The Importance of Therapy During The Holidays
We are in the season of holidays and celebrations, and this blog topic was requested by your clinicians. They wanted me to remind you that it’s important that your kiddos continue their therapy sessions during the holiday time.
Season of Transition
This is primarily important because your kids are going to be in transition. There are many schedule changes at this time of year. School is out. It’s more of an unpredictable time and we have noticed more anxiety and tension in your kiddos during these times.
Structure
I know we get into the mindset of having a break during holiday time. Two weeks off may be a great vacation for you and for some of your kids, but for many of the kids that come here, it can lead to a nightmare for the family. The security and structure of coming to therapy provide some continuity in their lives.
As a parent, I’ve had to learn this too. We might take a day or two off, but my sons are still attending treatment here because they need that continuity in their lives and I want to make sure I’m providing it.
Insurance
The other thing I wanted to make sure I mention is that many of us are coming to the end of the year, and that means our insurance is starting over again! For those of you who have a January 1 to December 31 plan, which is most of you, remember that you may be staying on the same plan but your benefits might be changing. This is a good time for you to review your plan.
Benefits Checks
We will be doing benefits checks starting in January, after the New Year. Insurance companies will not let us start this process until after the New Year. But once that’s here we’ll be verifying everyone’s benefits. Also remember that when you come in for your first therapy session after the New Year, we will be working off your deductibles again. So be prepared! Make sure you have an up to date credit card on file so that we don’t have to be chasing you down. We know it’s a pain when you come in and didn’t remember to bring in a new card! You can even take a picture of your card and send it to the girls.
We’ll be updating all of our records. It’s just that time of the year!
Unsure About Your Benefits?
If you’re unsure about your benefits please check at the front, but allow us a little bit of time to get the call through because it’s not only us who is verifying benefits but every medical office. The insurance companies get overwhelmed, and we find that we get hung up on, and they don’t answer the phone. It’s not that we aren’t aggressively working on it. We are! It’s just the busiest time of the year for insurance companies. Also, we will find out what we can but ultimately you are the person who needs to know what your benefits are, and you are the person who needs to advocate for those. As far as the insurance company is concerned, you are the customer, and we are only the providers. The insurance companies can answer your questions in a much more timely and efficient manner. You also get your Explanation Of Benefits much faster than we do.
So understand that we’re working through that process, but if you can join in and help out, it makes a great partnership going into the New Year!
I hope these tips have been helpful, and I hope you have a great holiday!