FAQ

Please use either the Appointments Page or this link to access the Secure Client Portal. This is where you are able to fill out electronic intake forms, request scheduling, and communicate with us. We have all clients fill out our registration packet before scheduling so that we are able to get more done during the initial session with less time spent on 'office forms'. We also have a clearer picture of what is going on with each person since we have had a chance to review your information. You'll get more our of your initial appointment and have more direct contact time with us! Due to the varied needs of our clients we will work with you to make a tailored treatment plan. We do not do 'cattle farm' rehabilitation and aim to really work on what each individual needs within their abilities. It is advised that 3-4 follow ups are booked after the initial appointment, because it can sometimes be challenging to find available appointments if we wait until the week ahead. Follow-up packages with discounts are available. Initial appointments are not discounted due to the time we spend formulating a treatment or training plan as well as report writing if a rehabilitation case.

We are considered an ‘out of network provider’ for all commercial insurances. We do provide Superbills and all medical documentation needed. Additionally, Pondera Rehabilitation & Fitness PC provides a service for our patients called Reimbursify so you do not have to deal with submitting claims, forms or faxing your insurance company. Please see our FAQs for more information. Amy is a registered (traditional) Medicare Provider for InHome (Part B/outpatient) visits only. Sliding Fee Scale cases: at this time I am not accepting these cases but I do once a year and will update on social media when I am accepting applications for those slots.

Pondera Rehabilitation & Fitness provides a service called “Reimbursify;” they will do the necessary work for any additional forms & submissions to your insurance company so that you may receive reimbursement according to your plan’s benefits. There are two main ways to access Reimbursify, either through their free downloadable app, or through this web-based link below called File Fast. Download Reimbursify App

Please use this worksheet when contacting your insurance: Insurance Reimbursement Worksheet

In the state of California, occupational therapists (OTs) do not need a referral to treat patients. Physical therapists (PTs) are able to see patients without a referral for 45 days or up to 10 visits with no referral under ‘Direct Access’ laws. To find out about your own insurance’s plan-specific financial coverage for out of network reimbursement, you would need to follow the insurance worksheet: Insurance Reimbursement Worksheet You do not need a referral if we are not treating a specific diagnosis or condition. For example, if you are being seen with a focus on staying healthy, improving your physical fitness, movement assessment &/or injury prevention (cross-training, running, cycling, overall health & wellness goals).

In general, yes. However, there are places they will need to not be running around due to other clients/patients or for safety. We do have a front waiting area with a sofa, but there is also a front door so they can wait there alone as long as they are old enough to do so. Or, they can accompany you in your private treatment room or the gym. We love to get them moving with us when the space, safety and attention allows! Infants are easy to incorporate into our session and we can pause as needed for nursing etc. It’s better that you’re getting some time to address your needs than to not have any time at all.

To assess what the pelvic floor muscles are doing, we can use both digital evaluation as well as real-time ultrasound imaging. Pelvic health PTs and OTs use internal digital muscle testing to assess the quality of the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles as well as their tension at rest and movement based testing for assessing if there are any other types of prolapse or scarring that may be impacting your body’s ability to work in a functional range. I will not do an internal pelvic floor assessment without a medical provider consent either prior to the 6 week post-birth check up or during pregnancy without signed provider consent; and it is not always necessary for all pelvic health issues. With the additional of real time ultrasound to my clinical practice, I have the advantage of being able to greater assess without internal testing when indicated. We are also able to start earlier than the 6 weeks post-birth time if you choose to do so and that tool really helps to have a better assessment of what direction you’re going at that point.

Please arrive to the appointment knowing that you will need to either feed your baby/babies, or use a pump in between applications of therapeutic ultrasound & manual techniques.

This is a great question! I am so thankful to have worked with more and more personal trainers who are receiving continuing education to learn about some of the issues related to pregnancy and how they might impact fitness and health. They are additional members of an interdisciplinary team that I am often grateful to work with. Like many professions, there is highvariability in training program and experience levels so in general terms, trainers focus on exercises with fitness goals. They cannot evaluate or diagnose for conditions such as a rotator cuff tears, ulnar nerve impingement, pelvic floor muscle exam or lumbo-pelvic pain. This is really the primary difference. If the evaluation isn’t well-informed, then the approach to goal attainment is likely going to fail. Knowing what to look & when to refer out are both essential to success. As a general experience level, a trainer would not be able to help with motor coordination retraining to address HOW you are doing exercises. They would not be able to treat you for a medical condition. Also, generally they do not coordinate with other providers who would potentially be helpful for your care, such as pessary needs during load, referrals for various research based types of injections (ie, PRP, steroids, interventional pain medicine) and following post-procedural protocols. If you have someone you already like to work with, it does not have to mean that you don’t do that fitness aspect any more. The main idea is to get you back to whatever it is you WANT to be doing. We can both work to support you with the best challenges for your improving status. It is common that some healthcare clinicians do not have a strong fitness or training background. That is not the case for me. I do truly bridge the gap between fitness and rehabilitation with both formal training, informal training and actual experience level. I have been involved in training, coaching and education for other fitness and healthcare personnel for many years. I am comfortable designing a cross training or weight lifting and conditioning program for a parent who wants to just go to the park & play with their kids without pain, a retiree who wants to travel in their RV smoothly, a fitness fanatic reaching for goals in various workout classes, as well as high level professional teams (firefighters, collegiate cyclists, elite runners, etc).

Our Best reccomendation is to Use Your Phone and access the camera to take pics and load images. Thru the app. FIrst Login: to login you will need to create an account... to do this begin login by clicking dont have an account. Enter the information asked for and submit. You will recieve an email with login credentials. Click on the client portal, enter the information in the email. You now have access to Your Pondera Rehab Client Portal. This basic video shows you how to login, insert credit card info, how to upload a document, as well as how to send messages... You can upload documents on the message page. You can update your info using the buttons in the top right. You can get to your content by clicking on the options on the left vertical bar. Please email amy@ponderarehab.com with any inquiries.

In short, there is not a difference. The code for evaluations for submission to your insurance for reimbursement is different for each license, but all of the other possible 10+ treatment codes are the same between the two licenses. In terms of what goals are being addressed or what treatment approaches, the diagnoses we are addressing and symptoms we are treating...this is all the same in this arena. In some other areas of rehabilitation, there are more significant differences between OT & PT for goals and what they are within their scope to address. But in pelvic health, that is not generally the case. Differences between providers most often has much more to do with training background, varied experiences and exposure to a range of conditions, populations and treatment tools/approaches. Amy has over 15 years of working in the realm of pelvic health; and 3 years prior to that in both adult & pediatrics, including trauma, burns, orthopedics & neurological diagnoses. For Medicare patients, the initial threshold amounts are separate between OT & PT so you have “extra” basically if you see OT for one thing

In short, the answer is “NO” you do not need to wait. There are so many things we can do to get you moving towards meeting your goals post-partum, or to address issues that might have arisen during birth, or in the early weeks after delivery. Since we are trained on imaging ultrasound, we are able to use that to help you see what you are doing from a motor control standpoint; that is all done externally. Also, many areas that we are working on in the early phase have to do with helping you to regulate relative intra-abdominal pressure, the abdominal wall and early exercise progressions. We will not do any internal examination until you have been cleared by your birth provider but we often do not need that initially anyway.

In general, our rate is $150/hour. There are no additional costs associated for use of imaging ultrasound, documentation or Superbills. There is a price reduction for follow up appointment packages for rehabilitation or performance fitness. There are some concussion baseline testing appointments that are shorter duration, hence the rate is lower. Musculo-skeletal & neurological issues are able to be seen within a hour-long evaluation or follow-up treatment sessions. If you are seeing Amy for any type of InHome/mobile visits (pelvic health, musculo-skeletal, neurological), there is a travel fee of $15/each way within the established radius. Follow up Packages purchased for 60 minute sessions of either 1:1 fitness or 1:1 rehabilitation are found below. There is no pressure to buy a follow-up package, you can always book 1 by 1 visits at the usual $150/hour rate. 6 sessions $750 ($125/session) 5 sessions $650 ($130/session) 4 sessions $540 ($135/session) 3 sessions $420 ($140/session) 2 sessions $290 ($145/session)

In general most visits are 55' directly with your therapist. They will make every effort reasonable possible to stay on time. This will allow for a 5' period between individuals so that we are able to complete our required notes or documentation, to clean up and to be on time for others that we are seeing that day. If you are running late to your appointment, please call or text. Otherwise, communication is best through our secure portal. (Pelvic Health initial evaluations are longer; usually 110')