into how you can help them. At first I think I used to use they, insurance companies don't want to work with with all providers because they don't always want to pay for your therapy services.
[00:11:16] That's the truth. Another thing you could say of explaining why it's when we as an out of network provider, we can provide top level quality therapy services that as an in network provider, we cannot. That's why we choose. Not to be in network. So we can provide you with the quality that you're looking for.
[00:11:42] You said you have this XYZ problem. I know how to help you with that. And, if you and the other thing is in my clinic, we offer what we call free consultations, essentially an opportunity for them to come in and speak to us and make sure that therapy is[00:12:00] for them.
[00:12:01] Some people have never had therapy before it allows us to provide this free service for you. Couldn't do this free service. If I was a network, so I think that as an, if you're going to be an out of network provider, occupational therapy services, there's a couple of things not to say that you should jot down.
[00:12:21] Those were my top three that I. Started to notice that I was saying a lot that wasn't helping people feel confident about booking their sessions with me. And those are the three things that I drill into my team. Like I have a I drill into my team. I drill into my therapist. These are things that you don't want to say, because it's honestly, it's a turnoff because it makes you sound like not confident about your services.
[00:12:56] And people want to work with people who are confident that they can help. [00:13:00] So you want to watch your language. And make a list of what not to say, and that's essentially what I've done. And then when you make the list of what not to say, then you can make a list of what to say instead.
[00:13:14] And that can help you when you're getting on the phone and you're talking to people about your services and you're talking to people about how you can help them. So I hope this video helps you from my pain. Hopefully it lessens yours. If you like videos like this, hit subscribe and and if you have any follow up questions, by all means, feel free to leave them below, leave them as a comment.
[00:13:43] And that's how it's going to let me know what kind of videos and what kind of topics you'd like to hear from me next. All right. Thanks for tuning in. I'll talk to you later. Peace.
