FAQs
What to expect at your visit, how insurance and billing work, and forms to print before you come in.
Your Visit
What should I bring to my first appointment?
Please bring identification (such as a driver's license or state ID), your insurance card, a list of your current medications with prescribed dosages, and a note of anything we should plan for, such as needing a translator.
How should I dress?
Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing that lets your therapist see and reach the area being treated. For example, wear shorts if we're treating your legs, or a loose shirt if we're treating your shoulder. Wear clothing and footwear suitable for exercise.
How long are sessions, and how many will I need?
Every treatment plan is specific to the patient. Your initial evaluation takes about 60 minutes. Follow-up sessions typically last 60 to 75 minutes.
You also learn symptom management strategies, an activity modification plan, and a home exercise program, so you keep progressing between visits.
Do I need a doctor's referral?
For your health insurance to help pay for physical therapy, you need a doctor's referral before you start. Thanks to Direct Access for Physical Therapy (passed in 2010), you can also pay for physical therapy yourself without a referral. Ask our front office about MVP Rehab's cash payment plans.
What is expected of me as a patient?
Come to physical therapy open-minded and motivated. Physical therapy is a partnership: your therapist brings expertise, and you bring effort, consistency, and honest communication. The more engaged you are in your recovery, the better your potential outcome.
MVP Rehab may refuse service to patients or their companions who are abusive, violent, or threatening toward staff or other patients, who refuse to follow safety protocols, or who behave in a disruptive or unsafe way. Please keep cell phones and other devices from distracting you or other patients during therapy. Licensed support animals are allowed on request.
Insurance & Billing
We submit claims to your insurance company if we participate with your plan. Call us at (808) 456-5888 to check your coverage.
How much will my treatment cost?
The cost of your treatment depends on your insurance plan. Call us at (808) 456-5888 to check whether we work with your plan. An estimate of your out-of-pocket cost is available on request, including any deductibles, coinsurance, or copays.
Why do I have a bill when I paid at my visit?
If your insurance coverage requires it, we collect an estimated copay at each visit, based on your insurance benefits. Your insurance company processes the claim after your visit, and the amount it covers may differ from the estimate. Once the claim is processed, your insurance company sets your final share, which may include deductibles, additional coinsurance, non-covered services, or taxes not collected at the time of service. This can leave a balance or, in some cases, a refund.
Ask our front office about the details of your insurance plan.
What happens if my insurance stops covering my physical therapy?
Sometimes a patient needs more time or more sessions than their insurance company predicted, and the insurance company stops covering further treatment. By MVP Rehab policy, if you or your referring physician feel our services are still helping your recovery, we will not deny you service. Ask our front office about cash payment plans.
What about car accidents and workers' compensation?
If your treatment is related to a motor vehicle accident, a workers' compensation claim, or another third-party claim, we may bill the responsible insurance carrier when appropriate. You remain responsible for payment if the claim is denied, delayed, or unpaid.
Paying a bill
To pay a balance, call our front office at (808) 456-5888.
Patient Forms
Print and fill out these forms, and bring them to your first visit.
Patient General Information Form
Contact, emergency contact, employer, and insurance details.
Financial Responsibility
How insurance, copays, and balances work at MVP Rehab.
Notice of Privacy Practices
How we use and protect your health information.
For Physicians
Most of our patients come to us by physician referral. To refer a patient, fax us the completed referral form, or call our front office.
Physician Referral Form
Treatment plan and request for services. Fax the completed form to our front office.
(808) 455-6936
About Physical Therapy
What is physical therapy?
Physical therapy (also called physiotherapy) is a healthcare discipline focused on restoring and improving how your body moves. A licensed physical therapist evaluates your strength, flexibility, balance, posture, and pain, then builds a personalized treatment plan to help you move better and reduce discomfort.
Why would I need physical therapy?
Physical therapy with a licensed physical therapist helps you regain function when you have:
- Acute or chronic injury: sprains, fractures, dislocations, and muscle or tendon strains and tears.
- Pain conditions: chronic back, neck, knee, hip, or joint pain.
- Post-surgical recovery: including joint replacements, ligament and muscle or tendon repairs, and abdominal or cardiac procedures.
- Neurological conditions: including stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's disease, and MS.
- Chronic illnesses: COPD, arthritis, and diabetes-related mobility issues.
- Balance or mobility problems: fall prevention, gait training, and age-related general weakness.
What happens at my first session?
Your first session is an initial evaluation. First, we talk through your concerns about pain, strength, mobility, and limits at work and in daily life. Then we observe and record your strength, range of motion, mobility, sensory and motor nerve function, and walking pattern.
Your physical therapist explains your condition and the pain management strategies and activity changes that will make recovery easier. You begin manual therapy (soft tissue or joint mobilization) and therapeutic stretching, strengthening, and mobility exercises. Finally, you and your therapist set short- and long-term goals in a plan for a return to modified and then full activity.
What happens at follow-up sessions?
Each follow-up session starts with an update on your pain, strength, mobility, and limits at work and in daily life, and any progress or setbacks since your last visit. Pain relief may include cold packs, hot packs, electrical stimulation (NMES or TENS), ultrasound, or infrared.
Manual therapy (soft tissue or joint mobilization, cupping, acupressure, trigger point treatment, McConnell taping, or Kinesio taping) and therapeutic stretching, strengthening, and mobility exercises address the musculoskeletal problems. Each session ends with updates to your pain management strategies, activity changes, and home exercises.
How long will I need therapy?
It varies widely:
- Short-term issues (strains and sprains): a few weeks to a few months, depending on severity.
- Post-surgical rehabilitation: several months to a year, depending on your surgeon's protocol.
- Chronic conditions: ongoing management over months or years.
Why physical therapy instead of other conservative treatments, web remedies, or social media advice?
Physical therapy is one of the most effective non-surgical, non-medication approaches to improving mobility, reducing pain, and restoring independence. It is backed by decades of medical research, and it is the only insurance-covered treatment tailored to your goals, lifestyle, and health conditions.
Can I just do the exercises on my own at home or at the gym?
Of course you can! Your initial evaluation includes thorough education, and we encourage independence for all our patients. But ask yourself: do you work out at least three times a week, and have you kept that up for at least three months without skipping a week, except for vacation or illness? If so, you'll probably stay motivated to do your exercises at home.
What you won't get on your own is a physical therapist who reassesses and updates your program as your injury improves or regresses. Without that, your return to full function may take longer, healing may slow, and in the worst case you may reinjure yourself or cause wear or injury elsewhere.
Isn't physical therapy just exercise, motivation, and hot or ice packs?
The physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and physical therapist aides at MVP Rehab are highly skilled providers who have spent years studying the musculoskeletal system, the body's biomechanics, injuries, surgeries, and how to use movement and exercise as medicine. They are experts at monitoring exercise form, progressing exercises, and building individualized treatment programs.
Hot and ice packs are just one of hundreds of tools therapists use for pain management. Our therapists also use a wide range of manual therapy techniques to speed healing and ease movement during your sessions.
Location & Parking
Pearlridge Office Center
98-211 Pali Momi St., Suite 300
Aiea, HI 96701
Patient Parking
For parking and directions to Suite 300, call us at (808) 456-5888.