WebPT Blog - Practice Management
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0 CommentsMay 3, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Thanks to Marissa for sharing this innovative use of technology for therapy with us today! Marissa A. Barrera, MS, MPhil, MSCS, TSHH, CCC-SLP is the owner of New York Neurogenic Speech-Language Pathology, P.C., a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) and Professor of Acquired Motor Speech & Swallowing Disorders. With private practices located in Midtown and on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Marissa and her team of SLPs feel privileged to provide therapeutic services to hundreds of patients each year. A graduate of Columbia University, she has earned an MS, MPhil, and a Multiple Sclerosis Certified Specialist certification (MSCS) while working towards her PhD in Neurolinguistics (language science). In short, Marissa is proud to be a part of the WebPT community and hopes to help you foster optimal speech and language development in your patients! www.nyneuroslp.comIn honor of this month in which Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) all over the country join together to spread the word of awareness, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you a way for you to grow your practice, help more individuals in need, all the while reducing your practice’s operation costs.
Living in a world where companies are no longer confined to conducting business within a local radius, globalization affords businesses the opportunity to work without boundaries. Although historically Speech-Language Pathologists have always treated their patients within an arm’s reach, in this modern, global market we now too have the opportunity to help patients well outside of our immediate geographic area.
To own a speech-language pathology private practice in the past meant you had to feverishly market yourself to local doctors, psychologists, social workers, PTs, OTs, schools and neighborhood families. In the event that there were multiple practices within close proximity, you had to work twice as hard just in order to maintain a presence in the local market. If the practice model I’ve just described sounds like YOUR current business, then perhaps it is time for you to branch out and consider providing web-based speech and language therapy. If you are tired of participating in the referral rat race, wanting to expand your revenue sources, and are genuinely interested in helping as many individuals as possible, I encourage you to take a moment to peruse the basic facts and some unique benefits to administering web-based therapy.
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Apr 25, 2012| Erica Cohen
To the master multitaskers, the stellar schedulers, the terrific trainers, and all the fantastic front-office faces, (wild things or not) you make our hearts sing. You make everything groo(ooooo)vy.
In celebration of the 60th Annual Administrative Professionals Day on April 25th (themed: “Admins, the pulse of the office”), the Team at WebPT would like to give a shout out to our members at the heart of every phenomenal Physical Therapy practice. Sure, staying current on industry research, attending conferences, and implementing top-notch tools (cough: WebPT) are important (really important). But without a strong pulse in the office, your Physical Therapy practice would flat line.Thank you for managing operations; advocating for patients; answering billing questions; negotiating with insurance companies; entering data; keeping clients happy; and initiating positive change -- all with a smile.
We couldn't do it without you. You help make up the increasingly vibrant WebPT community -- your unique experiences, interactions, and insights are shaping a product that is redefining our industry. In return, we'll continue listening and working tirelessly to ensure that WebPT improves your clinic’s productivity, compliance, and profitability.
On behalf of everyone whose life you touch, for those who think it but may not say it, you are appreciated.
Take a moment to share why the Administrative Professionals in your life make your heart sing or read about how your role as an Administrative Professional has impacted those around you @WebPT #adminproday.
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Apr 20, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
For some of the best ideas to increase revenue in your clinic, look no further than your staff! That’s right one of the easiest ways to gather intimate data about your clinic is to ask the people who work for you.
You might be thinking “If my staff sees an issue, they will bring it to my attention.” That may be true, if it’s a big enough issue, let’s hope that they say something. Given that your staff is probably pretty busy during the day, however, it may take asking them point-blank in order to jog their memory. Putting a question front and center gives it it their attention.
Consider calling a short-and-sweet 30 minute staff meeting dedicated to brainstorming ways to increase revenue. Your people are your greatest asset in business. They may surprise you with the ideas that they’ve never had the courage to share. Or, the brainstorming process and collaboration of the team may yield results no one person may have created individually. This site outlines a step-by-step plan for how to conduct a productive and successful team brainstorm. It’s pretty basic, but sometimes everyone needs a refresher. -
Apr 17, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Today we're glad to share Part II of our interview on starting a medically oriented gym with Jonathan Di Lauri, MPT, CMP, TPI CGFI. Jon is the Owner of JointCare Physical Therapy, a Head Therapist, and Golf Performance Expert. If you missed Part I of our interview you can get it here. Thanks again, Jon! What about location? What type of space is needed?
We have a 60,000 square foot gym across the street (it’s Lifetime Fitness) and we still have a strong clientele list. All of our members are past patients who most likely wouldn't join a gym had it not been
for the exceptional treatment and education they received while in rehab. It’s all about building relationships with your patients. Do people trust you and what you are doing? If you build trust, they are more willing to work with you outside of insurance reimbursement. One of our therapists is also a Pilates instructor. In our gym, she’s an independent contractor. We have another therapist who owns his own education company. The therapists are tapping into their patient base for the patients who truly want to make changes to their lifestyle but have nowhere trustworthy to turn. The people who receive good therapy and trust their therapist are willing to go out of pocket for services they believe in!
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Apr 16, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Our contributing blogger today is WebPT Member, Jack Sparacio, MSPT, COMT, CFMT. He is also the Owner and President of Sparacio Physical Therapy P.C. in New York. We're excited to have Jack sharing his expertise. Thanks Jack!PEOPLE DO BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE THEY KNOW! This is universally accepted as one of the golden rules of marketing. If you want your clinic and/or company to grow, you need to develop relationships with people (especially physicians). So, the million dollar question is…how do you achieve this? Do you need to be a salesman/saleswoman? Yes, of course you do! I cringe when I read marketing articles that tell physical therapists they don’t need to be salespeople. Why is sales such a dirty word? If it makes you feel better call it networking, or relationship building. Call it whatever you want. Unless you’re the only game in town, until another practice comes along and takes your business away, you need to be able to build relationships. Relationships that will provide stability (new patients) to your practice.
There are many ways to make initial contact with a physician. You can send out an email, make a phone call or send out a letter. Now keep in mind, the three things I previously mentioned rarely work. However, there is something that will increase your odds of getting that coveted face-to-face meeting. You need to go, in person, to the physician’s office to set up a meeting at a future date. You need to introduce yourself to their secretary (write down his/her name) and ask to meet with the physician. Sometimes it is that simple, and you can set up a meeting. However, most of the time you need to offer them a benefit to meet with you. They want to know what’s in it for them. Why should they take their precious time to meet with you? That’s a fair question.
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Apr 12, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Today we're sharing Part I of our interview on starting a medically oriented gym with Jonathan Di Lauri, MPT, CMP, TPI CGFI. Jon is the Owner of JointCare Physical Therapy, a Head Therapist, and Golf Performance Expert. Thanks to Jon for enthusiastically sharing his experience and advise with our readers!Why did you decide to start a medically oriented gym?
It’s been 12 years in the making starting in an outpatient facility. I made several startling discoveries:
- Even into adulthood, no one ever really teaches you how to work out the RIGHT way.
- People were too focused on using exercise to change how they look and not their joint health.
- Our patients were returning to exercise environments with under qualified professionals, only to return injured.
Armed with that knowledge, I not only produced and created an instructional DVD, but I also created a medically oriented gym for those people who had transcended disease and who had finished physical therapy. We wanted them to get the RIGHT training and results. I also used to go to gyms with my patients and they were not being correctly oriented to the gym equipment. Additionally, the patients were being sold personal training that was far beyond their physical abilities. With all of this coming painfully clear to me, the stage was set to launch our gym.
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Apr 11, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
This post was authored by WebPT Billing Specialist, Geoff Elledge. Thanks for sharing your wisdom Geoff!There are many different ways to look at your clinic’s finances. You can look at average revenue per patient visit, insurance payer mix, average referrals from physicians and on and on.
Let’s start with a few of the basic questions you should ask:
- How much does it cost you to treat an average patient?
- How much does the insurance pay you per visit?
- What is your average patient cost share per visit?
- How long does it take on average to collect?
These are some of the basic questions you have to ask before you can start to maximize your revenues versus expenses.
First of all, take a good hard look at your fixed costs and figure out how much it costs you just to see a patient. It’s boring, but if you want to run a successful business, there’s no better place to start. I know we are in the business of caring for our patients first, but it is still a business, after all!
Start by calculating your average fixed costs such as rent, utilities, equipment costs/depreciation. Then take a look at payroll, salaries, benefits, etc. Add them up on a monthly basis then divide them by the total number of hours your office is open on a monthly basis, say 160 hours per month. The resulting number is your average hourly costs of operation. If you spend 30 minutes per patient on average divide by two and you have your per patient cost per visit. Confused yet? That is just the beginning. -
Mar 22, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Our contributing blogger today is WebPT Member, Jack Sparacio, MSPT, COMT, CFMT. He is also the Owner and President of Sparacio Physical Therapy P.C. in New York. We're excited to have Jack sharing his expertise. Thanks Jack!I know what you’re thinking. There is no way you can open an outpatient private practice for less than $8,000. But the truth is, you can. There are plenty of articles out there that will tell you that opening a private practice requires tens of thousands of dollars and a team of accountants, lawyers and consultants. While that might be the case for some people, it does not have to be the case for you. All it takes is a little creativity and being a cheapskate. Let’s call it being “creatively efficient” (cheap). Of course, you will need patients. We will discuss getting patients later.
Let’s first take a look at what I mean by being creatively efficient. Buying equipment for your office does not need to break the bank. And with the Internet, you can quickly compare prices to save significant amounts of money. Why spend $3,500 on a high-end Ultrasound-Electric Stimulation Combo Machine when you can buy separate portable ultrasound and electrical stimulation units for about $100 each? You will have a lot of choices to make. Just make the more efficient choice. You can buy a $3,000 automatic high-low treatment table or an economical wooden table (with an adjustable backrest) and a step stool for under $500. Or, watch for other clinics going out of business and you may be able to snag a high-low table at a discount. You can buy electrodes for $10 per pack or for $2.00 per pack (which I just did recently). You can buy massage cream for $28 a jar, or for $14 a jar. You get my point. Just do a little bit of research and you can save more than 50% on most items. Use your referral and peer resources and networking to find good deals. Most patients don’t care about fancy bells and whistles. They just want to get better.
Furthermore, there is a very practical method to designing your office. Do you need to buy bulky and expensive exercise machines or can you accomplish the same goals with smaller less expensive materials? A great idea is to utilize different length ballet bars attached to various positions (top, bottom and middle) on a wall. You can then attach various sport-cords and resistance bands for patients to perform hundreds of exercises. Also, keep in mind that when designing an exercise program for a patient, they are not going to have access to that expensive exercise equipment at home. Giving them exercises in your office utilizing sport-cords and resistance bands are reproducible and practical. Moreover, not having all those large exercise machines will enable you to utilize your space more efficiently. Do you need to rent the 3,000 square foot office and pay rent for space you are hoping to grow into? Or can you get your practice up and running in the 800 to 1,000 square foot office for one-third the rent? Growing out of your office is a better problem to have than paying for space you are not utilizing. Subleasing space from other health professionals or health clubs can also be an affordable alternative.
When it comes to marketing and acquiring patients there are only a few things you will need. You will need business cards and letterhead. At this time, you do not need to spend money on any other marketing materials. You don’t need brochures, “Welcome to the Practice” folders, newsletters or even a website. There is no magic marketing widget that is going to have your phone ringing off the wall with new patients. The most important thing you need is time. You need to take the time to go out and establish relationships in the local community. Yes, I know your time is valuable, but there is nothing that can take the place of a strong personal relationship with a local referral source (Physician, Physician’s Assistant, Personal Trainer, etc.). And the good news is you don’t have to lay out any money for your time.
As far as practice management goes, there are methods available to get your practice up and running in a very affordable manner. Outsourcing your billing to a medical billing company can be one such method. A billing company will take anywhere from 5%-12% of the money they collect from you. However, you will not need to lay out all the money that is associated with billing for your services. For example, you don’t need to purchase a billing software program or hire and train a staff person to manage your offices billing. In the early stages of developing a new business, most of your time should be dedicated to providing exceptional care and acquiring new patients. Without patients, your business will have a challenging time being profitable.
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Mar 20, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Our blog post today was written by WebPT member, Dr. Sam Esterson, PT, MA, MBA, DScPT. He is the owner of Esterson and Associates Physical Therapy. He is also the author of a well-received book written in 2003, entitled Starting & Managing Your Own Physical Therapy Practice: A Guide for the Rookie Entrepreneur. Dr. Esterson will be a featured guest on this month's webinar. Learn more here. Thanks to Sam for his wise words. Those forward thinking and self-motivated therapists who possess a powerful drive to grow, are goal-directed, and have low blood pressure are ones who may be the best candidates to jump in, full throttle, and consider opening up a practice “on their own.” Sure, there’s much to consider and plan, but, if you are a therapist working in an environment where you are constantly thinking, “Gee, I sure could do this better, easier, more creatively, and/or more cost-effectively,” then, you may have “the itch.” The people who generally have this spirit are called “entrepreneurs.” An entrepreneur is one who organizes, manages and assumes the risks of an enterprise. The term comes from the French, entreprendre, meaning, to undertake. Entrepreneurs demand as much of themselves as they do of others. They have a passion for their dreams and do not easily take “no” for an answer. Entrepreneurs see opportunity when others see potential failure. They see the proverbial glass half-full while others perceive the glass half-empty.
There are some therapists who may think that by opening their own practice, they will become their own boss and not have to take orders from others ever again. This concept cannot be further from the truth. In fact, once you open your own business, you will have many bosses, including the referring practitioners who have clinical demands on you, insurance companies who direct your care by virtue of how they reimburse you for services rendered, patients who have a knack for manipulating your time and efforts, and even your staff who place constraints on you in many ways.
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Mar 15, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Today we are pleased to present Part II of our interview with Chad Novasic, PT. Chad received his B.S. in Physical Therapy from Marquette University in 1988, and has served the Racine and Kenosha areas for the last 13 years in private practice. He has practiced several years in both a long term care setting and an acute care outpatient clinic setting. Chad is the owner of Alliant Physical Therapy Group. Alliant serves Southeastern Wisconsin with several clinics and is currently planning aggressive growth in the coming year.If you could go back and do one thing differently what would it be?
When I got out of school, I think I had quite a bit of ego. Everything was driven by what I wanted. If I had learned about other people’s wants and needs, I would have had an easier time. I needed to listen and not talk. The more you listen the more action you get. That was a big lesson, learning to let go and not make it about me. Also in the beginning, I don’t think I had a clear purpose of why I started. I started because I wanted to make money. That was a bad reason. You’re not going to make it. Making money is the benefit of doing quality work, having empathy towards patients and great communication. We go into business to make money, however, making money alone is the least long-term motivator that exists.What’s been the most rewarding part of owning your own business?
Personally, I have the freedom to control my own life. My family. My work. My faith life. That balance and control is great. I’ve been able to watch great therapists succeed. To be able to watch them take care oftheir families while helping people out, that’s rewarding. Part of my mission is to help young therapists take off in their own lives.
