There are pros, cons, savings, and costs—not all of them economic.

To say that opinions vary on the prudence and wisdom of physical therapists (PTs) handling billing and collection themselves or outsourcing those functions puts it mildly.

Barry Inglett, PT, co-owner of Wayne Physical Therapy & Spine Center in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, warns that ceding control of such oversight to outsiders "can become a nightmare." He witnessed many such cases, he says, when he was a member of his state's Board of Physical Therapy Examiners. "Therapists were being penalized for billing errors while the outsourcing business got off scot-free," he says.