Physical therapy (PT) is a structured medical intervention designed to restore movement and function after injury, illness, or surgery. Achieving measurable progress relies heavily on consistency and a prescribed treatment frequency. While consistency is important for your recovery, life events and changing circumstances often necessitate making adjustments to your schedule or even stopping treatment entirely. It is possible to cancel individual sessions or discontinue your treatment plan, but this involves specific administrative and financial steps you should understand beforehand.
Canceling Individual Sessions: Understanding No-Show Policies and Fees
Scheduling for physical therapy involves reserving a dedicated time slot with a licensed clinician, leading clinics to implement strict attendance policies. Most physical therapy practices require a minimum of 24 hours’ notice to cancel or reschedule a session without penalty. This allows the clinic to offer that valuable time slot to another patient who may be waiting for care, optimizing the clinic’s schedule.
A “late cancellation” occurs when you notify the clinic outside of this required window, and a “no-show” is when you simply do not attend the appointment. Clinics commonly impose a fee for both late cancellations and no-shows, with charges typically ranging from $50 to $75 per missed visit, though some may be higher. These fees cover the operational costs associated with the reserved time and encourage patient commitment to the recovery plan.
No-show and late cancellation fees are billed directly to you. They are administrative charges and are rarely covered by medical insurance because no medical service was rendered during the appointment time. Payment for these fees is often required before you can attend your next scheduled session, and repeated instances of missed appointments may result in the clinic discharging you from their care entirely.
Discontinuing a Treatment Plan: Administrative and Coverage Implications
Stopping physical therapy before completing the prescribed plan of care triggers administrative and financial considerations different from missing a single appointment. The largest implication involves your insurance coverage, which is often managed through a process called prior authorization. Many insurance plans require a physical therapist to submit documentation to justify the medical necessity of a specific number of visits, such as 12 sessions.
If you stop attending after only five of those authorized sessions, the insurance authorization may be officially closed by the provider. This means that if you later decide to resume therapy for the same condition, the existing authorization is no longer valid. You will likely need a new referral from your physician and a new prior authorization request submitted to your insurance company. Restarting the process can lead to delays in care, as obtaining a new authorization can take days or even weeks.
Early termination can also affect your financial responsibility, particularly concerning your deductible or co-pay structure. If your provider bills sessions in batches or if your co-pay obligations were structured around the full course of treatment, stopping early may still leave you responsible for certain outstanding charges.
Some insurance plans also have annual visit limits. Stopping early means you have still used a portion of those limited visits, potentially impacting your ability to receive therapy for a different condition later in the year.
Documentation and Future Care: Ensuring a Clean Exit
If you terminate your physical therapy course prematurely, communication with your physical therapist is necessary to protect your medical record and future eligibility for care. Simply discontinuing attendance, which is sometimes referred to as “ghosting” the last appointment, can complicate your patient file. You must notify the clinic of your decision to end treatment.
Upon termination of care, the physical therapist must create a formal “discharge summary.” This document summarizes your progress toward your treatment goals, notes your current functional status, and officially records the reason for discontinuation. If you stop against the therapist’s recommendation, the discharge summary will specifically document that fact.
Insurance payers, especially Medicare, require this formal documentation to justify the medical necessity of all treatments already provided. If you ever need to restart physical therapy for the same issue, having a complete discharge summary helps ensure that a new referral and authorization can be processed smoothly. This record provides necessary clinical context regarding why the previous treatment ended and what was accomplished.