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For Patients
Appointments & Forms
Our Gait Center location serves the entire Richmond metropolitan area, the state of Virginia and beyond. Patients are seen by appointment only. Please call 804-523-2653 to schedule. Our office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Appointment cancellations must be received at least 24 hours in advance, to ensure a charge will not be applied to the patient account. (Please click on the registration link to read further details of our Attendance Agreement.)
If you are a new patient and would like to complete your registration/medical history form and/or medication list prior to your appointment, please click on the links below to print forms.
wHAT TO BRING TO YOU INITIAL VISIT:
- Doctor's Prescription for physical therapy
- Primary Insurance Card
- Secondary Insurance Card (if applicable)
- List of medications with dosage & frequency
- Optional - Patient Registration, Medical History, Privacy forms...only if completed in advance.
Insurance & Payment options
At The Gait Center we participate with most major health insurance plans, listed below. Prior to your first appointment, our staff will assist in verifying your individual coverage. As a courtesy to our patients, we will file all primary and secondary insurance claims. We can also set up self-payment plans for cases where these payment sources are not available.
- AARP Medicare Complete
- Aetna
- Aetna Better Health of Virginia
- Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Anthem Healthkeepers
- Cigna
- Coventry Health Plans
- Medicare
- Medicaid secondary coverage
- Optima Health
- Optum
- Tricare (Health Net) Veterans Administration
- United Healthcare
- United Healthcare Medicare
There are instances when we are able to obtain authorization for services even though we are out-of-network with a provider. So, if you do not see your insurance company listed, please feel free to contact us and have us verify insurance benefits.
HIPAA Privacy Policy
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES:
This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information.
Direct access
While we always prefer to have a script from a physician on file, the state of Virginia does allow patients to be seen by their physical therapist without one. Here at The Gait Center, we do REQUIRE that if a script is not provided, the patient MUST identify a licensed doctor of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, podiatry, or dental surgery, a licensed nurse practitioner, or a licensed physician assistant. Patients cannot be treated until this information is provided.
So what exactly is Direct Access? In 2001 the Virginia General Assembly passed a law to allow physical therapists to legally see a patient without an order/script from a physician. There have been revisions to the law in 2007 and 2015, expanding access to give patients more freedom to seek medical care where they so choose. There are important guidelines to keep in mind, such as time and visit limits.
1. Direct Access is only allowed for 30 days: The initial evaluation must be sent to the practitioner identified by the patient within 14 days of the initial evaluation. This must be reviewed, signed, and faxed back to our office – approving continuation of treatment. The initial evaluation will be faxed after the first visit, per our standard procedures.
2. A physical therapist shall not perform a “direct access initial evaluation” of a patient if the physical therapist has previously performed an initial evaluation of the patient for the same condition within the immediately preceding 60 days.
3. A physical therapist who has not completed a doctor of physical therapy program or who has not obtained a certificate of authorization pursuant to Section 54.1- 3482.1 may conduct a one-time evaluation of a patient, but provide no further treatment, without a referral. The initial evaluation will be faxed after the first visit, per our standard procedures.
Physical therapists complete extensive education and specific training in a doctoral program, or through required advanced training, to be able to determine whether or not your problem is truly due to a musculoskeletal condition. If the therapist determines that your condition is beyond the scope of physical therapy care, they will refer you to the appropriate medical professional.
