Feb. 24, 2026
Change the Model: Why PT’s Business Model Is Breaking

Physical therapy doesn’t have a value problem.
It has a positioning problem.
In this episode, Jimmy talks with Matthew Pratte about why private outpatient practices are getting squeezed — and what to do about it.
Key Topics Covered:
- Why fee-for-service puts control in someone else’s hands
- How inflation + stagnant reimbursement compress margins
- Why scale favors hospital systems and large chains
- The rise of direct-to-employer contracting
- What self-insured employers are — and why they matter
- Why PT clinics can often command higher per-visit rates through employer contracts
- Misconceptions about size and selling
- A simple first step clinic owners can take this quarter
Big Takeaway
Waiting for reimbursement to improve isn’t a strategy.
Independent clinics must rethink who they sell to — and how they position PT as first-line musculoskeletal care.
Transcript
WEBVTT
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Thanks, VoiceOverGuy.
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First, thanks to U.S.
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Physical Therapy.
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They were nice enough to host me at
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CSM.
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I got to hang out at their booth
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and do some live streams.
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If you've built something special,
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but scaling your clinic and planning for
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what's next, well,
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that can feel overwhelming.
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At U.S.
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Physical Therapy,
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they partner with clinic owners who want
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to grow with you
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without you having to give up your
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identity.
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You stay in control.
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They bring the support.
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Learn how at usphpartnership.com.
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That's usphpartnership.com, their website,
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USPH.
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Today,
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our guest believes physical therapy
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doesn't have a value problem.
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It has a positioning problem.
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I like this.
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He spends his time helping independent
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practices stop waiting for reimbursement
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to improve and start rethinking how they
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get paid altogether.
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While most clinic owners are stuck
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negotiating contracts, chasing referrals,
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or hoping legislation fixes their margins.
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Spoiler alert, it's not going to do that.
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He's asking different questions.
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What if the problem isn't reimbursement?
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What if the problem is the model?
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What if the call is coming from inside
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the house?
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You get the idea.
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He's gotten to work with practices that
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want more control over their pricing,
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their relationships,
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their future by building direct
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relationships with employers and
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positioning physical therapy as the first
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stop for musculoskeletal care.
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He's here to challenge the default system
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and give clinic owners in the audience a
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chance to think differently about power in
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healthcare.
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Let's bring him in, Matthew Pratt.
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Matthew, welcome to the show.
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Thank you for having me on.
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Pretty good intro, right?
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I tried to go NPR style.
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Yeah,
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I feel like I'm going to have a
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hard time living up to that,
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but that was really good.
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Thank you.
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All right.
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So I like bold statements and you say
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most PT practices don't actually have a
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reimbursement problem.
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They've got a business model problem.
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I like that because it changes the
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ownership on not our fault to it might
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not be our fault,
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but it is our problem.
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So break that down.
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Break that idea down for me.
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Yeah.
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Well,
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let me start by first saying reimbursement
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is an issue for a lot of practices.
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I'm not minimizing that in any way.
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The reason I say that the way that
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I do is because the current traditional
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fee for service system does not position
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physical therapy, for the most part,
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in a position to win.
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You're constantly,
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where your people come from,
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how much you get paid, your referrals,
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all of that is dictated by someone else.
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We're hoping legislation will change that.
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We're hoping referral partnerships will
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change that.
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We're hoping that
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the hospital system won't go out and
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acquire our competitor across the street
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and just refer everything in house.
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And so when you look at the reality
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of health,
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the healthcare costs in America continue
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to rise, right?
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I saw a post this morning by Dr.
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Eric Bricker and he, in his post,
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he talked about how for a family of
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five,
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the cost of healthcare for in Dallas,
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in the Dallas Fort Worth area was thirty
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five thousand dollars.
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which is, and that's my situation.
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I have a family of five, I'm married,
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I've got three little girls,
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and that's a lot of money, right?
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And so as these costs continue to rise,
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the people who are paying for care,
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patients and the people that employ them,
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they're looking for alternative methods to
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be able to bring those costs down, right?
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And so for physical therapy,
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I think that there's this unique
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opportunity to position, not as a,
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you know, a cheaper than option, right?
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As in, you know, outcomes are worse,
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but you save money.
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But in the reality of this does save
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you twenty seven hundred dollars on
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average per musculoskeletal claim for
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these employers and employers are willing
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to pay a premium for that.
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So to me, when I look at it,
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the positioning problem is that the value
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that P.T.,
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provides isn't being realized or
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recognized by the current system.
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So we need to look at alternative methods
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to go outside of, okay,
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who does value physical therapy and who's
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willing to pay what physical therapy is
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worth?
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Because I believe, you know,
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a hundred and fifty dollar reimbursement
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across the nation should be average.
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But I know a lot of practices I've
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talked to,
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sometimes they're getting fifty dollars,
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you know,
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sometimes they're getting seventy five.
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So that's why I say there's a positioning
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problem.
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It sort of changed.
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This part of the conversation feels like
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that Spider-Man meme, right?
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Is everybody sort of pointing at each
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other saying it's your fault.
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It's your fault.
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It's your fault.
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It sort of shifts.
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It shifts that ownership.
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I mean,
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I heard Jerry Durham say this a long
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time ago,
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which the fact that we still call it
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reimbursement and not getting paid like.
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i don't reimburse my plumber i pay him
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like i might get the invoice a day
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later but i still pay him isn't that
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funny how we even just the words like
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reimbursement it's like well thank thank
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you so much i appreciate you appreciate
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you allowing me to take your money for
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doing the thing i did right yeah yeah
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so what specifically breaks in the
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traditional fee-for-service model for
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independent practices where does it where
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does the where do things break down
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I think that a lot of it goes
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back to control and like control in the
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sense of in the traditional fee for
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service model,
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the way that things are set up right
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now, independent, you know,
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outpatient practices,
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they don't have the opportunity to dictate
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who do they treat, when do they treat,
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right?
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Obviously with greater direct access laws,
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some of that has opened up to a
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point,
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but I know certain States it's still,
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you know,
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there's caps on how many visits people can
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get on direct access and
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And so from a,
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the problem I would say with the current
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traditional fee for service model is it's
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not built to value physical therapy and
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for physical therapy practices to win,
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right?
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The people that are winning right now are
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the health systems,
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the people that are winning
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are the people who have the scale to
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go in and negotiate reimbursements.
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And I've even had this conversation with
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some people who agree and disagree with
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what I'm saying.
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And that's great.
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I think that that's the discourse that we
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need.
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That's how the industry,
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that's how health care gets pushed
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forward.
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We have these conversations.
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But when your practice is located in a
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large metropolitan area,
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you have the demographics and the wealth
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to say, oh, I offer cash pay.
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I offer these other wellness services.
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And I can scale to the point where
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now I can negotiate my contracts and get
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meaningful change in my reimbursement.
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But what does the small rural pediatric
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practice who services mainly Medicare
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patients, what do they do?
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that they're they're forced to say well i
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have to take what i can get from
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insurance and that that is what it is
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right and so and i even in that
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conversation i've had you know people have
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told me well they decided to do that
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that's their problem right and like i
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understand but i think we all would agree
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greater access to care is good like we
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want people getting into the care that
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they need so we've got to find a
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way that it at least works for the
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vast majority of people
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and and i i don't i'm not in
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any way advocating that we should just
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trash the traditional fee for service
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model i i don't that's not what i
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think would be most beneficial especially
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for most practices but i do think that
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we're kind of getting to an inflection
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point where the cost of providing care
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Inflation, rising overhead, staffing,
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how much it costs to pay your staff.
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People are coming out of PT school with,
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I think, you can correct me, Jimmy,
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I'm not sure.
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I think the average is like a hundred
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and fifty thousand in student loans is
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what people are coming out of PT school.
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So people with that much debt,
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they can't come in and start at sixty
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K.
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Right.
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Like they've they've got to make more
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money than that.
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Right.
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And we're getting to this point where it's
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getting incredibly hard for we'll call
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them the mom and pop private practices to
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operate.
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Right.
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Margins are getting so thin they can't eat
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the cost.
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Larger practices can.
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And for me,
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like just my my background and I think,
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you know, just uniquely to my experience,
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what I've been able to see,
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I've spent a lot of time
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emailing cold calling practices all across
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the country like some people who listen
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this you may even have a voicemail in
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your inbox from me at this very moment
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uh but in the month of january alone
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um i talked to two six location practices
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i'm obviously not gonna name names or
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locations uh talk to two owners who told
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me in january two six location practices
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that they were selling
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and i've seen that as a growing trend
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yeah over the last six months and i
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think we're getting to that point where
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the economics don't make sense that
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doesn't matter
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the math doesn't math and the concern that
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I have, you know, my background, um,
00:09:21.934 --> 00:09:23.336
I played football from fifth grade into
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college.
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I've, I've had,
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I've been on a lot of treatment tables.
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Um,
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I've got a very good friend who's a
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physical therapist here in where I live.
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Um, I,
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I deeply care about the industry and about
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physical therapy.
00:09:35.758 --> 00:09:38.078
And my concern is that in,
00:09:38.099 --> 00:09:39.778
in five years, the,
00:09:39.979 --> 00:09:40.078
the
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The PT student coming out and saying,
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I want to go start my own practice
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because I just want to treat and serve
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my community.
00:09:47.792 --> 00:09:49.293
And maybe we scale it in the future.
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They're not going to be able to do
00:09:50.794 --> 00:09:50.914
that.
00:09:50.955 --> 00:09:52.296
Their only option is going to be,
00:09:52.817 --> 00:09:53.697
I've got to go,
00:09:53.918 --> 00:09:55.960
I've got to go work for this very
00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:56.740
large company.
00:09:57.181 --> 00:09:58.081
And we're going to only going to have
00:09:58.302 --> 00:09:59.182
four or five of those.
00:09:59.221 --> 00:10:00.744
Maybe that's, that's my concern.
00:10:02.100 --> 00:10:03.782
That's what I've been hearing,
00:10:03.802 --> 00:10:05.202
and that's what some of the smart people
00:10:05.222 --> 00:10:05.923
that I hang out with,
00:10:05.942 --> 00:10:08.203
which is you can do this as an
00:10:08.384 --> 00:10:09.644
individual provider.
00:10:09.825 --> 00:10:11.365
This is where they say the rise of
00:10:11.405 --> 00:10:14.787
the one point five FTE location, right?
00:10:14.886 --> 00:10:16.227
It's like you running it,
00:10:16.607 --> 00:10:18.269
you bring someone on part time.
00:10:18.808 --> 00:10:20.490
But when you go to a step bigger
00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:20.929
than that,
00:10:22.044 --> 00:10:24.265
that that next step doesn't make any sense
00:10:24.525 --> 00:10:26.407
the other end of the spectrum is a
00:10:26.466 --> 00:10:30.208
giant multi-state um chain or a hospital
00:10:30.249 --> 00:10:32.389
system or you know you sort of do
00:10:32.409 --> 00:10:34.750
what danny mattei and his group talk about
00:10:34.770 --> 00:10:36.312
which is like it's just cash but will
00:10:36.331 --> 00:10:37.133
that work everywhere
00:10:37.932 --> 00:10:38.533
Maybe not.
00:10:38.653 --> 00:10:38.933
Right.
00:10:39.014 --> 00:10:40.134
Like, so,
00:10:40.173 --> 00:10:41.914
so the question I always ask people is
00:10:41.936 --> 00:10:43.275
like, what game are you playing?
00:10:43.716 --> 00:10:45.116
What game do you think you're playing?
00:10:45.457 --> 00:10:46.778
I heard someone say it on a podcast
00:10:46.817 --> 00:10:47.178
recently.
00:10:47.198 --> 00:10:48.519
I, you know, just somebody was saying,
00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:48.860
Oh my God,
00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:50.220
I'm just done with this corporate America.
00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:51.360
I'm just going to go open a, um,
00:10:51.541 --> 00:10:52.142
a coffee shop.
00:10:52.921 --> 00:10:54.601
And the guy was probing and he goes,
00:10:54.841 --> 00:10:54.981
well,
00:10:55.001 --> 00:10:56.522
do you like spreadsheets and ordering
00:10:56.562 --> 00:10:58.582
coffee and cups and lids and napkins?
00:10:58.602 --> 00:10:59.303
And they're like, no,
00:10:59.384 --> 00:11:01.043
I want to hang out and talk and
00:11:01.104 --> 00:11:01.825
hand coffee over.
00:11:01.845 --> 00:11:03.784
He goes, you want to be a barista?
00:11:04.645 --> 00:11:06.186
That's what a barista does.
00:11:06.225 --> 00:11:08.907
So a coffee shop owner doesn't really does
00:11:08.927 --> 00:11:10.187
that one percent of the time.
00:11:10.888 --> 00:11:12.087
So I think when people are like,
00:11:12.107 --> 00:11:14.249
I'm frustrated by doing whatever this is,
00:11:14.349 --> 00:11:15.668
either a clinician or an owner,
00:11:15.788 --> 00:11:17.489
understand what game you're actually
00:11:17.528 --> 00:11:17.769
playing.
00:11:17.788 --> 00:11:18.908
Because right now for owners,
00:11:19.370 --> 00:11:21.029
it sounds like margin compression,
00:11:21.429 --> 00:11:24.370
referral dependency, or I mean,
00:11:24.429 --> 00:11:25.191
I've said this before,
00:11:25.510 --> 00:11:27.171
you need to be a marketing engine first
00:11:27.191 --> 00:11:28.931
that happens to sell physical therapy.
00:11:29.591 --> 00:11:31.692
Red Bull is a marketing company that
00:11:32.091 --> 00:11:33.831
happens to sell an energy drink,
00:11:33.991 --> 00:11:34.892
not the other way around.
00:11:35.653 --> 00:11:36.312
And then, I mean,
00:11:36.393 --> 00:11:37.773
we've heard just in the last couple of
00:11:37.793 --> 00:11:38.072
weeks,
00:11:39.928 --> 00:11:41.710
Clinicians saying I signed on to that
00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:43.711
contract knowing I'm losing money every
00:11:44.111 --> 00:11:44.452
visit.
00:11:44.513 --> 00:11:44.673
I'm like,
00:11:44.812 --> 00:11:45.714
how do you do that with a straight
00:11:45.734 --> 00:11:46.153
face?
00:11:46.433 --> 00:11:46.594
Like,
00:11:46.774 --> 00:11:48.275
how do you do that with a straight
00:11:48.316 --> 00:11:48.655
face?
00:11:49.277 --> 00:11:50.778
So overall,
00:11:51.057 --> 00:11:53.620
we can say you've said PT needs better
00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:55.601
positioning.
00:11:55.682 --> 00:11:57.623
What does that look like to you in
00:11:57.643 --> 00:11:58.283
a practice?
00:12:00.136 --> 00:12:00.277
Yeah,
00:12:00.356 --> 00:12:03.258
I think the two ways that come to
00:12:03.278 --> 00:12:05.119
mind, you mentioned it a second ago,
00:12:05.178 --> 00:12:05.739
right?
00:12:05.938 --> 00:12:06.940
There's cash-based,
00:12:07.899 --> 00:12:10.160
and I think that should be a mix
00:12:10.400 --> 00:12:13.383
of every practice's payer mixes is just
00:12:13.403 --> 00:12:14.523
cash-based patients.
00:12:15.043 --> 00:12:18.524
I think the hard part with that is,
00:12:21.870 --> 00:12:23.971
And I could be completely wrong on this,
00:12:24.052 --> 00:12:26.153
but I haven't seen many practices that are
00:12:26.173 --> 00:12:28.855
cash based be able to scale really well.
00:12:28.895 --> 00:12:30.738
And I think part of the problem with
00:12:30.758 --> 00:12:32.658
that is you're very demographic dependent,
00:12:32.698 --> 00:12:32.899
right?
00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:35.042
Just like the example I provided earlier.
00:12:35.062 --> 00:12:35.721
I mean,
00:12:35.861 --> 00:12:37.964
I grew up in a pretty rural area,
00:12:38.104 --> 00:12:39.065
blue collar family.
00:12:39.466 --> 00:12:40.826
We would have never had the money.
00:12:41.226 --> 00:12:42.788
to pay to go to physical therapy
00:12:42.827 --> 00:12:44.610
cash-based never would have had the money
00:12:45.191 --> 00:12:47.371
and so i think that's where you know
00:12:47.451 --> 00:12:49.254
the cash pay you know you get into
00:12:49.333 --> 00:12:51.075
well what are direct access laws you know
00:12:52.035 --> 00:12:54.798
does this work in every demographic it can
00:12:54.938 --> 00:12:57.321
to some extent right but i i don't
00:12:57.341 --> 00:12:59.942
think it's the solution in my opinion
00:13:00.082 --> 00:13:00.442
where
00:13:01.224 --> 00:13:04.086
I think the biggest opportunity for
00:13:04.566 --> 00:13:06.147
physical therapy and for physical therapy
00:13:06.206 --> 00:13:09.729
practices is in the direct direct
00:13:09.908 --> 00:13:11.750
contracting model with employers.
00:13:12.490 --> 00:13:15.712
And I'll tell you why I think that's
00:13:15.753 --> 00:13:16.192
the case.
00:13:18.114 --> 00:13:21.095
it alleviates some of the problems that we
00:13:21.115 --> 00:13:22.014
just talked about, right?
00:13:22.054 --> 00:13:23.576
Like, oh, this is a rural area.
00:13:23.895 --> 00:13:25.275
These people don't have a lot of money.
00:13:25.336 --> 00:13:27.356
They can't afford to pay me cash pay,
00:13:27.596 --> 00:13:27.797
right?
00:13:27.817 --> 00:13:28.496
But I also,
00:13:29.116 --> 00:13:31.118
I'm not really happy with the contracted
00:13:31.177 --> 00:13:32.317
insurance rate, right?
00:13:32.357 --> 00:13:34.578
That I'm usually getting in the same area.
00:13:35.538 --> 00:13:37.980
When you contract directly with a
00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:40.921
self-insured employer, and Jim,
00:13:41.020 --> 00:13:42.041
are you familiar, Jimmy,
00:13:42.061 --> 00:13:44.261
with like what a self-insured employer is?
00:13:44.830 --> 00:13:46.129
Yeah, but just explain again,
00:13:46.169 --> 00:13:48.191
because I don't know if everybody does.
00:13:48.230 --> 00:13:48.451
Yeah.
00:13:48.910 --> 00:13:49.871
So basically,
00:13:49.932 --> 00:13:51.591
when an employer is self-insured,
00:13:51.611 --> 00:13:53.732
they have their own group health plan.
00:13:54.552 --> 00:13:57.413
And instead of paying premiums to Blue
00:13:57.433 --> 00:13:59.154
Cross Blue Shield, UHC,
00:13:59.894 --> 00:14:02.134
they basically they have a third party
00:14:02.174 --> 00:14:03.895
administrator that can be someone like
00:14:04.096 --> 00:14:05.255
Blue Cross or UHC.
00:14:05.716 --> 00:14:07.576
But instead of paying for premiums,
00:14:07.657 --> 00:14:09.357
they're just paying all of the claims out
00:14:09.398 --> 00:14:09.878
of pocket.
00:14:09.918 --> 00:14:12.359
So for their covered lives.
00:14:12.698 --> 00:14:12.958
Right.
00:14:12.999 --> 00:14:13.139
So.
00:14:13.899 --> 00:14:15.399
Anyone who's an employee and then an
00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:16.539
attendant on their plan,
00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:19.660
they pay all of the healthcare costs for
00:14:19.721 --> 00:14:20.841
those people, right?
00:14:21.461 --> 00:14:26.663
And what that means is when my wife
00:14:26.722 --> 00:14:27.884
pulls her back at the gym,
00:14:28.754 --> 00:14:30.035
And then she has to go to the
00:14:30.056 --> 00:14:30.716
PCP.
00:14:31.277 --> 00:14:32.836
And then the PCP says, yeah,
00:14:33.278 --> 00:14:35.639
I don't really get musculoskeletal.
00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:38.541
Let me refer you to a specialist.
00:14:39.301 --> 00:14:41.802
And then you go to the specialist and
00:14:42.023 --> 00:14:43.543
you might get a great specialist who's
00:14:43.583 --> 00:14:44.083
like, oh yeah,
00:14:44.124 --> 00:14:45.284
this sounds more like a PT problem.
00:14:45.304 --> 00:14:47.005
Let's get you into PT, right?
00:14:47.225 --> 00:14:49.267
My experience having gone through this
00:14:49.307 --> 00:14:51.128
before, they're gonna wanna do imaging.
00:14:51.788 --> 00:14:52.828
And then once you get imaging,
00:14:52.869 --> 00:14:53.889
they're either gonna say,
00:14:54.330 --> 00:14:56.692
let's do surgery or pain management.
00:14:57.451 --> 00:14:59.113
or maybe PT, right?
00:14:59.153 --> 00:15:01.014
But I think it's pretty rare that people
00:15:01.054 --> 00:15:02.936
go, they get pushed directly into PT,
00:15:03.096 --> 00:15:03.336
right?
00:15:03.956 --> 00:15:05.638
All of those stops along the way,
00:15:05.918 --> 00:15:07.119
it just inflates the costs.
00:15:07.818 --> 00:15:09.900
And these self-insured employers who are
00:15:09.961 --> 00:15:12.342
paying every cost along the way,
00:15:12.682 --> 00:15:15.585
every PCP visit, every specialist visit,
00:15:16.745 --> 00:15:18.647
they're looking at this rising cost of
00:15:18.687 --> 00:15:19.488
healthcare and going,
00:15:20.248 --> 00:15:21.370
How do I,
00:15:21.971 --> 00:15:23.215
how do I make this work?
00:15:23.716 --> 00:15:23.917
Right?
00:15:23.956 --> 00:15:25.541
Like I only have so much budget that
00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:28.827
I can put towards this and then how
00:15:28.868 --> 00:15:29.490
do I make it work?
00:15:30.740 --> 00:15:33.602
So they are willing to be self-insured
00:15:33.643 --> 00:15:34.222
employers.
00:15:34.403 --> 00:15:36.706
And the majority of employers in America
00:15:36.885 --> 00:15:38.147
are actually self-insured.
00:15:38.307 --> 00:15:40.629
And what we've been seeing in our
00:15:40.668 --> 00:15:42.630
conversations at like Second Door Health
00:15:43.131 --> 00:15:45.874
is basically more and more employers,
00:15:46.095 --> 00:15:48.035
even smaller and smaller employers,
00:15:48.096 --> 00:15:50.198
because the premiums are getting so
00:15:50.239 --> 00:15:50.839
expensive,
00:15:51.539 --> 00:15:53.201
they're looking to go self-insured.
00:15:53.341 --> 00:15:54.702
It just costs too much.
00:15:55.447 --> 00:15:56.469
It's a gamble,
00:15:57.009 --> 00:15:58.649
but now there's skin in the game.
00:15:58.850 --> 00:16:01.730
So now you're advocating for better
00:16:01.750 --> 00:16:02.871
decisions and you're like, well,
00:16:02.892 --> 00:16:04.312
if this on average,
00:16:04.331 --> 00:16:05.653
because everything's an average, right?
00:16:06.253 --> 00:16:08.014
This on average tends to lead to lower
00:16:08.053 --> 00:16:09.315
costs and better outcomes,
00:16:09.754 --> 00:16:11.096
getting that person back to work,
00:16:11.535 --> 00:16:12.495
covering them, right?
00:16:12.535 --> 00:16:14.017
Giving them care, back to work,
00:16:14.336 --> 00:16:14.956
solving the problem.
00:16:15.097 --> 00:16:15.878
And it's less money.
00:16:16.138 --> 00:16:17.158
Well, I'm going to want to do that.
00:16:17.198 --> 00:16:19.099
I'm incentivized to do that.
00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:20.580
Whereas the insurance company,
00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:22.160
you have paid them.
00:16:23.586 --> 00:16:25.625
Now they are now practicing medicine
00:16:25.645 --> 00:16:26.427
without a license,
00:16:26.486 --> 00:16:28.787
essentially where they will deny or use
00:16:28.826 --> 00:16:31.067
strategies to pay as little as possible.
00:16:31.508 --> 00:16:33.087
It's just, it's moving where the money is.
00:16:33.107 --> 00:16:34.768
It's moving where the decisions are made.
00:16:35.408 --> 00:16:36.168
Yeah.
00:16:36.227 --> 00:16:36.389
Yeah.
00:16:36.448 --> 00:16:36.528
And,
00:16:36.729 --> 00:16:39.288
and the reason why I think this is
00:16:39.349 --> 00:16:39.869
such a,
00:16:41.570 --> 00:16:42.750
I think it needs to be a very
00:16:42.789 --> 00:16:45.250
important model for the future of physical
00:16:45.309 --> 00:16:46.971
therapy and especially private outpatient
00:16:46.990 --> 00:16:48.890
physical therapy is that
00:16:50.340 --> 00:16:51.581
these employers,
00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:55.221
they're not looking to pay you less than
00:16:55.260 --> 00:16:57.381
your current contracted rate with Blue
00:16:57.402 --> 00:16:58.081
Cross Blue Shield.
00:16:58.621 --> 00:17:00.363
Most of the time when we've had these
00:17:00.403 --> 00:17:01.802
conversations with employers,
00:17:02.403 --> 00:17:05.104
they're willing to pay above and beyond a
00:17:05.183 --> 00:17:06.644
per visit rate of what you're getting
00:17:06.703 --> 00:17:07.064
right now.
00:17:07.403 --> 00:17:09.585
The reason being you're saving them on
00:17:09.664 --> 00:17:09.944
average,
00:17:09.984 --> 00:17:11.825
twenty seven hundred dollars per claim for
00:17:11.865 --> 00:17:12.846
musculoskeletal care.
00:17:13.165 --> 00:17:13.405
Right.
00:17:13.766 --> 00:17:15.046
So they're looking at that and they go,
00:17:15.086 --> 00:17:15.185
well,
00:17:15.205 --> 00:17:17.386
if I had two hundred claims last year,
00:17:17.987 --> 00:17:19.508
that's five hundred and forty thousand
00:17:19.548 --> 00:17:21.650
dollars potentially in savings.
00:17:22.130 --> 00:17:23.852
That's that's yeah.
00:17:24.311 --> 00:17:25.353
They like that math, too.
00:17:26.173 --> 00:17:29.457
And the reason in all that being said,
00:17:29.517 --> 00:17:29.696
like,
00:17:31.057 --> 00:17:32.719
This model, it's not easy.
00:17:32.999 --> 00:17:33.778
It takes time.
00:17:33.818 --> 00:17:35.259
It takes time developing the
00:17:35.299 --> 00:17:36.780
relationships, the conversations,
00:17:36.861 --> 00:17:37.721
and it's new, right?
00:17:37.760 --> 00:17:39.821
Anytime you're trying to introduce a new
00:17:39.862 --> 00:17:41.482
business model, a new product,
00:17:42.083 --> 00:17:42.824
it takes time.
00:17:43.364 --> 00:17:47.665
But the reason I think that it needs
00:17:47.685 --> 00:17:48.586
to be a part of the future of
00:17:48.605 --> 00:17:49.727
physical therapy is one,
00:17:50.967 --> 00:17:51.867
margins are an issue.
00:17:52.228 --> 00:17:53.568
This is a great way to solve margin
00:17:53.588 --> 00:17:54.628
problems, right?
00:17:55.229 --> 00:17:55.950
And, you know,
00:17:56.769 --> 00:17:58.490
When you have those direct contracts,
00:17:58.891 --> 00:18:00.832
you can set that up as onsite services,
00:18:01.271 --> 00:18:02.913
or you can just have people fed right
00:18:02.952 --> 00:18:04.054
into your clinic, right?
00:18:04.114 --> 00:18:05.575
If you wanna go onsite and you've got
00:18:05.595 --> 00:18:06.535
the infrastructure for that,
00:18:06.974 --> 00:18:07.615
you can do that.
00:18:08.215 --> 00:18:08.655
If not,
00:18:09.116 --> 00:18:10.537
you can just have people funneled straight
00:18:10.576 --> 00:18:11.198
into your clinic,
00:18:11.698 --> 00:18:13.179
most likely for a higher reimbursement
00:18:13.199 --> 00:18:14.859
than what anyone else is paying you at
00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:15.240
the moment.
00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:18.300
And it solves the problem we talked about
00:18:18.361 --> 00:18:20.362
earlier with the cash pay or the
00:18:20.402 --> 00:18:21.403
cash-based model.
00:18:22.063 --> 00:18:24.403
Because even in rural communities,
00:18:24.844 --> 00:18:26.384
your municipalities,
00:18:26.644 --> 00:18:27.806
your school districts,
00:18:28.205 --> 00:18:29.306
your fire departments,
00:18:29.385 --> 00:18:30.307
your police departments,
00:18:30.386 --> 00:18:32.327
those are all generally self-insured.
00:18:33.127 --> 00:18:35.108
So no matter where you're located,
00:18:35.628 --> 00:18:37.410
you have people that you can go out
00:18:37.450 --> 00:18:41.311
and contract with and be able to fulfill
00:18:41.352 --> 00:18:42.112
this type of model.
00:18:42.567 --> 00:18:43.868
We'll get to misconceptions in a minute.
00:18:43.888 --> 00:18:45.528
I want to say thanks to Empower EMR,
00:18:45.949 --> 00:18:47.089
one of the organizations supporting the
00:18:47.109 --> 00:18:47.250
show.
00:18:47.269 --> 00:18:48.569
If your clinic is stuck on an EMR
00:18:48.589 --> 00:18:49.310
but slows you down,
00:18:49.790 --> 00:18:50.730
that's a choice you made.
00:18:50.871 --> 00:18:51.932
You don't have to do that forever.
00:18:52.372 --> 00:18:54.093
Empower gives you speed, clean workflows,
00:18:54.113 --> 00:18:56.013
and features PTs actually ask for.
00:18:56.433 --> 00:18:58.114
Better notes, faster documentation,
00:18:58.173 --> 00:18:59.115
smoother operations,
00:18:59.674 --> 00:19:01.215
all wrapped in customer support that just
00:19:01.236 --> 00:19:01.996
doesn't ghost you.
00:19:02.175 --> 00:19:04.017
Upgrade your clinic's brain with Empower
00:19:04.156 --> 00:19:06.657
EMR at empoweremr.com.
00:19:06.892 --> 00:19:07.652
dot com.
00:19:08.593 --> 00:19:09.633
Misconceptions.
00:19:09.913 --> 00:19:11.394
So with direct to employer,
00:19:11.874 --> 00:19:14.115
there's some misconceptions I bet that PTs
00:19:14.154 --> 00:19:14.634
have about it.
00:19:14.674 --> 00:19:16.075
You just touched on it a second ago.
00:19:16.295 --> 00:19:17.215
I'm too small.
00:19:17.875 --> 00:19:19.036
I don't know how to sell.
00:19:19.375 --> 00:19:20.916
That's only for big groups.
00:19:20.957 --> 00:19:21.116
I mean,
00:19:21.136 --> 00:19:22.076
I guess two of those have to do
00:19:22.096 --> 00:19:24.678
with size, but are all those wrong?
00:19:24.817 --> 00:19:26.138
Are those wrong?
00:19:26.538 --> 00:19:28.058
Should people change their viewpoint on
00:19:28.078 --> 00:19:29.779
that if you're a PT listening?
00:19:32.587 --> 00:19:34.489
They â the size, yes and no.
00:19:34.509 --> 00:19:37.990
And this is â how I would answer
00:19:38.030 --> 00:19:40.492
that is when you're pursuing these
00:19:40.553 --> 00:19:41.893
contracts with employers, right,
00:19:42.394 --> 00:19:44.674
you have to have the clinic density and
00:19:45.915 --> 00:19:49.298
geographic coverage to be able to service
00:19:49.357 --> 00:19:51.318
the people that are employed by them.
00:19:51.338 --> 00:19:51.699
Got it.
00:19:51.719 --> 00:19:54.681
So where you are and where you're â
00:19:55.515 --> 00:19:57.517
where the organization is located is not
00:19:57.596 --> 00:19:58.998
actually where the people live because
00:19:59.018 --> 00:20:00.219
they might also get it so i'm
00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:02.980
understanding that god yes yeah so that
00:20:03.300 --> 00:20:06.183
that can be a problem and like we
00:20:06.223 --> 00:20:07.644
you know at second door like i've talked
00:20:07.664 --> 00:20:10.027
to single location practice practices that
00:20:10.067 --> 00:20:12.248
were like hey i want to do this
00:20:12.268 --> 00:20:13.710
direct to employer thing like let's get it
00:20:13.750 --> 00:20:15.550
going and i'm like i want you to
00:20:15.590 --> 00:20:16.070
do it too
00:20:17.082 --> 00:20:19.423
But you have one practice and there's two
00:20:19.463 --> 00:20:22.305
hundred employees at this one employer.
00:20:22.365 --> 00:20:23.625
They probably have five hundred covered
00:20:23.665 --> 00:20:24.126
lives.
00:20:24.807 --> 00:20:26.647
You on your own can't service that.
00:20:26.928 --> 00:20:27.088
Right.
00:20:27.148 --> 00:20:29.789
And I think that's where I think for
00:20:29.849 --> 00:20:32.352
so long, because, you know,
00:20:32.652 --> 00:20:33.893
I would say just, you know,
00:20:33.932 --> 00:20:34.834
my humble opinion,
00:20:35.473 --> 00:20:36.294
I think in physical therapy,
00:20:36.314 --> 00:20:39.016
we've operated out of a scarcity mindset
00:20:39.036 --> 00:20:39.777
for a long time.
00:20:39.997 --> 00:20:42.278
And like the practice across my street,
00:20:42.317 --> 00:20:43.179
that's my competitor.
00:20:43.659 --> 00:20:45.000
I've got to beat them for referrals.
00:20:45.059 --> 00:20:46.340
I've got to, right.
00:20:46.381 --> 00:20:47.923
And, and I understand that.
00:20:48.182 --> 00:20:49.703
And to some extent that's been reality,
00:20:50.263 --> 00:20:51.625
but when you're looking at, okay,
00:20:52.705 --> 00:20:54.548
I can continue in the model that I'm
00:20:54.607 --> 00:20:55.208
in now,
00:20:55.848 --> 00:20:58.891
or I can partner with the other practices
00:20:58.911 --> 00:21:01.053
in my area and say, Hey, let's,
00:21:01.673 --> 00:21:04.836
let's start a network or like second door
00:21:04.875 --> 00:21:05.096
health.
00:21:05.115 --> 00:21:07.657
Like we have a network of practices that
00:21:07.698 --> 00:21:10.339
are able to opt into employer contracts
00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:10.420
and
00:21:11.704 --> 00:21:14.926
let's band together and we can all treat,
00:21:15.527 --> 00:21:17.208
win this contract and treat it this
00:21:17.347 --> 00:21:18.169
negotiated rate.
00:21:18.189 --> 00:21:20.549
So size can be a barrier,
00:21:20.930 --> 00:21:21.951
but I think that's where,
00:21:22.131 --> 00:21:23.411
like as an industry,
00:21:23.451 --> 00:21:25.071
we have to be willing to come together
00:21:25.172 --> 00:21:26.992
and say, like, you know,
00:21:27.053 --> 00:21:28.814
rising tide lifts all boats.
00:21:29.494 --> 00:21:32.395
Like let's all benefit from this and more,
00:21:32.516 --> 00:21:34.317
and I want that more than I necessarily
00:21:34.356 --> 00:21:36.117
want to beat my competitor across the
00:21:36.137 --> 00:21:36.438
street.
00:21:37.038 --> 00:21:37.199
Right.
00:21:37.219 --> 00:21:38.239
How about, how about,
00:21:38.318 --> 00:21:39.099
I don't know how to sell.
00:21:40.682 --> 00:21:40.903
Yeah.
00:21:41.002 --> 00:21:45.607
So I would say most practice owners don't
00:21:45.627 --> 00:21:46.689
give themselves enough credit.
00:21:47.308 --> 00:21:48.150
If you're a business owner,
00:21:48.170 --> 00:21:49.030
you're selling, right?
00:21:49.050 --> 00:21:51.073
And I would even say clinicians sell every
00:21:51.113 --> 00:21:51.532
single day.
00:21:52.114 --> 00:21:53.714
You've got to sell patients on a plan
00:21:53.734 --> 00:21:54.155
of care.
00:21:54.756 --> 00:21:56.137
Someone comes in for an eval.
00:21:56.678 --> 00:21:57.919
You've got to sell them on, hey,
00:21:57.959 --> 00:21:58.880
this is what I think is going to
00:21:58.900 --> 00:21:59.361
be best.
00:21:59.780 --> 00:22:01.323
This is how we're going to address what
00:22:01.343 --> 00:22:02.523
you presented in the eval.
00:22:03.344 --> 00:22:04.486
You're selling all the time.
00:22:04.846 --> 00:22:05.787
But I also get
00:22:07.070 --> 00:22:08.913
Most practice owners don't have the time,
00:22:09.394 --> 00:22:09.614
right?
00:22:09.894 --> 00:22:11.957
They don't enjoy it and they don't have
00:22:11.997 --> 00:22:15.622
the time to go out and sell this
00:22:16.162 --> 00:22:17.203
model to employers.
00:22:17.804 --> 00:22:19.346
And I think that's where, you know,
00:22:19.807 --> 00:22:21.229
I know some larger practices,
00:22:21.249 --> 00:22:23.411
they have their own staff that goes out
00:22:23.432 --> 00:22:24.152
and sells this model.
00:22:24.732 --> 00:22:26.614
But for what we're doing at Second Door,
00:22:27.453 --> 00:22:29.934
that's what we've basically that's what
00:22:29.954 --> 00:22:31.756
we've been doing is we say, OK,
00:22:32.236 --> 00:22:33.655
we know you don't want to sell.
00:22:34.116 --> 00:22:35.957
We know that's probably not your specialty
00:22:35.977 --> 00:22:36.837
and you don't have the time.
00:22:37.417 --> 00:22:38.837
Let us go and sell for you.
00:22:39.057 --> 00:22:40.578
And then when a contract comes in,
00:22:41.118 --> 00:22:43.619
you just you you work with us through
00:22:43.640 --> 00:22:44.861
the negotiation process.
00:22:44.941 --> 00:22:45.161
Right.
00:22:45.461 --> 00:22:46.500
When a contract comes in,
00:22:46.601 --> 00:22:47.981
you treat it the negotiated rate.
00:22:48.442 --> 00:22:50.583
And I think that's where, you know,
00:22:50.863 --> 00:22:53.284
if anyone's ever seen anything I've posted
00:22:53.324 --> 00:22:53.784
on LinkedIn,
00:22:54.304 --> 00:22:55.965
Like the work that Second Door is doing
00:22:56.006 --> 00:22:56.467
as a company,
00:22:56.547 --> 00:22:58.909
I think is really important to the future
00:22:58.949 --> 00:23:00.971
of the industry because I don't know of
00:23:01.031 --> 00:23:02.814
many other organizations that are going
00:23:02.894 --> 00:23:04.474
out there and selling that model.
00:23:04.596 --> 00:23:06.738
I know that there's some like MSOs,
00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:10.201
some of those types of organizations that
00:23:10.241 --> 00:23:12.223
are trying to do some of that.
00:23:12.984 --> 00:23:14.125
The hard part is...
00:23:17.071 --> 00:23:19.513
now you're getting into understanding how
00:23:19.653 --> 00:23:21.596
all of this crazy insurance works, right?
00:23:21.635 --> 00:23:23.857
Like if I go to a self-insured employer,
00:23:23.917 --> 00:23:25.098
do I need prior off?
00:23:25.499 --> 00:23:27.300
Do I not?
00:23:27.740 --> 00:23:29.803
Am I under direct access laws?
00:23:29.942 --> 00:23:32.204
Am I not under direct access laws?
00:23:33.474 --> 00:23:34.496
Yes, it gets convoluted.
00:23:34.576 --> 00:23:36.576
I will say the answers to that are
00:23:36.596 --> 00:23:37.156
pretty simple.
00:23:37.176 --> 00:23:39.198
When a self-insured employer creates their
00:23:39.238 --> 00:23:40.718
plan, they get to dictate that.
00:23:41.338 --> 00:23:42.759
So if you go to an employer and
00:23:42.778 --> 00:23:43.880
you say, hey,
00:23:43.940 --> 00:23:45.840
we can save you twenty seven hundred
00:23:45.881 --> 00:23:46.721
dollars per claim.
00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:48.801
If you get your people into PT first,
00:23:49.461 --> 00:23:51.722
they can say, OK, we don't want prior.
00:23:51.903 --> 00:23:53.703
We just want our people to go that
00:23:53.723 --> 00:23:55.664
they can set that up because they're not
00:23:55.904 --> 00:23:57.645
they're they're not dictated by what
00:23:57.705 --> 00:23:58.405
insurance says.
00:23:59.186 --> 00:24:01.147
They make their they make their decisions
00:24:01.167 --> 00:24:01.788
for their own plan.
00:24:02.970 --> 00:24:04.470
If a clinic owner is listening right now,
00:24:06.270 --> 00:24:07.770
more often than not, they're like, okay,
00:24:07.810 --> 00:24:08.310
I'm nodding,
00:24:08.432 --> 00:24:10.251
but I might feel stuck or there's a
00:24:10.271 --> 00:24:10.652
barrier.
00:24:11.672 --> 00:24:14.833
What's one practical first move you can
00:24:14.873 --> 00:24:16.513
give them to make this quarter?
00:24:16.594 --> 00:24:18.554
Something that checks something off the
00:24:19.173 --> 00:24:20.775
box, but does move the ball forward.
00:24:22.252 --> 00:24:22.353
Yeah,
00:24:22.613 --> 00:24:25.816
I would say the first thing I would
00:24:25.875 --> 00:24:28.176
encourage practice owners to do is sit
00:24:28.196 --> 00:24:29.939
down and make a list or a spreadsheet
00:24:30.199 --> 00:24:32.661
and think about all of the connections
00:24:32.701 --> 00:24:34.882
that you have in your area,
00:24:35.083 --> 00:24:37.443
that your staff has in the area, right?
00:24:38.125 --> 00:24:40.767
You may have treated a COO at a
00:24:40.807 --> 00:24:41.988
local company, right?
00:24:42.428 --> 00:24:45.730
You may have treated someone who oversees
00:24:45.790 --> 00:24:47.791
the benefits of a self-insured employer in
00:24:47.811 --> 00:24:48.311
your area.
00:24:49.333 --> 00:24:52.434
Start with that list and look at who
00:24:52.535 --> 00:24:53.096
do I know?
00:24:53.135 --> 00:24:54.296
What connections do I have?
00:24:54.355 --> 00:24:56.438
And the reason I say start there is
00:24:56.458 --> 00:24:56.978
because it's like,
00:24:56.998 --> 00:24:57.939
how do you eat an elephant?
00:24:58.239 --> 00:24:59.880
Like one bite at a time, right?
00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:03.102
So like start there and see like, oh,
00:25:03.842 --> 00:25:05.442
actually, I have just myself.
00:25:05.462 --> 00:25:07.744
I have twenty connections between business
00:25:07.765 --> 00:25:09.665
networking groups and other connections in
00:25:09.705 --> 00:25:10.125
the area.
00:25:11.426 --> 00:25:13.288
My staff maybe even has more.
00:25:13.910 --> 00:25:15.852
There's real potential for this.
00:25:16.571 --> 00:25:18.074
And then I would,
00:25:18.273 --> 00:25:21.196
I would say reach out to someone like
00:25:21.356 --> 00:25:24.259
Second Door Health who is already has,
00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:26.101
has walked through that selling process,
00:25:26.602 --> 00:25:28.343
who is doing that selling process right
00:25:28.384 --> 00:25:28.624
now.
00:25:29.263 --> 00:25:30.746
The people there, Scott Hebert,
00:25:30.766 --> 00:25:32.768
Ryan Kleps, like their heart is,
00:25:33.127 --> 00:25:34.388
is for the industry as well.
00:25:34.469 --> 00:25:36.151
They love, they love, they,
00:25:36.351 --> 00:25:37.553
Clinicians, they love practices.
00:25:37.573 --> 00:25:39.055
They want to see the industry succeed.
00:25:39.776 --> 00:25:42.058
And they have a ton of free resources
00:25:42.318 --> 00:25:44.060
online as well that you can go and
00:25:44.260 --> 00:25:46.384
download or even listen to their blogs
00:25:46.904 --> 00:25:48.207
just to be able to see, okay,
00:25:48.326 --> 00:25:50.328
is this something that's feasible for me?
00:25:51.069 --> 00:25:52.031
And if it isn't,
00:25:53.670 --> 00:25:57.351
There are other ways that you can pursue
00:25:57.471 --> 00:25:58.491
to make that possible,
00:25:58.592 --> 00:26:00.413
whether it be through someone like Second
00:26:00.432 --> 00:26:02.933
Door who's providing a network where you
00:26:02.953 --> 00:26:05.555
can band together and treat those types of
00:26:06.654 --> 00:26:07.714
contracts with employers,
00:26:08.175 --> 00:26:10.435
or whether that's joining an MSO if you're
00:26:10.556 --> 00:26:14.077
not a part of an MSO or an
00:26:14.178 --> 00:26:15.258
IPA, something like that.
00:26:16.199 --> 00:26:18.699
So that's what I would say,
00:26:18.859 --> 00:26:19.619
first and foremost,
00:26:21.080 --> 00:26:23.501
start with who do i know and see
00:26:23.521 --> 00:26:25.443
that there's actually like it's probably
00:26:25.544 --> 00:26:28.144
easier than you think it is sure okay
00:26:28.945 --> 00:26:30.425
uh looking towards the future there's got
00:26:30.445 --> 00:26:31.926
to be pain if there's no pain people
00:26:31.946 --> 00:26:33.867
don't move what happens if independent
00:26:33.968 --> 00:26:38.590
clinics don't evolve i mean i'm i'm what
00:26:38.611 --> 00:26:39.892
are mistakes besides just straight up
00:26:39.912 --> 00:26:43.993
going out of business i mean yeah yeah
00:26:44.114 --> 00:26:48.176
i in in my opinion
00:26:50.145 --> 00:26:51.788
and I would say as someone who does
00:26:51.827 --> 00:26:54.309
not claim to be an expert on this
00:26:54.369 --> 00:26:56.291
matter, I've never owned a clinic, right?
00:26:56.332 --> 00:26:57.192
I probably never will,
00:26:57.232 --> 00:26:58.855
although I would love to potentially own
00:26:58.914 --> 00:26:59.474
one in the future.
00:27:01.057 --> 00:27:01.737
I think that
00:27:02.988 --> 00:27:05.070
My hypothesis, just in my opinion,
00:27:05.731 --> 00:27:07.133
I would say in five years,
00:27:08.173 --> 00:27:09.715
it's going to be very,
00:27:09.756 --> 00:27:12.859
very hard for the majority of private
00:27:13.099 --> 00:27:14.622
outpatient practices to continue to
00:27:14.642 --> 00:27:15.021
operate.
00:27:15.423 --> 00:27:18.105
Those who are already at scale,
00:27:18.425 --> 00:27:20.048
I think that they may be able to
00:27:20.167 --> 00:27:20.669
continue.
00:27:22.170 --> 00:27:22.790
But with...
00:27:23.815 --> 00:27:27.777
where cost is going where reimbursement is
00:27:27.856 --> 00:27:29.438
and we're reaching this point where like
00:27:29.978 --> 00:27:31.818
even if we get a three percent increase
00:27:31.858 --> 00:27:34.079
in reimbursement what did inflation do
00:27:34.099 --> 00:27:36.961
this year killed it like yeah i mean
00:27:37.182 --> 00:27:38.603
inflation increased more than three
00:27:38.643 --> 00:27:40.502
percent so like you're still getting paid
00:27:40.542 --> 00:27:45.185
less right and so my my fear and
00:27:45.226 --> 00:27:48.027
my concern and why i'm i'm passionate
00:27:48.106 --> 00:27:50.689
about this type of model for physical
00:27:50.709 --> 00:27:52.950
therapy practices is i i want
00:27:53.589 --> 00:27:56.191
practice owners to have the freedom to
00:27:56.391 --> 00:27:57.771
treat how they want to treat.
00:27:58.291 --> 00:27:59.912
If they want to start a practice and
00:28:00.031 --> 00:28:01.512
scale to twenty locations,
00:28:01.992 --> 00:28:03.094
I want them to have the ability to
00:28:03.114 --> 00:28:03.394
do that.
00:28:03.433 --> 00:28:06.214
If they want to start one single location
00:28:06.535 --> 00:28:07.934
or maybe just treat out of a gym,
00:28:08.434 --> 00:28:09.516
I want them to be able to do
00:28:09.536 --> 00:28:10.115
that as well.
00:28:10.415 --> 00:28:11.596
I think the problem with the
00:28:12.817 --> 00:28:14.498
fee for service model at the moment,
00:28:15.077 --> 00:28:17.680
is all of those things, who you treat,
00:28:18.180 --> 00:28:20.320
how you get paid, when you get paid,
00:28:20.621 --> 00:28:23.422
it's in somebody else's hands, right?
00:28:23.521 --> 00:28:25.963
And so going going direct to employer is
00:28:26.044 --> 00:28:26.443
hard.
00:28:26.844 --> 00:28:28.244
And it's scary because it's new.
00:28:28.744 --> 00:28:30.105
But what's the alternative?
00:28:30.185 --> 00:28:30.365
Sure.
00:28:30.566 --> 00:28:32.909
Keep waiting for someone else to make a
00:28:32.969 --> 00:28:33.329
change?
00:28:33.769 --> 00:28:33.970
Yeah.
00:28:34.270 --> 00:28:36.574
I mean, it doesn't matter, you know,
00:28:37.054 --> 00:28:38.256
even like the APTA,
00:28:38.375 --> 00:28:39.676
all of the great work that they do
00:28:39.717 --> 00:28:40.778
for lobbying, right?
00:28:41.159 --> 00:28:42.280
You're going up against,
00:28:43.201 --> 00:28:45.884
is the APTA putting more money into to
00:28:46.045 --> 00:28:47.346
lobbying than pharmaceuticals?
00:28:48.048 --> 00:28:48.428
Are they?
00:28:48.488 --> 00:28:49.068
Are they?
00:28:49.148 --> 00:28:49.269
No.
00:28:50.650 --> 00:28:51.631
And so, of course,
00:28:51.851 --> 00:28:52.951
pharmaceuticals are going to push for
00:28:52.971 --> 00:28:53.771
GLP-Ls,
00:28:54.332 --> 00:28:57.512
and we'll probably see subsidies for
00:28:57.532 --> 00:28:59.794
people to get GLP-Ls way before we see
00:28:59.834 --> 00:29:01.795
any kind of subsidy for payment in
00:29:01.835 --> 00:29:02.575
physical therapy.
00:29:03.796 --> 00:29:07.257
And so we can continue to wait and
00:29:07.336 --> 00:29:09.498
see who is something actually going to
00:29:09.518 --> 00:29:12.298
change, or we can pave our own path.
00:29:12.419 --> 00:29:15.779
And I believe the path is there because
00:29:15.819 --> 00:29:18.020
employers can't continue to pay these
00:29:18.080 --> 00:29:19.321
outrageous costs of healthcare.
00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:20.180
Agreed.
00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:20.441
All right.
00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:21.622
Last thing we do on each episode is
00:29:21.662 --> 00:29:23.324
called the parting shot.
00:29:23.344 --> 00:29:26.547
This is the parting shot.
00:29:27.087 --> 00:29:28.509
One last mic drop moment.
00:29:29.170 --> 00:29:29.951
No pressure.
00:29:30.412 --> 00:29:32.513
Just your legacy on the line.
00:29:33.924 --> 00:29:35.384
All right, big thanks to Sarah Health,
00:29:35.404 --> 00:29:37.185
the remote care platform helping clinics
00:29:37.226 --> 00:29:38.006
boost revenue,
00:29:38.165 --> 00:29:39.885
which is good without adding staff.
00:29:40.326 --> 00:29:42.007
Sarah automates daily patient check-ins
00:29:42.047 --> 00:29:42.567
via text.
00:29:42.646 --> 00:29:44.448
No app, no logins, just better outcomes.
00:29:44.827 --> 00:29:46.867
Simple way to meet those RTM requirements,
00:29:47.268 --> 00:29:48.208
improve follow-through,
00:29:48.228 --> 00:29:49.648
and actually get reimbursed for the care
00:29:49.669 --> 00:29:50.308
between visits.
00:29:50.729 --> 00:29:51.989
Easy to set up, simple to use,
00:29:52.009 --> 00:29:52.750
and patients love it.
00:29:53.069 --> 00:29:53.990
SarahHealth.com.
00:29:54.009 --> 00:29:56.549
That's S-A-R-A-Health.com.
00:29:56.891 --> 00:29:57.951
All right, parting shot, Matt.
00:29:58.010 --> 00:29:59.631
What do you got for me?
00:29:59.651 --> 00:30:00.330
Change the model.
00:30:01.352 --> 00:30:02.352
The model has to change.
00:30:03.682 --> 00:30:06.424
If physical therapy wants to continue to
00:30:06.464 --> 00:30:08.105
be successful and to grow,
00:30:08.226 --> 00:30:09.165
not just survive,
00:30:09.506 --> 00:30:10.507
we've got to change the model.
00:30:10.527 --> 00:30:11.487
Love it.
00:30:11.507 --> 00:30:11.707
All right.
00:30:11.747 --> 00:30:12.768
Find them on LinkedIn.
00:30:12.788 --> 00:30:13.667
I'll give you a link in the show
00:30:13.688 --> 00:30:13.907
notes.
00:30:13.928 --> 00:30:14.409
Matthew Pratt.
00:30:14.429 --> 00:30:15.249
Appreciate your time, man.
00:30:15.989 --> 00:30:16.609
Appreciate it, Jimmy.
00:30:16.730 --> 00:30:17.009
Thank you.
00:30:18.788 --> 00:30:19.869
That's it for this one,
00:30:20.130 --> 00:30:21.790
but we're just getting warmed up.
00:30:22.271 --> 00:30:24.173
Smash follow, send it to a friend,
00:30:24.393 --> 00:30:26.055
or crank up the next episode.
00:30:26.575 --> 00:30:27.496
Want to go deeper?
00:30:27.935 --> 00:30:30.057
Hit us at pgpinecast.com.
00:30:31.337 --> 00:30:33.539
Or find us on YouTube and socials at
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:34.580
pgpinecast.
00:30:34.980 --> 00:30:37.282
And legally, none of this was advice.
00:30:37.343 --> 00:30:38.983
It's for entertainment purposes only.
00:30:39.023 --> 00:30:40.726
Bullshit!
00:30:40.766 --> 00:30:41.346
See, Keith?
00:30:41.546 --> 00:30:42.626
We read the script.
00:30:42.906 --> 00:30:43.567
Happy now?
00:00:08.971 --> 00:00:10.032
Thanks, VoiceOverGuy.
00:00:10.393 --> 00:00:12.073
First, thanks to U.S.
00:00:12.093 --> 00:00:12.734
Physical Therapy.
00:00:12.753 --> 00:00:13.993
They were nice enough to host me at
00:00:14.394 --> 00:00:14.935
CSM.
00:00:15.035 --> 00:00:15.955
I got to hang out at their booth
00:00:15.994 --> 00:00:16.914
and do some live streams.
00:00:17.975 --> 00:00:19.275
If you've built something special,
00:00:20.056 --> 00:00:21.856
but scaling your clinic and planning for
00:00:21.917 --> 00:00:22.998
what's next, well,
00:00:23.018 --> 00:00:23.978
that can feel overwhelming.
00:00:24.277 --> 00:00:24.718
At U.S.
00:00:24.757 --> 00:00:25.478
Physical Therapy,
00:00:25.539 --> 00:00:27.899
they partner with clinic owners who want
00:00:27.939 --> 00:00:29.160
to grow with you
00:00:29.891 --> 00:00:30.873
without you having to give up your
00:00:30.913 --> 00:00:31.294
identity.
00:00:31.434 --> 00:00:32.314
You stay in control.
00:00:32.716 --> 00:00:33.697
They bring the support.
00:00:34.137 --> 00:00:37.942
Learn how at usphpartnership.com.
00:00:37.963 --> 00:00:40.305
That's usphpartnership.com, their website,
00:00:40.746 --> 00:00:43.048
USPH.
00:00:43.069 --> 00:00:43.329
Today,
00:00:43.350 --> 00:00:45.131
our guest believes physical therapy
00:00:45.271 --> 00:00:47.215
doesn't have a value problem.
00:00:48.290 --> 00:00:49.472
It has a positioning problem.
00:00:49.591 --> 00:00:50.171
I like this.
00:00:50.572 --> 00:00:52.292
He spends his time helping independent
00:00:52.332 --> 00:00:55.094
practices stop waiting for reimbursement
00:00:55.115 --> 00:00:58.116
to improve and start rethinking how they
00:00:58.137 --> 00:00:58.936
get paid altogether.
00:00:59.296 --> 00:01:01.097
While most clinic owners are stuck
00:01:01.118 --> 00:01:03.719
negotiating contracts, chasing referrals,
00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.302
or hoping legislation fixes their margins.
00:01:07.542 --> 00:01:08.623
Spoiler alert, it's not going to do that.
00:01:09.222 --> 00:01:10.584
He's asking different questions.
00:01:11.004 --> 00:01:12.465
What if the problem isn't reimbursement?
00:01:13.325 --> 00:01:14.525
What if the problem is the model?
00:01:14.625 --> 00:01:15.865
What if the call is coming from inside
00:01:15.885 --> 00:01:16.305
the house?
00:01:16.445 --> 00:01:17.105
You get the idea.
00:01:17.926 --> 00:01:19.466
He's gotten to work with practices that
00:01:19.507 --> 00:01:21.828
want more control over their pricing,
00:01:21.867 --> 00:01:22.668
their relationships,
00:01:22.707 --> 00:01:25.388
their future by building direct
00:01:25.409 --> 00:01:27.448
relationships with employers and
00:01:27.489 --> 00:01:30.409
positioning physical therapy as the first
00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:32.650
stop for musculoskeletal care.
00:01:32.891 --> 00:01:35.152
He's here to challenge the default system
00:01:35.492 --> 00:01:37.691
and give clinic owners in the audience a
00:01:37.751 --> 00:01:41.853
chance to think differently about power in
00:01:41.894 --> 00:01:42.353
healthcare.
00:01:43.274 --> 00:01:44.695
Let's bring him in, Matthew Pratt.
00:01:45.096 --> 00:01:47.078
Matthew, welcome to the show.
00:01:47.138 --> 00:01:48.661
Thank you for having me on.
00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:49.481
Pretty good intro, right?
00:01:49.522 --> 00:01:52.846
I tried to go NPR style.
00:01:53.006 --> 00:01:53.346
Yeah,
00:01:53.427 --> 00:01:54.548
I feel like I'm going to have a
00:01:54.587 --> 00:01:55.609
hard time living up to that,
00:01:55.670 --> 00:01:56.870
but that was really good.
00:01:56.911 --> 00:01:57.191
Thank you.
00:01:57.989 --> 00:01:58.209
All right.
00:01:58.230 --> 00:01:59.911
So I like bold statements and you say
00:01:59.990 --> 00:02:02.272
most PT practices don't actually have a
00:02:02.352 --> 00:02:04.111
reimbursement problem.
00:02:04.731 --> 00:02:06.813
They've got a business model problem.
00:02:07.173 --> 00:02:08.473
I like that because it changes the
00:02:08.554 --> 00:02:11.435
ownership on not our fault to it might
00:02:11.474 --> 00:02:12.235
not be our fault,
00:02:12.254 --> 00:02:13.735
but it is our problem.
00:02:14.015 --> 00:02:14.756
So break that down.
00:02:14.776 --> 00:02:15.756
Break that idea down for me.
00:02:15.795 --> 00:02:17.276
Yeah.
00:02:17.296 --> 00:02:17.817
Well,
00:02:17.836 --> 00:02:21.778
let me start by first saying reimbursement
00:02:21.899 --> 00:02:23.479
is an issue for a lot of practices.
00:02:23.519 --> 00:02:25.120
I'm not minimizing that in any way.
00:02:26.709 --> 00:02:29.151
The reason I say that the way that
00:02:29.230 --> 00:02:32.554
I do is because the current traditional
00:02:32.574 --> 00:02:35.116
fee for service system does not position
00:02:35.235 --> 00:02:36.556
physical therapy, for the most part,
00:02:36.918 --> 00:02:37.899
in a position to win.
00:02:38.758 --> 00:02:39.479
You're constantly,
00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:41.121
where your people come from,
00:02:41.401 --> 00:02:43.163
how much you get paid, your referrals,
00:02:43.663 --> 00:02:45.324
all of that is dictated by someone else.
00:02:45.884 --> 00:02:48.306
We're hoping legislation will change that.
00:02:48.706 --> 00:02:50.829
We're hoping referral partnerships will
00:02:50.848 --> 00:02:51.368
change that.
00:02:51.429 --> 00:02:52.030
We're hoping that
00:02:52.349 --> 00:02:54.050
the hospital system won't go out and
00:02:54.070 --> 00:02:55.752
acquire our competitor across the street
00:02:55.792 --> 00:02:57.391
and just refer everything in house.
00:02:58.193 --> 00:03:00.753
And so when you look at the reality
00:03:00.854 --> 00:03:01.514
of health,
00:03:01.633 --> 00:03:04.316
the healthcare costs in America continue
00:03:04.336 --> 00:03:04.936
to rise, right?
00:03:04.975 --> 00:03:07.336
I saw a post this morning by Dr.
00:03:07.417 --> 00:03:10.378
Eric Bricker and he, in his post,
00:03:10.399 --> 00:03:11.878
he talked about how for a family of
00:03:11.938 --> 00:03:12.520
five,
00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:16.961
the cost of healthcare for in Dallas,
00:03:17.002 --> 00:03:18.562
in the Dallas Fort Worth area was thirty
00:03:18.581 --> 00:03:19.562
five thousand dollars.
00:03:21.330 --> 00:03:24.772
which is, and that's my situation.
00:03:24.812 --> 00:03:25.973
I have a family of five, I'm married,
00:03:25.993 --> 00:03:27.335
I've got three little girls,
00:03:28.014 --> 00:03:30.336
and that's a lot of money, right?
00:03:30.796 --> 00:03:33.419
And so as these costs continue to rise,
00:03:33.838 --> 00:03:36.260
the people who are paying for care,
00:03:36.841 --> 00:03:38.983
patients and the people that employ them,
00:03:39.362 --> 00:03:41.063
they're looking for alternative methods to
00:03:41.104 --> 00:03:43.466
be able to bring those costs down, right?
00:03:44.045 --> 00:03:45.747
And so for physical therapy,
00:03:45.806 --> 00:03:47.989
I think that there's this unique
00:03:48.128 --> 00:03:50.751
opportunity to position, not as a,
00:03:51.751 --> 00:03:53.592
you know, a cheaper than option, right?
00:03:53.671 --> 00:03:55.412
As in, you know, outcomes are worse,
00:03:55.431 --> 00:03:56.353
but you save money.
00:03:56.893 --> 00:03:59.372
But in the reality of this does save
00:03:59.413 --> 00:04:00.973
you twenty seven hundred dollars on
00:04:01.033 --> 00:04:03.194
average per musculoskeletal claim for
00:04:03.235 --> 00:04:06.096
these employers and employers are willing
00:04:06.116 --> 00:04:07.075
to pay a premium for that.
00:04:07.475 --> 00:04:09.377
So to me, when I look at it,
00:04:10.016 --> 00:04:12.598
the positioning problem is that the value
00:04:12.677 --> 00:04:13.177
that P.T.,
00:04:14.777 --> 00:04:17.098
provides isn't being realized or
00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:18.720
recognized by the current system.
00:04:19.321 --> 00:04:21.302
So we need to look at alternative methods
00:04:21.341 --> 00:04:22.601
to go outside of, okay,
00:04:22.622 --> 00:04:25.223
who does value physical therapy and who's
00:04:25.244 --> 00:04:27.185
willing to pay what physical therapy is
00:04:27.245 --> 00:04:27.464
worth?
00:04:27.485 --> 00:04:28.805
Because I believe, you know,
00:04:28.865 --> 00:04:30.865
a hundred and fifty dollar reimbursement
00:04:30.886 --> 00:04:32.307
across the nation should be average.
00:04:32.666 --> 00:04:33.987
But I know a lot of practices I've
00:04:34.028 --> 00:04:34.348
talked to,
00:04:34.968 --> 00:04:36.329
sometimes they're getting fifty dollars,
00:04:36.728 --> 00:04:36.949
you know,
00:04:36.990 --> 00:04:38.370
sometimes they're getting seventy five.
00:04:39.050 --> 00:04:41.331
So that's why I say there's a positioning
00:04:41.372 --> 00:04:41.651
problem.
00:04:43.466 --> 00:04:44.627
It sort of changed.
00:04:44.666 --> 00:04:46.209
This part of the conversation feels like
00:04:46.249 --> 00:04:48.071
that Spider-Man meme, right?
00:04:48.211 --> 00:04:49.432
Is everybody sort of pointing at each
00:04:49.471 --> 00:04:50.452
other saying it's your fault.
00:04:50.473 --> 00:04:51.014
It's your fault.
00:04:51.053 --> 00:04:51.574
It's your fault.
00:04:51.593 --> 00:04:52.154
It sort of shifts.
00:04:52.595 --> 00:04:53.776
It shifts that ownership.
00:04:54.057 --> 00:04:54.276
I mean,
00:04:54.677 --> 00:04:55.959
I heard Jerry Durham say this a long
00:04:55.999 --> 00:04:56.379
time ago,
00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:57.620
which the fact that we still call it
00:04:57.779 --> 00:05:00.283
reimbursement and not getting paid like.
00:05:00.702 --> 00:05:02.824
i don't reimburse my plumber i pay him
00:05:02.985 --> 00:05:04.485
like i might get the invoice a day
00:05:04.545 --> 00:05:06.168
later but i still pay him isn't that
00:05:06.228 --> 00:05:08.209
funny how we even just the words like
00:05:08.288 --> 00:05:10.610
reimbursement it's like well thank thank
00:05:10.630 --> 00:05:12.793
you so much i appreciate you appreciate
00:05:12.812 --> 00:05:14.233
you allowing me to take your money for
00:05:14.254 --> 00:05:18.237
doing the thing i did right yeah yeah
00:05:18.637 --> 00:05:20.839
so what specifically breaks in the
00:05:20.899 --> 00:05:23.601
traditional fee-for-service model for
00:05:23.701 --> 00:05:26.504
independent practices where does it where
00:05:26.524 --> 00:05:27.966
does the where do things break down
00:05:30.524 --> 00:05:32.706
I think that a lot of it goes
00:05:32.745 --> 00:05:36.045
back to control and like control in the
00:05:36.105 --> 00:05:38.206
sense of in the traditional fee for
00:05:38.247 --> 00:05:38.766
service model,
00:05:38.807 --> 00:05:40.026
the way that things are set up right
00:05:40.067 --> 00:05:41.927
now, independent, you know,
00:05:42.007 --> 00:05:42.987
outpatient practices,
00:05:43.028 --> 00:05:45.507
they don't have the opportunity to dictate
00:05:46.028 --> 00:05:47.889
who do they treat, when do they treat,
00:05:47.928 --> 00:05:48.088
right?
00:05:48.129 --> 00:05:50.629
Obviously with greater direct access laws,
00:05:50.769 --> 00:05:51.889
some of that has opened up to a
00:05:51.949 --> 00:05:52.250
point,
00:05:52.670 --> 00:05:54.170
but I know certain States it's still,
00:05:54.250 --> 00:05:54.430
you know,
00:05:54.449 --> 00:05:57.230
there's caps on how many visits people can
00:05:57.271 --> 00:05:58.591
get on direct access and
00:05:59.725 --> 00:06:02.386
And so from a,
00:06:04.286 --> 00:06:07.567
the problem I would say with the current
00:06:07.588 --> 00:06:09.528
traditional fee for service model is it's
00:06:09.608 --> 00:06:12.610
not built to value physical therapy and
00:06:12.629 --> 00:06:14.690
for physical therapy practices to win,
00:06:15.071 --> 00:06:15.331
right?
00:06:15.630 --> 00:06:17.132
The people that are winning right now are
00:06:17.232 --> 00:06:18.091
the health systems,
00:06:18.151 --> 00:06:19.312
the people that are winning
00:06:19.853 --> 00:06:21.634
are the people who have the scale to
00:06:21.673 --> 00:06:23.374
go in and negotiate reimbursements.
00:06:24.213 --> 00:06:26.274
And I've even had this conversation with
00:06:26.314 --> 00:06:30.115
some people who agree and disagree with
00:06:30.156 --> 00:06:30.696
what I'm saying.
00:06:30.896 --> 00:06:31.497
And that's great.
00:06:31.576 --> 00:06:33.257
I think that that's the discourse that we
00:06:33.297 --> 00:06:33.456
need.
00:06:33.697 --> 00:06:35.278
That's how the industry,
00:06:35.298 --> 00:06:36.538
that's how health care gets pushed
00:06:36.557 --> 00:06:36.877
forward.
00:06:37.117 --> 00:06:38.319
We have these conversations.
00:06:39.184 --> 00:06:42.565
But when your practice is located in a
00:06:42.605 --> 00:06:44.005
large metropolitan area,
00:06:44.786 --> 00:06:47.427
you have the demographics and the wealth
00:06:47.528 --> 00:06:49.048
to say, oh, I offer cash pay.
00:06:49.608 --> 00:06:51.350
I offer these other wellness services.
00:06:51.790 --> 00:06:54.351
And I can scale to the point where
00:06:54.411 --> 00:06:57.312
now I can negotiate my contracts and get
00:06:57.372 --> 00:06:59.093
meaningful change in my reimbursement.
00:06:59.454 --> 00:07:02.495
But what does the small rural pediatric
00:07:02.516 --> 00:07:04.776
practice who services mainly Medicare
00:07:04.797 --> 00:07:05.697
patients, what do they do?
00:07:07.261 --> 00:07:08.942
that they're they're forced to say well i
00:07:08.961 --> 00:07:10.863
have to take what i can get from
00:07:10.963 --> 00:07:13.386
insurance and that that is what it is
00:07:13.565 --> 00:07:16.028
right and so and i even in that
00:07:16.048 --> 00:07:17.569
conversation i've had you know people have
00:07:17.588 --> 00:07:19.730
told me well they decided to do that
00:07:19.790 --> 00:07:21.492
that's their problem right and like i
00:07:21.512 --> 00:07:23.713
understand but i think we all would agree
00:07:23.774 --> 00:07:25.696
greater access to care is good like we
00:07:25.836 --> 00:07:27.357
want people getting into the care that
00:07:27.396 --> 00:07:29.038
they need so we've got to find a
00:07:29.057 --> 00:07:31.100
way that it at least works for the
00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:33.002
vast majority of people
00:07:33.601 --> 00:07:35.382
and and i i don't i'm not in
00:07:35.463 --> 00:07:37.663
any way advocating that we should just
00:07:37.702 --> 00:07:39.803
trash the traditional fee for service
00:07:39.863 --> 00:07:42.865
model i i don't that's not what i
00:07:42.904 --> 00:07:44.745
think would be most beneficial especially
00:07:44.785 --> 00:07:47.545
for most practices but i do think that
00:07:47.565 --> 00:07:49.107
we're kind of getting to an inflection
00:07:49.166 --> 00:07:52.648
point where the cost of providing care
00:07:53.668 --> 00:07:57.031
Inflation, rising overhead, staffing,
00:07:57.072 --> 00:07:59.494
how much it costs to pay your staff.
00:08:00.014 --> 00:08:01.696
People are coming out of PT school with,
00:08:02.156 --> 00:08:03.598
I think, you can correct me, Jimmy,
00:08:03.617 --> 00:08:04.057
I'm not sure.
00:08:04.098 --> 00:08:05.098
I think the average is like a hundred
00:08:05.119 --> 00:08:07.521
and fifty thousand in student loans is
00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:09.023
what people are coming out of PT school.
00:08:09.483 --> 00:08:10.343
So people with that much debt,
00:08:10.363 --> 00:08:11.745
they can't come in and start at sixty
00:08:11.785 --> 00:08:11.805
K.
00:08:12.466 --> 00:08:12.665
Right.
00:08:12.706 --> 00:08:14.906
Like they've they've got to make more
00:08:14.947 --> 00:08:16.047
money than that.
00:08:16.107 --> 00:08:16.387
Right.
00:08:17.107 --> 00:08:20.088
And we're getting to this point where it's
00:08:20.168 --> 00:08:22.228
getting incredibly hard for we'll call
00:08:22.249 --> 00:08:24.670
them the mom and pop private practices to
00:08:24.750 --> 00:08:25.149
operate.
00:08:25.509 --> 00:08:25.709
Right.
00:08:26.209 --> 00:08:29.130
Margins are getting so thin they can't eat
00:08:29.151 --> 00:08:29.750
the cost.
00:08:29.971 --> 00:08:31.291
Larger practices can.
00:08:31.891 --> 00:08:32.471
And for me,
00:08:32.532 --> 00:08:34.673
like just my my background and I think,
00:08:34.692 --> 00:08:36.913
you know, just uniquely to my experience,
00:08:36.933 --> 00:08:37.994
what I've been able to see,
00:08:39.313 --> 00:08:40.554
I've spent a lot of time
00:08:41.274 --> 00:08:43.798
emailing cold calling practices all across
00:08:43.837 --> 00:08:45.799
the country like some people who listen
00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:47.380
this you may even have a voicemail in
00:08:47.400 --> 00:08:49.363
your inbox from me at this very moment
00:08:49.383 --> 00:08:53.407
uh but in the month of january alone
00:08:53.748 --> 00:08:56.149
um i talked to two six location practices
00:08:56.190 --> 00:08:58.192
i'm obviously not gonna name names or
00:08:58.371 --> 00:09:01.394
locations uh talk to two owners who told
00:09:01.414 --> 00:09:03.798
me in january two six location practices
00:09:03.837 --> 00:09:04.597
that they were selling
00:09:05.359 --> 00:09:07.701
and i've seen that as a growing trend
00:09:07.721 --> 00:09:10.203
yeah over the last six months and i
00:09:10.244 --> 00:09:11.885
think we're getting to that point where
00:09:12.265 --> 00:09:14.427
the economics don't make sense that
00:09:14.467 --> 00:09:14.827
doesn't matter
00:09:16.014 --> 00:09:18.495
the math doesn't math and the concern that
00:09:18.634 --> 00:09:21.835
I have, you know, my background, um,
00:09:21.934 --> 00:09:23.336
I played football from fifth grade into
00:09:23.395 --> 00:09:23.755
college.
00:09:23.775 --> 00:09:24.796
I've, I've had,
00:09:24.875 --> 00:09:26.475
I've been on a lot of treatment tables.
00:09:27.155 --> 00:09:27.216
Um,
00:09:27.275 --> 00:09:28.397
I've got a very good friend who's a
00:09:28.437 --> 00:09:31.136
physical therapist here in where I live.
00:09:31.836 --> 00:09:32.157
Um, I,
00:09:32.397 --> 00:09:34.357
I deeply care about the industry and about
00:09:34.418 --> 00:09:35.177
physical therapy.
00:09:35.758 --> 00:09:38.078
And my concern is that in,
00:09:38.099 --> 00:09:39.778
in five years, the,
00:09:39.979 --> 00:09:40.078
the
00:09:41.547 --> 00:09:43.729
The PT student coming out and saying,
00:09:43.828 --> 00:09:45.350
I want to go start my own practice
00:09:45.711 --> 00:09:47.111
because I just want to treat and serve
00:09:47.152 --> 00:09:47.731
my community.
00:09:47.792 --> 00:09:49.293
And maybe we scale it in the future.
00:09:49.874 --> 00:09:50.774
They're not going to be able to do
00:09:50.794 --> 00:09:50.914
that.
00:09:50.955 --> 00:09:52.296
Their only option is going to be,
00:09:52.817 --> 00:09:53.697
I've got to go,
00:09:53.918 --> 00:09:55.960
I've got to go work for this very
00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:56.740
large company.
00:09:57.181 --> 00:09:58.081
And we're going to only going to have
00:09:58.302 --> 00:09:59.182
four or five of those.
00:09:59.221 --> 00:10:00.744
Maybe that's, that's my concern.
00:10:02.100 --> 00:10:03.782
That's what I've been hearing,
00:10:03.802 --> 00:10:05.202
and that's what some of the smart people
00:10:05.222 --> 00:10:05.923
that I hang out with,
00:10:05.942 --> 00:10:08.203
which is you can do this as an
00:10:08.384 --> 00:10:09.644
individual provider.
00:10:09.825 --> 00:10:11.365
This is where they say the rise of
00:10:11.405 --> 00:10:14.787
the one point five FTE location, right?
00:10:14.886 --> 00:10:16.227
It's like you running it,
00:10:16.607 --> 00:10:18.269
you bring someone on part time.
00:10:18.808 --> 00:10:20.490
But when you go to a step bigger
00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:20.929
than that,
00:10:22.044 --> 00:10:24.265
that that next step doesn't make any sense
00:10:24.525 --> 00:10:26.407
the other end of the spectrum is a
00:10:26.466 --> 00:10:30.208
giant multi-state um chain or a hospital
00:10:30.249 --> 00:10:32.389
system or you know you sort of do
00:10:32.409 --> 00:10:34.750
what danny mattei and his group talk about
00:10:34.770 --> 00:10:36.312
which is like it's just cash but will
00:10:36.331 --> 00:10:37.133
that work everywhere
00:10:37.932 --> 00:10:38.533
Maybe not.
00:10:38.653 --> 00:10:38.933
Right.
00:10:39.014 --> 00:10:40.134
Like, so,
00:10:40.173 --> 00:10:41.914
so the question I always ask people is
00:10:41.936 --> 00:10:43.275
like, what game are you playing?
00:10:43.716 --> 00:10:45.116
What game do you think you're playing?
00:10:45.457 --> 00:10:46.778
I heard someone say it on a podcast
00:10:46.817 --> 00:10:47.178
recently.
00:10:47.198 --> 00:10:48.519
I, you know, just somebody was saying,
00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:48.860
Oh my God,
00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:50.220
I'm just done with this corporate America.
00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:51.360
I'm just going to go open a, um,
00:10:51.541 --> 00:10:52.142
a coffee shop.
00:10:52.921 --> 00:10:54.601
And the guy was probing and he goes,
00:10:54.841 --> 00:10:54.981
well,
00:10:55.001 --> 00:10:56.522
do you like spreadsheets and ordering
00:10:56.562 --> 00:10:58.582
coffee and cups and lids and napkins?
00:10:58.602 --> 00:10:59.303
And they're like, no,
00:10:59.384 --> 00:11:01.043
I want to hang out and talk and
00:11:01.104 --> 00:11:01.825
hand coffee over.
00:11:01.845 --> 00:11:03.784
He goes, you want to be a barista?
00:11:04.645 --> 00:11:06.186
That's what a barista does.
00:11:06.225 --> 00:11:08.907
So a coffee shop owner doesn't really does
00:11:08.927 --> 00:11:10.187
that one percent of the time.
00:11:10.888 --> 00:11:12.087
So I think when people are like,
00:11:12.107 --> 00:11:14.249
I'm frustrated by doing whatever this is,
00:11:14.349 --> 00:11:15.668
either a clinician or an owner,
00:11:15.788 --> 00:11:17.489
understand what game you're actually
00:11:17.528 --> 00:11:17.769
playing.
00:11:17.788 --> 00:11:18.908
Because right now for owners,
00:11:19.370 --> 00:11:21.029
it sounds like margin compression,
00:11:21.429 --> 00:11:24.370
referral dependency, or I mean,
00:11:24.429 --> 00:11:25.191
I've said this before,
00:11:25.510 --> 00:11:27.171
you need to be a marketing engine first
00:11:27.191 --> 00:11:28.931
that happens to sell physical therapy.
00:11:29.591 --> 00:11:31.692
Red Bull is a marketing company that
00:11:32.091 --> 00:11:33.831
happens to sell an energy drink,
00:11:33.991 --> 00:11:34.892
not the other way around.
00:11:35.653 --> 00:11:36.312
And then, I mean,
00:11:36.393 --> 00:11:37.773
we've heard just in the last couple of
00:11:37.793 --> 00:11:38.072
weeks,
00:11:39.928 --> 00:11:41.710
Clinicians saying I signed on to that
00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:43.711
contract knowing I'm losing money every
00:11:44.111 --> 00:11:44.452
visit.
00:11:44.513 --> 00:11:44.673
I'm like,
00:11:44.812 --> 00:11:45.714
how do you do that with a straight
00:11:45.734 --> 00:11:46.153
face?
00:11:46.433 --> 00:11:46.594
Like,
00:11:46.774 --> 00:11:48.275
how do you do that with a straight
00:11:48.316 --> 00:11:48.655
face?
00:11:49.277 --> 00:11:50.778
So overall,
00:11:51.057 --> 00:11:53.620
we can say you've said PT needs better
00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:55.601
positioning.
00:11:55.682 --> 00:11:57.623
What does that look like to you in
00:11:57.643 --> 00:11:58.283
a practice?
00:12:00.136 --> 00:12:00.277
Yeah,
00:12:00.356 --> 00:12:03.258
I think the two ways that come to
00:12:03.278 --> 00:12:05.119
mind, you mentioned it a second ago,
00:12:05.178 --> 00:12:05.739
right?
00:12:05.938 --> 00:12:06.940
There's cash-based,
00:12:07.899 --> 00:12:10.160
and I think that should be a mix
00:12:10.400 --> 00:12:13.383
of every practice's payer mixes is just
00:12:13.403 --> 00:12:14.523
cash-based patients.
00:12:15.043 --> 00:12:18.524
I think the hard part with that is,
00:12:21.870 --> 00:12:23.971
And I could be completely wrong on this,
00:12:24.052 --> 00:12:26.153
but I haven't seen many practices that are
00:12:26.173 --> 00:12:28.855
cash based be able to scale really well.
00:12:28.895 --> 00:12:30.738
And I think part of the problem with
00:12:30.758 --> 00:12:32.658
that is you're very demographic dependent,
00:12:32.698 --> 00:12:32.899
right?
00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:35.042
Just like the example I provided earlier.
00:12:35.062 --> 00:12:35.721
I mean,
00:12:35.861 --> 00:12:37.964
I grew up in a pretty rural area,
00:12:38.104 --> 00:12:39.065
blue collar family.
00:12:39.466 --> 00:12:40.826
We would have never had the money.
00:12:41.226 --> 00:12:42.788
to pay to go to physical therapy
00:12:42.827 --> 00:12:44.610
cash-based never would have had the money
00:12:45.191 --> 00:12:47.371
and so i think that's where you know
00:12:47.451 --> 00:12:49.254
the cash pay you know you get into
00:12:49.333 --> 00:12:51.075
well what are direct access laws you know
00:12:52.035 --> 00:12:54.798
does this work in every demographic it can
00:12:54.938 --> 00:12:57.321
to some extent right but i i don't
00:12:57.341 --> 00:12:59.942
think it's the solution in my opinion
00:13:00.082 --> 00:13:00.442
where
00:13:01.224 --> 00:13:04.086
I think the biggest opportunity for
00:13:04.566 --> 00:13:06.147
physical therapy and for physical therapy
00:13:06.206 --> 00:13:09.729
practices is in the direct direct
00:13:09.908 --> 00:13:11.750
contracting model with employers.
00:13:12.490 --> 00:13:15.712
And I'll tell you why I think that's
00:13:15.753 --> 00:13:16.192
the case.
00:13:18.114 --> 00:13:21.095
it alleviates some of the problems that we
00:13:21.115 --> 00:13:22.014
just talked about, right?
00:13:22.054 --> 00:13:23.576
Like, oh, this is a rural area.
00:13:23.895 --> 00:13:25.275
These people don't have a lot of money.
00:13:25.336 --> 00:13:27.356
They can't afford to pay me cash pay,
00:13:27.596 --> 00:13:27.797
right?
00:13:27.817 --> 00:13:28.496
But I also,
00:13:29.116 --> 00:13:31.118
I'm not really happy with the contracted
00:13:31.177 --> 00:13:32.317
insurance rate, right?
00:13:32.357 --> 00:13:34.578
That I'm usually getting in the same area.
00:13:35.538 --> 00:13:37.980
When you contract directly with a
00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:40.921
self-insured employer, and Jim,
00:13:41.020 --> 00:13:42.041
are you familiar, Jimmy,
00:13:42.061 --> 00:13:44.261
with like what a self-insured employer is?
00:13:44.830 --> 00:13:46.129
Yeah, but just explain again,
00:13:46.169 --> 00:13:48.191
because I don't know if everybody does.
00:13:48.230 --> 00:13:48.451
Yeah.
00:13:48.910 --> 00:13:49.871
So basically,
00:13:49.932 --> 00:13:51.591
when an employer is self-insured,
00:13:51.611 --> 00:13:53.732
they have their own group health plan.
00:13:54.552 --> 00:13:57.413
And instead of paying premiums to Blue
00:13:57.433 --> 00:13:59.154
Cross Blue Shield, UHC,
00:13:59.894 --> 00:14:02.134
they basically they have a third party
00:14:02.174 --> 00:14:03.895
administrator that can be someone like
00:14:04.096 --> 00:14:05.255
Blue Cross or UHC.
00:14:05.716 --> 00:14:07.576
But instead of paying for premiums,
00:14:07.657 --> 00:14:09.357
they're just paying all of the claims out
00:14:09.398 --> 00:14:09.878
of pocket.
00:14:09.918 --> 00:14:12.359
So for their covered lives.
00:14:12.698 --> 00:14:12.958
Right.
00:14:12.999 --> 00:14:13.139
So.
00:14:13.899 --> 00:14:15.399
Anyone who's an employee and then an
00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:16.539
attendant on their plan,
00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:19.660
they pay all of the healthcare costs for
00:14:19.721 --> 00:14:20.841
those people, right?
00:14:21.461 --> 00:14:26.663
And what that means is when my wife
00:14:26.722 --> 00:14:27.884
pulls her back at the gym,
00:14:28.754 --> 00:14:30.035
And then she has to go to the
00:14:30.056 --> 00:14:30.716
PCP.
00:14:31.277 --> 00:14:32.836
And then the PCP says, yeah,
00:14:33.278 --> 00:14:35.639
I don't really get musculoskeletal.
00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:38.541
Let me refer you to a specialist.
00:14:39.301 --> 00:14:41.802
And then you go to the specialist and
00:14:42.023 --> 00:14:43.543
you might get a great specialist who's
00:14:43.583 --> 00:14:44.083
like, oh yeah,
00:14:44.124 --> 00:14:45.284
this sounds more like a PT problem.
00:14:45.304 --> 00:14:47.005
Let's get you into PT, right?
00:14:47.225 --> 00:14:49.267
My experience having gone through this
00:14:49.307 --> 00:14:51.128
before, they're gonna wanna do imaging.
00:14:51.788 --> 00:14:52.828
And then once you get imaging,
00:14:52.869 --> 00:14:53.889
they're either gonna say,
00:14:54.330 --> 00:14:56.692
let's do surgery or pain management.
00:14:57.451 --> 00:14:59.113
or maybe PT, right?
00:14:59.153 --> 00:15:01.014
But I think it's pretty rare that people
00:15:01.054 --> 00:15:02.936
go, they get pushed directly into PT,
00:15:03.096 --> 00:15:03.336
right?
00:15:03.956 --> 00:15:05.638
All of those stops along the way,
00:15:05.918 --> 00:15:07.119
it just inflates the costs.
00:15:07.818 --> 00:15:09.900
And these self-insured employers who are
00:15:09.961 --> 00:15:12.342
paying every cost along the way,
00:15:12.682 --> 00:15:15.585
every PCP visit, every specialist visit,
00:15:16.745 --> 00:15:18.647
they're looking at this rising cost of
00:15:18.687 --> 00:15:19.488
healthcare and going,
00:15:20.248 --> 00:15:21.370
How do I,
00:15:21.971 --> 00:15:23.215
how do I make this work?
00:15:23.716 --> 00:15:23.917
Right?
00:15:23.956 --> 00:15:25.541
Like I only have so much budget that
00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:28.827
I can put towards this and then how
00:15:28.868 --> 00:15:29.490
do I make it work?
00:15:30.740 --> 00:15:33.602
So they are willing to be self-insured
00:15:33.643 --> 00:15:34.222
employers.
00:15:34.403 --> 00:15:36.706
And the majority of employers in America
00:15:36.885 --> 00:15:38.147
are actually self-insured.
00:15:38.307 --> 00:15:40.629
And what we've been seeing in our
00:15:40.668 --> 00:15:42.630
conversations at like Second Door Health
00:15:43.131 --> 00:15:45.874
is basically more and more employers,
00:15:46.095 --> 00:15:48.035
even smaller and smaller employers,
00:15:48.096 --> 00:15:50.198
because the premiums are getting so
00:15:50.239 --> 00:15:50.839
expensive,
00:15:51.539 --> 00:15:53.201
they're looking to go self-insured.
00:15:53.341 --> 00:15:54.702
It just costs too much.
00:15:55.447 --> 00:15:56.469
It's a gamble,
00:15:57.009 --> 00:15:58.649
but now there's skin in the game.
00:15:58.850 --> 00:16:01.730
So now you're advocating for better
00:16:01.750 --> 00:16:02.871
decisions and you're like, well,
00:16:02.892 --> 00:16:04.312
if this on average,
00:16:04.331 --> 00:16:05.653
because everything's an average, right?
00:16:06.253 --> 00:16:08.014
This on average tends to lead to lower
00:16:08.053 --> 00:16:09.315
costs and better outcomes,
00:16:09.754 --> 00:16:11.096
getting that person back to work,
00:16:11.535 --> 00:16:12.495
covering them, right?
00:16:12.535 --> 00:16:14.017
Giving them care, back to work,
00:16:14.336 --> 00:16:14.956
solving the problem.
00:16:15.097 --> 00:16:15.878
And it's less money.
00:16:16.138 --> 00:16:17.158
Well, I'm going to want to do that.
00:16:17.198 --> 00:16:19.099
I'm incentivized to do that.
00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:20.580
Whereas the insurance company,
00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:22.160
you have paid them.
00:16:23.586 --> 00:16:25.625
Now they are now practicing medicine
00:16:25.645 --> 00:16:26.427
without a license,
00:16:26.486 --> 00:16:28.787
essentially where they will deny or use
00:16:28.826 --> 00:16:31.067
strategies to pay as little as possible.
00:16:31.508 --> 00:16:33.087
It's just, it's moving where the money is.
00:16:33.107 --> 00:16:34.768
It's moving where the decisions are made.
00:16:35.408 --> 00:16:36.168
Yeah.
00:16:36.227 --> 00:16:36.389
Yeah.
00:16:36.448 --> 00:16:36.528
And,
00:16:36.729 --> 00:16:39.288
and the reason why I think this is
00:16:39.349 --> 00:16:39.869
such a,
00:16:41.570 --> 00:16:42.750
I think it needs to be a very
00:16:42.789 --> 00:16:45.250
important model for the future of physical
00:16:45.309 --> 00:16:46.971
therapy and especially private outpatient
00:16:46.990 --> 00:16:48.890
physical therapy is that
00:16:50.340 --> 00:16:51.581
these employers,
00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:55.221
they're not looking to pay you less than
00:16:55.260 --> 00:16:57.381
your current contracted rate with Blue
00:16:57.402 --> 00:16:58.081
Cross Blue Shield.
00:16:58.621 --> 00:17:00.363
Most of the time when we've had these
00:17:00.403 --> 00:17:01.802
conversations with employers,
00:17:02.403 --> 00:17:05.104
they're willing to pay above and beyond a
00:17:05.183 --> 00:17:06.644
per visit rate of what you're getting
00:17:06.703 --> 00:17:07.064
right now.
00:17:07.403 --> 00:17:09.585
The reason being you're saving them on
00:17:09.664 --> 00:17:09.944
average,
00:17:09.984 --> 00:17:11.825
twenty seven hundred dollars per claim for
00:17:11.865 --> 00:17:12.846
musculoskeletal care.
00:17:13.165 --> 00:17:13.405
Right.
00:17:13.766 --> 00:17:15.046
So they're looking at that and they go,
00:17:15.086 --> 00:17:15.185
well,
00:17:15.205 --> 00:17:17.386
if I had two hundred claims last year,
00:17:17.987 --> 00:17:19.508
that's five hundred and forty thousand
00:17:19.548 --> 00:17:21.650
dollars potentially in savings.
00:17:22.130 --> 00:17:23.852
That's that's yeah.
00:17:24.311 --> 00:17:25.353
They like that math, too.
00:17:26.173 --> 00:17:29.457
And the reason in all that being said,
00:17:29.517 --> 00:17:29.696
like,
00:17:31.057 --> 00:17:32.719
This model, it's not easy.
00:17:32.999 --> 00:17:33.778
It takes time.
00:17:33.818 --> 00:17:35.259
It takes time developing the
00:17:35.299 --> 00:17:36.780
relationships, the conversations,
00:17:36.861 --> 00:17:37.721
and it's new, right?
00:17:37.760 --> 00:17:39.821
Anytime you're trying to introduce a new
00:17:39.862 --> 00:17:41.482
business model, a new product,
00:17:42.083 --> 00:17:42.824
it takes time.
00:17:43.364 --> 00:17:47.665
But the reason I think that it needs
00:17:47.685 --> 00:17:48.586
to be a part of the future of
00:17:48.605 --> 00:17:49.727
physical therapy is one,
00:17:50.967 --> 00:17:51.867
margins are an issue.
00:17:52.228 --> 00:17:53.568
This is a great way to solve margin
00:17:53.588 --> 00:17:54.628
problems, right?
00:17:55.229 --> 00:17:55.950
And, you know,
00:17:56.769 --> 00:17:58.490
When you have those direct contracts,
00:17:58.891 --> 00:18:00.832
you can set that up as onsite services,
00:18:01.271 --> 00:18:02.913
or you can just have people fed right
00:18:02.952 --> 00:18:04.054
into your clinic, right?
00:18:04.114 --> 00:18:05.575
If you wanna go onsite and you've got
00:18:05.595 --> 00:18:06.535
the infrastructure for that,
00:18:06.974 --> 00:18:07.615
you can do that.
00:18:08.215 --> 00:18:08.655
If not,
00:18:09.116 --> 00:18:10.537
you can just have people funneled straight
00:18:10.576 --> 00:18:11.198
into your clinic,
00:18:11.698 --> 00:18:13.179
most likely for a higher reimbursement
00:18:13.199 --> 00:18:14.859
than what anyone else is paying you at
00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:15.240
the moment.
00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:18.300
And it solves the problem we talked about
00:18:18.361 --> 00:18:20.362
earlier with the cash pay or the
00:18:20.402 --> 00:18:21.403
cash-based model.
00:18:22.063 --> 00:18:24.403
Because even in rural communities,
00:18:24.844 --> 00:18:26.384
your municipalities,
00:18:26.644 --> 00:18:27.806
your school districts,
00:18:28.205 --> 00:18:29.306
your fire departments,
00:18:29.385 --> 00:18:30.307
your police departments,
00:18:30.386 --> 00:18:32.327
those are all generally self-insured.
00:18:33.127 --> 00:18:35.108
So no matter where you're located,
00:18:35.628 --> 00:18:37.410
you have people that you can go out
00:18:37.450 --> 00:18:41.311
and contract with and be able to fulfill
00:18:41.352 --> 00:18:42.112
this type of model.
00:18:42.567 --> 00:18:43.868
We'll get to misconceptions in a minute.
00:18:43.888 --> 00:18:45.528
I want to say thanks to Empower EMR,
00:18:45.949 --> 00:18:47.089
one of the organizations supporting the
00:18:47.109 --> 00:18:47.250
show.
00:18:47.269 --> 00:18:48.569
If your clinic is stuck on an EMR
00:18:48.589 --> 00:18:49.310
but slows you down,
00:18:49.790 --> 00:18:50.730
that's a choice you made.
00:18:50.871 --> 00:18:51.932
You don't have to do that forever.
00:18:52.372 --> 00:18:54.093
Empower gives you speed, clean workflows,
00:18:54.113 --> 00:18:56.013
and features PTs actually ask for.
00:18:56.433 --> 00:18:58.114
Better notes, faster documentation,
00:18:58.173 --> 00:18:59.115
smoother operations,
00:18:59.674 --> 00:19:01.215
all wrapped in customer support that just
00:19:01.236 --> 00:19:01.996
doesn't ghost you.
00:19:02.175 --> 00:19:04.017
Upgrade your clinic's brain with Empower
00:19:04.156 --> 00:19:06.657
EMR at empoweremr.com.
00:19:06.892 --> 00:19:07.652
dot com.
00:19:08.593 --> 00:19:09.633
Misconceptions.
00:19:09.913 --> 00:19:11.394
So with direct to employer,
00:19:11.874 --> 00:19:14.115
there's some misconceptions I bet that PTs
00:19:14.154 --> 00:19:14.634
have about it.
00:19:14.674 --> 00:19:16.075
You just touched on it a second ago.
00:19:16.295 --> 00:19:17.215
I'm too small.
00:19:17.875 --> 00:19:19.036
I don't know how to sell.
00:19:19.375 --> 00:19:20.916
That's only for big groups.
00:19:20.957 --> 00:19:21.116
I mean,
00:19:21.136 --> 00:19:22.076
I guess two of those have to do
00:19:22.096 --> 00:19:24.678
with size, but are all those wrong?
00:19:24.817 --> 00:19:26.138
Are those wrong?
00:19:26.538 --> 00:19:28.058
Should people change their viewpoint on
00:19:28.078 --> 00:19:29.779
that if you're a PT listening?
00:19:32.587 --> 00:19:34.489
They â the size, yes and no.
00:19:34.509 --> 00:19:37.990
And this is â how I would answer
00:19:38.030 --> 00:19:40.492
that is when you're pursuing these
00:19:40.553 --> 00:19:41.893
contracts with employers, right,
00:19:42.394 --> 00:19:44.674
you have to have the clinic density and
00:19:45.915 --> 00:19:49.298
geographic coverage to be able to service
00:19:49.357 --> 00:19:51.318
the people that are employed by them.
00:19:51.338 --> 00:19:51.699
Got it.
00:19:51.719 --> 00:19:54.681
So where you are and where you're â
00:19:55.515 --> 00:19:57.517
where the organization is located is not
00:19:57.596 --> 00:19:58.998
actually where the people live because
00:19:59.018 --> 00:20:00.219
they might also get it so i'm
00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:02.980
understanding that god yes yeah so that
00:20:03.300 --> 00:20:06.183
that can be a problem and like we
00:20:06.223 --> 00:20:07.644
you know at second door like i've talked
00:20:07.664 --> 00:20:10.027
to single location practice practices that
00:20:10.067 --> 00:20:12.248
were like hey i want to do this
00:20:12.268 --> 00:20:13.710
direct to employer thing like let's get it
00:20:13.750 --> 00:20:15.550
going and i'm like i want you to
00:20:15.590 --> 00:20:16.070
do it too
00:20:17.082 --> 00:20:19.423
But you have one practice and there's two
00:20:19.463 --> 00:20:22.305
hundred employees at this one employer.
00:20:22.365 --> 00:20:23.625
They probably have five hundred covered
00:20:23.665 --> 00:20:24.126
lives.
00:20:24.807 --> 00:20:26.647
You on your own can't service that.
00:20:26.928 --> 00:20:27.088
Right.
00:20:27.148 --> 00:20:29.789
And I think that's where I think for
00:20:29.849 --> 00:20:32.352
so long, because, you know,
00:20:32.652 --> 00:20:33.893
I would say just, you know,
00:20:33.932 --> 00:20:34.834
my humble opinion,
00:20:35.473 --> 00:20:36.294
I think in physical therapy,
00:20:36.314 --> 00:20:39.016
we've operated out of a scarcity mindset
00:20:39.036 --> 00:20:39.777
for a long time.
00:20:39.997 --> 00:20:42.278
And like the practice across my street,
00:20:42.317 --> 00:20:43.179
that's my competitor.
00:20:43.659 --> 00:20:45.000
I've got to beat them for referrals.
00:20:45.059 --> 00:20:46.340
I've got to, right.
00:20:46.381 --> 00:20:47.923
And, and I understand that.
00:20:48.182 --> 00:20:49.703
And to some extent that's been reality,
00:20:50.263 --> 00:20:51.625
but when you're looking at, okay,
00:20:52.705 --> 00:20:54.548
I can continue in the model that I'm
00:20:54.607 --> 00:20:55.208
in now,
00:20:55.848 --> 00:20:58.891
or I can partner with the other practices
00:20:58.911 --> 00:21:01.053
in my area and say, Hey, let's,
00:21:01.673 --> 00:21:04.836
let's start a network or like second door
00:21:04.875 --> 00:21:05.096
health.
00:21:05.115 --> 00:21:07.657
Like we have a network of practices that
00:21:07.698 --> 00:21:10.339
are able to opt into employer contracts
00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:10.420
and
00:21:11.704 --> 00:21:14.926
let's band together and we can all treat,
00:21:15.527 --> 00:21:17.208
win this contract and treat it this
00:21:17.347 --> 00:21:18.169
negotiated rate.
00:21:18.189 --> 00:21:20.549
So size can be a barrier,
00:21:20.930 --> 00:21:21.951
but I think that's where,
00:21:22.131 --> 00:21:23.411
like as an industry,
00:21:23.451 --> 00:21:25.071
we have to be willing to come together
00:21:25.172 --> 00:21:26.992
and say, like, you know,
00:21:27.053 --> 00:21:28.814
rising tide lifts all boats.
00:21:29.494 --> 00:21:32.395
Like let's all benefit from this and more,
00:21:32.516 --> 00:21:34.317
and I want that more than I necessarily
00:21:34.356 --> 00:21:36.117
want to beat my competitor across the
00:21:36.137 --> 00:21:36.438
street.
00:21:37.038 --> 00:21:37.199
Right.
00:21:37.219 --> 00:21:38.239
How about, how about,
00:21:38.318 --> 00:21:39.099
I don't know how to sell.
00:21:40.682 --> 00:21:40.903
Yeah.
00:21:41.002 --> 00:21:45.607
So I would say most practice owners don't
00:21:45.627 --> 00:21:46.689
give themselves enough credit.
00:21:47.308 --> 00:21:48.150
If you're a business owner,
00:21:48.170 --> 00:21:49.030
you're selling, right?
00:21:49.050 --> 00:21:51.073
And I would even say clinicians sell every
00:21:51.113 --> 00:21:51.532
single day.
00:21:52.114 --> 00:21:53.714
You've got to sell patients on a plan
00:21:53.734 --> 00:21:54.155
of care.
00:21:54.756 --> 00:21:56.137
Someone comes in for an eval.
00:21:56.678 --> 00:21:57.919
You've got to sell them on, hey,
00:21:57.959 --> 00:21:58.880
this is what I think is going to
00:21:58.900 --> 00:21:59.361
be best.
00:21:59.780 --> 00:22:01.323
This is how we're going to address what
00:22:01.343 --> 00:22:02.523
you presented in the eval.
00:22:03.344 --> 00:22:04.486
You're selling all the time.
00:22:04.846 --> 00:22:05.787
But I also get
00:22:07.070 --> 00:22:08.913
Most practice owners don't have the time,
00:22:09.394 --> 00:22:09.614
right?
00:22:09.894 --> 00:22:11.957
They don't enjoy it and they don't have
00:22:11.997 --> 00:22:15.622
the time to go out and sell this
00:22:16.162 --> 00:22:17.203
model to employers.
00:22:17.804 --> 00:22:19.346
And I think that's where, you know,
00:22:19.807 --> 00:22:21.229
I know some larger practices,
00:22:21.249 --> 00:22:23.411
they have their own staff that goes out
00:22:23.432 --> 00:22:24.152
and sells this model.
00:22:24.732 --> 00:22:26.614
But for what we're doing at Second Door,
00:22:27.453 --> 00:22:29.934
that's what we've basically that's what
00:22:29.954 --> 00:22:31.756
we've been doing is we say, OK,
00:22:32.236 --> 00:22:33.655
we know you don't want to sell.
00:22:34.116 --> 00:22:35.957
We know that's probably not your specialty
00:22:35.977 --> 00:22:36.837
and you don't have the time.
00:22:37.417 --> 00:22:38.837
Let us go and sell for you.
00:22:39.057 --> 00:22:40.578
And then when a contract comes in,
00:22:41.118 --> 00:22:43.619
you just you you work with us through
00:22:43.640 --> 00:22:44.861
the negotiation process.
00:22:44.941 --> 00:22:45.161
Right.
00:22:45.461 --> 00:22:46.500
When a contract comes in,
00:22:46.601 --> 00:22:47.981
you treat it the negotiated rate.
00:22:48.442 --> 00:22:50.583
And I think that's where, you know,
00:22:50.863 --> 00:22:53.284
if anyone's ever seen anything I've posted
00:22:53.324 --> 00:22:53.784
on LinkedIn,
00:22:54.304 --> 00:22:55.965
Like the work that Second Door is doing
00:22:56.006 --> 00:22:56.467
as a company,
00:22:56.547 --> 00:22:58.909
I think is really important to the future
00:22:58.949 --> 00:23:00.971
of the industry because I don't know of
00:23:01.031 --> 00:23:02.814
many other organizations that are going
00:23:02.894 --> 00:23:04.474
out there and selling that model.
00:23:04.596 --> 00:23:06.738
I know that there's some like MSOs,
00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:10.201
some of those types of organizations that
00:23:10.241 --> 00:23:12.223
are trying to do some of that.
00:23:12.984 --> 00:23:14.125
The hard part is...
00:23:17.071 --> 00:23:19.513
now you're getting into understanding how
00:23:19.653 --> 00:23:21.596
all of this crazy insurance works, right?
00:23:21.635 --> 00:23:23.857
Like if I go to a self-insured employer,
00:23:23.917 --> 00:23:25.098
do I need prior off?
00:23:25.499 --> 00:23:27.300
Do I not?
00:23:27.740 --> 00:23:29.803
Am I under direct access laws?
00:23:29.942 --> 00:23:32.204
Am I not under direct access laws?
00:23:33.474 --> 00:23:34.496
Yes, it gets convoluted.
00:23:34.576 --> 00:23:36.576
I will say the answers to that are
00:23:36.596 --> 00:23:37.156
pretty simple.
00:23:37.176 --> 00:23:39.198
When a self-insured employer creates their
00:23:39.238 --> 00:23:40.718
plan, they get to dictate that.
00:23:41.338 --> 00:23:42.759
So if you go to an employer and
00:23:42.778 --> 00:23:43.880
you say, hey,
00:23:43.940 --> 00:23:45.840
we can save you twenty seven hundred
00:23:45.881 --> 00:23:46.721
dollars per claim.
00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:48.801
If you get your people into PT first,
00:23:49.461 --> 00:23:51.722
they can say, OK, we don't want prior.
00:23:51.903 --> 00:23:53.703
We just want our people to go that
00:23:53.723 --> 00:23:55.664
they can set that up because they're not
00:23:55.904 --> 00:23:57.645
they're they're not dictated by what
00:23:57.705 --> 00:23:58.405
insurance says.
00:23:59.186 --> 00:24:01.147
They make their they make their decisions
00:24:01.167 --> 00:24:01.788
for their own plan.
00:24:02.970 --> 00:24:04.470
If a clinic owner is listening right now,
00:24:06.270 --> 00:24:07.770
more often than not, they're like, okay,
00:24:07.810 --> 00:24:08.310
I'm nodding,
00:24:08.432 --> 00:24:10.251
but I might feel stuck or there's a
00:24:10.271 --> 00:24:10.652
barrier.
00:24:11.672 --> 00:24:14.833
What's one practical first move you can
00:24:14.873 --> 00:24:16.513
give them to make this quarter?
00:24:16.594 --> 00:24:18.554
Something that checks something off the
00:24:19.173 --> 00:24:20.775
box, but does move the ball forward.
00:24:22.252 --> 00:24:22.353
Yeah,
00:24:22.613 --> 00:24:25.816
I would say the first thing I would
00:24:25.875 --> 00:24:28.176
encourage practice owners to do is sit
00:24:28.196 --> 00:24:29.939
down and make a list or a spreadsheet
00:24:30.199 --> 00:24:32.661
and think about all of the connections
00:24:32.701 --> 00:24:34.882
that you have in your area,
00:24:35.083 --> 00:24:37.443
that your staff has in the area, right?
00:24:38.125 --> 00:24:40.767
You may have treated a COO at a
00:24:40.807 --> 00:24:41.988
local company, right?
00:24:42.428 --> 00:24:45.730
You may have treated someone who oversees
00:24:45.790 --> 00:24:47.791
the benefits of a self-insured employer in
00:24:47.811 --> 00:24:48.311
your area.
00:24:49.333 --> 00:24:52.434
Start with that list and look at who
00:24:52.535 --> 00:24:53.096
do I know?
00:24:53.135 --> 00:24:54.296
What connections do I have?
00:24:54.355 --> 00:24:56.438
And the reason I say start there is
00:24:56.458 --> 00:24:56.978
because it's like,
00:24:56.998 --> 00:24:57.939
how do you eat an elephant?
00:24:58.239 --> 00:24:59.880
Like one bite at a time, right?
00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:03.102
So like start there and see like, oh,
00:25:03.842 --> 00:25:05.442
actually, I have just myself.
00:25:05.462 --> 00:25:07.744
I have twenty connections between business
00:25:07.765 --> 00:25:09.665
networking groups and other connections in
00:25:09.705 --> 00:25:10.125
the area.
00:25:11.426 --> 00:25:13.288
My staff maybe even has more.
00:25:13.910 --> 00:25:15.852
There's real potential for this.
00:25:16.571 --> 00:25:18.074
And then I would,
00:25:18.273 --> 00:25:21.196
I would say reach out to someone like
00:25:21.356 --> 00:25:24.259
Second Door Health who is already has,
00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:26.101
has walked through that selling process,
00:25:26.602 --> 00:25:28.343
who is doing that selling process right
00:25:28.384 --> 00:25:28.624
now.
00:25:29.263 --> 00:25:30.746
The people there, Scott Hebert,
00:25:30.766 --> 00:25:32.768
Ryan Kleps, like their heart is,
00:25:33.127 --> 00:25:34.388
is for the industry as well.
00:25:34.469 --> 00:25:36.151
They love, they love, they,
00:25:36.351 --> 00:25:37.553
Clinicians, they love practices.
00:25:37.573 --> 00:25:39.055
They want to see the industry succeed.
00:25:39.776 --> 00:25:42.058
And they have a ton of free resources
00:25:42.318 --> 00:25:44.060
online as well that you can go and
00:25:44.260 --> 00:25:46.384
download or even listen to their blogs
00:25:46.904 --> 00:25:48.207
just to be able to see, okay,
00:25:48.326 --> 00:25:50.328
is this something that's feasible for me?
00:25:51.069 --> 00:25:52.031
And if it isn't,
00:25:53.670 --> 00:25:57.351
There are other ways that you can pursue
00:25:57.471 --> 00:25:58.491
to make that possible,
00:25:58.592 --> 00:26:00.413
whether it be through someone like Second
00:26:00.432 --> 00:26:02.933
Door who's providing a network where you
00:26:02.953 --> 00:26:05.555
can band together and treat those types of
00:26:06.654 --> 00:26:07.714
contracts with employers,
00:26:08.175 --> 00:26:10.435
or whether that's joining an MSO if you're
00:26:10.556 --> 00:26:14.077
not a part of an MSO or an
00:26:14.178 --> 00:26:15.258
IPA, something like that.
00:26:16.199 --> 00:26:18.699
So that's what I would say,
00:26:18.859 --> 00:26:19.619
first and foremost,
00:26:21.080 --> 00:26:23.501
start with who do i know and see
00:26:23.521 --> 00:26:25.443
that there's actually like it's probably
00:26:25.544 --> 00:26:28.144
easier than you think it is sure okay
00:26:28.945 --> 00:26:30.425
uh looking towards the future there's got
00:26:30.445 --> 00:26:31.926
to be pain if there's no pain people
00:26:31.946 --> 00:26:33.867
don't move what happens if independent
00:26:33.968 --> 00:26:38.590
clinics don't evolve i mean i'm i'm what
00:26:38.611 --> 00:26:39.892
are mistakes besides just straight up
00:26:39.912 --> 00:26:43.993
going out of business i mean yeah yeah
00:26:44.114 --> 00:26:48.176
i in in my opinion
00:26:50.145 --> 00:26:51.788
and I would say as someone who does
00:26:51.827 --> 00:26:54.309
not claim to be an expert on this
00:26:54.369 --> 00:26:56.291
matter, I've never owned a clinic, right?
00:26:56.332 --> 00:26:57.192
I probably never will,
00:26:57.232 --> 00:26:58.855
although I would love to potentially own
00:26:58.914 --> 00:26:59.474
one in the future.
00:27:01.057 --> 00:27:01.737
I think that
00:27:02.988 --> 00:27:05.070
My hypothesis, just in my opinion,
00:27:05.731 --> 00:27:07.133
I would say in five years,
00:27:08.173 --> 00:27:09.715
it's going to be very,
00:27:09.756 --> 00:27:12.859
very hard for the majority of private
00:27:13.099 --> 00:27:14.622
outpatient practices to continue to
00:27:14.642 --> 00:27:15.021
operate.
00:27:15.423 --> 00:27:18.105
Those who are already at scale,
00:27:18.425 --> 00:27:20.048
I think that they may be able to
00:27:20.167 --> 00:27:20.669
continue.
00:27:22.170 --> 00:27:22.790
But with...
00:27:23.815 --> 00:27:27.777
where cost is going where reimbursement is
00:27:27.856 --> 00:27:29.438
and we're reaching this point where like
00:27:29.978 --> 00:27:31.818
even if we get a three percent increase
00:27:31.858 --> 00:27:34.079
in reimbursement what did inflation do
00:27:34.099 --> 00:27:36.961
this year killed it like yeah i mean
00:27:37.182 --> 00:27:38.603
inflation increased more than three
00:27:38.643 --> 00:27:40.502
percent so like you're still getting paid
00:27:40.542 --> 00:27:45.185
less right and so my my fear and
00:27:45.226 --> 00:27:48.027
my concern and why i'm i'm passionate
00:27:48.106 --> 00:27:50.689
about this type of model for physical
00:27:50.709 --> 00:27:52.950
therapy practices is i i want
00:27:53.589 --> 00:27:56.191
practice owners to have the freedom to
00:27:56.391 --> 00:27:57.771
treat how they want to treat.
00:27:58.291 --> 00:27:59.912
If they want to start a practice and
00:28:00.031 --> 00:28:01.512
scale to twenty locations,
00:28:01.992 --> 00:28:03.094
I want them to have the ability to
00:28:03.114 --> 00:28:03.394
do that.
00:28:03.433 --> 00:28:06.214
If they want to start one single location
00:28:06.535 --> 00:28:07.934
or maybe just treat out of a gym,
00:28:08.434 --> 00:28:09.516
I want them to be able to do
00:28:09.536 --> 00:28:10.115
that as well.
00:28:10.415 --> 00:28:11.596
I think the problem with the
00:28:12.817 --> 00:28:14.498
fee for service model at the moment,
00:28:15.077 --> 00:28:17.680
is all of those things, who you treat,
00:28:18.180 --> 00:28:20.320
how you get paid, when you get paid,
00:28:20.621 --> 00:28:23.422
it's in somebody else's hands, right?
00:28:23.521 --> 00:28:25.963
And so going going direct to employer is
00:28:26.044 --> 00:28:26.443
hard.
00:28:26.844 --> 00:28:28.244
And it's scary because it's new.
00:28:28.744 --> 00:28:30.105
But what's the alternative?
00:28:30.185 --> 00:28:30.365
Sure.
00:28:30.566 --> 00:28:32.909
Keep waiting for someone else to make a
00:28:32.969 --> 00:28:33.329
change?
00:28:33.769 --> 00:28:33.970
Yeah.
00:28:34.270 --> 00:28:36.574
I mean, it doesn't matter, you know,
00:28:37.054 --> 00:28:38.256
even like the APTA,
00:28:38.375 --> 00:28:39.676
all of the great work that they do
00:28:39.717 --> 00:28:40.778
for lobbying, right?
00:28:41.159 --> 00:28:42.280
You're going up against,
00:28:43.201 --> 00:28:45.884
is the APTA putting more money into to
00:28:46.045 --> 00:28:47.346
lobbying than pharmaceuticals?
00:28:48.048 --> 00:28:48.428
Are they?
00:28:48.488 --> 00:28:49.068
Are they?
00:28:49.148 --> 00:28:49.269
No.
00:28:50.650 --> 00:28:51.631
And so, of course,
00:28:51.851 --> 00:28:52.951
pharmaceuticals are going to push for
00:28:52.971 --> 00:28:53.771
GLP-Ls,
00:28:54.332 --> 00:28:57.512
and we'll probably see subsidies for
00:28:57.532 --> 00:28:59.794
people to get GLP-Ls way before we see
00:28:59.834 --> 00:29:01.795
any kind of subsidy for payment in
00:29:01.835 --> 00:29:02.575
physical therapy.
00:29:03.796 --> 00:29:07.257
And so we can continue to wait and
00:29:07.336 --> 00:29:09.498
see who is something actually going to
00:29:09.518 --> 00:29:12.298
change, or we can pave our own path.
00:29:12.419 --> 00:29:15.779
And I believe the path is there because
00:29:15.819 --> 00:29:18.020
employers can't continue to pay these
00:29:18.080 --> 00:29:19.321
outrageous costs of healthcare.
00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:20.180
Agreed.
00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:20.441
All right.
00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:21.622
Last thing we do on each episode is
00:29:21.662 --> 00:29:23.324
called the parting shot.
00:29:23.344 --> 00:29:26.547
This is the parting shot.
00:29:27.087 --> 00:29:28.509
One last mic drop moment.
00:29:29.170 --> 00:29:29.951
No pressure.
00:29:30.412 --> 00:29:32.513
Just your legacy on the line.
00:29:33.924 --> 00:29:35.384
All right, big thanks to Sarah Health,
00:29:35.404 --> 00:29:37.185
the remote care platform helping clinics
00:29:37.226 --> 00:29:38.006
boost revenue,
00:29:38.165 --> 00:29:39.885
which is good without adding staff.
00:29:40.326 --> 00:29:42.007
Sarah automates daily patient check-ins
00:29:42.047 --> 00:29:42.567
via text.
00:29:42.646 --> 00:29:44.448
No app, no logins, just better outcomes.
00:29:44.827 --> 00:29:46.867
Simple way to meet those RTM requirements,
00:29:47.268 --> 00:29:48.208
improve follow-through,
00:29:48.228 --> 00:29:49.648
and actually get reimbursed for the care
00:29:49.669 --> 00:29:50.308
between visits.
00:29:50.729 --> 00:29:51.989
Easy to set up, simple to use,
00:29:52.009 --> 00:29:52.750
and patients love it.
00:29:53.069 --> 00:29:53.990
SarahHealth.com.
00:29:54.009 --> 00:29:56.549
That's S-A-R-A-Health.com.
00:29:56.891 --> 00:29:57.951
All right, parting shot, Matt.
00:29:58.010 --> 00:29:59.631
What do you got for me?
00:29:59.651 --> 00:30:00.330
Change the model.
00:30:01.352 --> 00:30:02.352
The model has to change.
00:30:03.682 --> 00:30:06.424
If physical therapy wants to continue to
00:30:06.464 --> 00:30:08.105
be successful and to grow,
00:30:08.226 --> 00:30:09.165
not just survive,
00:30:09.506 --> 00:30:10.507
we've got to change the model.
00:30:10.527 --> 00:30:11.487
Love it.
00:30:11.507 --> 00:30:11.707
All right.
00:30:11.747 --> 00:30:12.768
Find them on LinkedIn.
00:30:12.788 --> 00:30:13.667
I'll give you a link in the show
00:30:13.688 --> 00:30:13.907
notes.
00:30:13.928 --> 00:30:14.409
Matthew Pratt.
00:30:14.429 --> 00:30:15.249
Appreciate your time, man.
00:30:15.989 --> 00:30:16.609
Appreciate it, Jimmy.
00:30:16.730 --> 00:30:17.009
Thank you.
00:30:18.788 --> 00:30:19.869
That's it for this one,
00:30:20.130 --> 00:30:21.790
but we're just getting warmed up.
00:30:22.271 --> 00:30:24.173
Smash follow, send it to a friend,
00:30:24.393 --> 00:30:26.055
or crank up the next episode.
00:30:26.575 --> 00:30:27.496
Want to go deeper?
00:30:27.935 --> 00:30:30.057
Hit us at pgpinecast.com.
00:30:31.337 --> 00:30:33.539
Or find us on YouTube and socials at
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:34.580
pgpinecast.
00:30:34.980 --> 00:30:37.282
And legally, none of this was advice.
00:30:37.343 --> 00:30:38.983
It's for entertainment purposes only.
00:30:39.023 --> 00:30:40.726
Bullshit!
00:30:40.766 --> 00:30:41.346
See, Keith?
00:30:41.546 --> 00:30:42.626
We read the script.
00:30:42.906 --> 00:30:43.567
Happy now?
