Conquering Physical Therapy Workforce Struggles & Boosting Productivity

Jimmy McKay welcomes back Larry Benz, PT, DPT, OCS, MBA, FAPTA, to discuss the pressing issues in the physical therapy profession today. From workforce development challenges to cultural shifts in clinical care, Larry offers deep insights into the productivity crisis and how therapists can regain control in 2024.
Find Larry's Blog Posts that inspired this episode here: AllThingsPhysicalTherapy
00:00 - Introduction & Welcome Back Larry Benz
02:00 - Why Larry Started Writing More
08:30 - Productivity Comparisons: PTs vs. Physicians
13:50 - Challenges in PT Workforce Development
19:00 - Solutions for PT Productivity & Cultural Change
24:20 - Regulatory Barriers & Payer Restrictions in PT
31:00 - The Future of Physical Therapy: Culture & Technology
36:45 - Final Thoughts & Encouragement for Clinicians
Discover the potential of AI, the role of middle management, and how cultural and systemic changes can shape the future of physical therapy. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation that touches on everything from CPT code constraints to the economics of PT practice. Don't miss this essential discussion for any PT professional!
Timestamps:
00:00:00.009 --> 00:00:09.494
I'll have to edit that part out.
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That's not supposed to play.
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But Larry, welcome back to the show, man.
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Appreciate your time.
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Thanks.
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Anytime.
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You're doing something different.
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You're writing a lot.
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You're writing often.
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You've got a Substack platform.
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For people who don't know that,
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that's a really simple or
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streamlined or easily
00:00:26.525 --> 00:00:27.727
digestible way for someone
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to take words and thoughts.
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And then get them to a lot
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of people who might want to
00:00:31.748 --> 00:00:32.689
sort of tap into that.
00:00:33.130 --> 00:00:34.290
Where back in the day,
00:00:34.310 --> 00:00:35.012
it would be like a list
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serve or an email list.
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And I think now we're
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getting more sophisticated.
00:00:39.154 --> 00:00:39.473
Ironically,
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we're getting more
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sophisticated by making it simpler.
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And you're using Substack
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and people can find you on Substack.
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What is the way that all
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things physical therapy?
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All things physical therapy.
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I think I'm also known as
00:00:51.921 --> 00:00:53.063
physical therapist on their
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physical therapy there.
00:00:54.064 --> 00:00:54.783
Yeah, absolutely.
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Now,
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before we get into this kind of
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two-part series that caught
00:00:57.665 --> 00:00:59.767
my eye because you show up in my inbox,
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why did you decide to start
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writing so much?
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What do you get out of that?
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Why?
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Because there's effort involved in that.
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No, absolutely.
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I think a couple of things.
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One is I've been writing for a long time.
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If you look at my body of work,
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we were the first multi-author blog.
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on the Internet and it was
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under evidence in motion,
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which still houses all my blog posts,
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hundreds and hundreds of them literally.
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At the time,
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we were creating vibe in the
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industry by challenging
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some of the assumptions.
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So many years that I was a CEO,
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I did just as much writing,
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but I was writing different
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for my own employees.
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And not so much on the
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politics and the rules and
00:01:45.075 --> 00:01:46.396
regulations of PT,
00:01:46.436 --> 00:01:47.516
but more on employee
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motivation and culture and values.
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And now I've transitioned back.
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I've had this sort of pent
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up stuff on my brain for a
00:01:55.736 --> 00:01:57.237
long time about PT.
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And so I'm writing to my
00:01:58.998 --> 00:02:00.659
colleagues and if they find
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it useful and valuable, great.
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If they don't,
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or if it sparks some creativity, great.
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I charge nothing for it.
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There's no profit motive at all.
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I really just try to get
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some conversation going and
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I try to expose things that
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a lot of people aren't talking about.
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Well, the reason this one, you know,
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I wanted to have you on for
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this is I saw it in my inbox.
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I saw it online and I saw
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people starting to engage.
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And I like that.
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I like when people agree or disagree,
00:02:28.628 --> 00:02:30.710
but have an opinion like challenge.
00:02:30.909 --> 00:02:31.729
And you sort of put it out
00:02:31.750 --> 00:02:32.189
there a few times,
00:02:32.210 --> 00:02:33.629
which is like challenge this.
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Like, is everything I say perfect?
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Absolutely not.
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But you got the conversation going.
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And I say this line a lot
00:02:39.012 --> 00:02:39.931
when people come to me like,
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how do I create content?
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I'm like,
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don't try to create social media content.
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Try to try to create
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something media that is social.
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If you said that a water cooler,
00:02:48.334 --> 00:02:49.314
would someone agree with
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their eyebrow go up?
00:02:50.675 --> 00:02:52.216
So this is a two part series
00:02:52.276 --> 00:02:53.695
and we'll give a link in the show notes.
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People can go read and sort
00:02:55.137 --> 00:02:56.116
of go deep into this.
00:02:56.556 --> 00:02:57.217
But in the series,
00:02:57.257 --> 00:02:59.157
you revealed that PTs only
00:02:59.217 --> 00:03:00.437
see around four hundred
00:03:00.478 --> 00:03:01.998
patient visits per year.
00:03:02.699 --> 00:03:03.680
While our colleagues that
00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:05.241
are orthopedic surgeons are
00:03:05.281 --> 00:03:06.382
doing about eight hundred
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visits annually and family
00:03:08.283 --> 00:03:10.225
physicians manage nearly two thousand.
00:03:10.325 --> 00:03:11.306
And you write physical
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therapists on a per visit
00:03:12.828 --> 00:03:14.408
basis are only roughly
00:03:14.429 --> 00:03:15.890
about fifty percent as
00:03:15.950 --> 00:03:17.051
productive as an
00:03:17.092 --> 00:03:18.312
orthopedist and twenty
00:03:18.353 --> 00:03:19.533
percent as a family physician.
00:03:19.973 --> 00:03:22.676
So why do you think PTs are so much less?
00:03:23.176 --> 00:03:23.818
I'll use air quotes
00:03:23.858 --> 00:03:25.199
productive by comparison.
00:03:25.838 --> 00:03:26.800
And what are the biggest
00:03:26.819 --> 00:03:29.703
factors that contribute to this this gap?
00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:30.819
Yeah,
00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:33.741
so in order to get to the answer to that,
00:03:34.883 --> 00:03:36.343
but what sparks all this is
00:03:36.424 --> 00:03:37.424
workforce development.
00:03:38.585 --> 00:03:40.006
If you look at some of the
00:03:40.165 --> 00:03:42.127
more academic writing that I've done,
00:03:42.646 --> 00:03:43.608
it has really been
00:03:44.247 --> 00:03:45.169
publishing articles that
00:03:45.229 --> 00:03:46.810
challenge workforce
00:03:46.849 --> 00:03:48.991
development that the APTA
00:03:49.151 --> 00:03:49.771
and the Workforce
00:03:49.792 --> 00:03:50.712
Development Study did not.
00:03:51.652 --> 00:03:52.973
now many years ago where
00:03:52.993 --> 00:03:54.455
they effectively said by
00:03:54.495 --> 00:03:55.475
this time we would have an
00:03:55.496 --> 00:03:57.457
abundance and have an
00:03:57.617 --> 00:03:59.338
oversupply of physical therapists.
00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:01.760
When the market has
00:04:01.860 --> 00:04:03.262
something to say about that
00:04:03.423 --> 00:04:04.704
and the expansion of the PT
00:04:04.743 --> 00:04:05.704
practice has something to
00:04:05.723 --> 00:04:06.884
say about it and the fact
00:04:06.925 --> 00:04:08.646
that at best we see twelve
00:04:08.667 --> 00:04:09.668
to fifteen percent of the
00:04:09.707 --> 00:04:10.788
population that needs us
00:04:10.868 --> 00:04:11.788
has something to say about
00:04:11.829 --> 00:04:13.371
that and the practice expands.
00:04:14.330 --> 00:04:15.431
And things have moved out
00:04:15.451 --> 00:04:16.312
from a hospital and
00:04:16.331 --> 00:04:17.333
institutional environment
00:04:17.392 --> 00:04:19.713
to outpatient and to a
00:04:19.754 --> 00:04:20.894
wellness perspective that a
00:04:20.915 --> 00:04:22.035
lot of PTs work in.
00:04:22.634 --> 00:04:25.336
And so I've always had, you know,
00:04:25.396 --> 00:04:28.177
a keen sense of workforce development,
00:04:28.197 --> 00:04:29.119
how many PTs there are,
00:04:29.139 --> 00:04:30.459
how many programs there are, as you know,
00:04:30.478 --> 00:04:31.879
I'm very active in higher education,
00:04:31.899 --> 00:04:32.721
a physical therapist.
00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:34.261
And so I've always wanted to
00:04:34.281 --> 00:04:35.262
know what is our supply,
00:04:35.302 --> 00:04:36.081
what is our demand?
00:04:37.543 --> 00:04:39.004
There is a forthcoming work
00:04:39.024 --> 00:04:40.086
group that APTA put
00:04:40.127 --> 00:04:41.149
together that will have a
00:04:41.228 --> 00:04:44.574
paper that is right now under, you know,
00:04:44.613 --> 00:04:46.456
sort of confidentiality,
00:04:46.475 --> 00:04:47.978
but it will come out and I
00:04:47.999 --> 00:04:49.000
don't think the results of
00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:50.081
it will be surprising to
00:04:50.141 --> 00:04:51.863
anybody without letting the
00:04:51.884 --> 00:04:52.886
cat out of the bag there.
00:04:53.286 --> 00:04:54.326
But at the end of the day,
00:04:55.766 --> 00:04:56.447
let's look at our own
00:04:56.487 --> 00:04:58.466
profession and now let's
00:04:58.507 --> 00:04:59.726
analyze ourselves a little bit.
00:04:59.747 --> 00:05:00.406
We have about two hundred
00:05:00.427 --> 00:05:01.927
and fifty thousand PTs in the US.
00:05:02.427 --> 00:05:03.608
We have roughly,
00:05:03.728 --> 00:05:05.168
and this is multiple data
00:05:05.208 --> 00:05:06.728
sources that suggest we
00:05:06.747 --> 00:05:07.608
have about a hundred
00:05:07.788 --> 00:05:09.908
million visits per year.
00:05:09.988 --> 00:05:11.949
Now those visits can take
00:05:11.988 --> 00:05:13.769
the form of an outpatient location,
00:05:13.790 --> 00:05:15.170
they can take the form of an inpatient,
00:05:15.769 --> 00:05:17.569
and really then you can
00:05:17.610 --> 00:05:18.810
extrapolate from it how
00:05:18.831 --> 00:05:20.391
many visits per PT per day.
00:05:21.331 --> 00:05:22.172
Now, many years ago,
00:05:22.232 --> 00:05:23.853
I want to go backwards one more time.
00:05:24.072 --> 00:05:25.274
I was on the advisory panel
00:05:25.314 --> 00:05:27.274
on practice for APTA for many years,
00:05:27.355 --> 00:05:28.216
appointed position.
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I think it's one of the
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highest regarded
00:05:30.377 --> 00:05:31.997
appointments that APTA does.
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And I was on it many moons ago.
00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:34.860
And through that,
00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:35.841
I got to know Andrew
00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:36.980
Guccione extremely well,
00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:37.922
who was head of that on APTA,
00:05:37.942 --> 00:05:39.682
who I have tremendous respect for.
00:05:39.702 --> 00:05:40.543
He's also a good friend.
00:05:41.451 --> 00:05:42.151
And I would have meetings
00:05:42.172 --> 00:05:43.291
with him back in these days,
00:05:43.312 --> 00:05:43.992
and he would say, Larry,
00:05:44.012 --> 00:05:45.053
we have too many therapists.
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And I said, what do you mean?
00:05:45.814 --> 00:05:46.194
He says, well,
00:05:46.235 --> 00:05:47.336
just take the number of
00:05:47.375 --> 00:05:49.997
potential visits that a PT can do,
00:05:50.658 --> 00:05:51.399
multiply it,
00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:53.961
and you'll see we have too many PTs.
00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:56.562
And to a certain extent, he was right.
00:05:56.583 --> 00:05:57.302
And I'll tell you why.
00:05:57.322 --> 00:05:58.223
If you took two hundred and
00:05:58.264 --> 00:06:00.064
fifty thousand PTs that are
00:06:00.084 --> 00:06:01.086
licensed in the U.S.
00:06:01.105 --> 00:06:02.047
and let's say they average
00:06:02.226 --> 00:06:04.307
all average six or seven visits a day.
00:06:05.028 --> 00:06:06.048
There's not enough patients
00:06:06.088 --> 00:06:07.689
in the population of the United States,
00:06:08.209 --> 00:06:09.170
about three percent of
00:06:09.189 --> 00:06:10.870
which are getting PT at any given time.
00:06:10.891 --> 00:06:11.810
It's too many PTs.
00:06:12.451 --> 00:06:14.351
What you find, most surprisingly,
00:06:14.951 --> 00:06:17.012
is that only about twenty percent,
00:06:17.052 --> 00:06:18.492
it's actually slightly less,
00:06:18.512 --> 00:06:21.434
of licensed PTs are seeing patients.
00:06:21.853 --> 00:06:22.613
Count me guilty.
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I'm one of them who isn't.
00:06:24.735 --> 00:06:26.154
And I know a lot of others that aren't.
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Where do they work?
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They work in academia.
00:06:27.776 --> 00:06:28.615
They work PRN.
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They work in research.
00:06:32.267 --> 00:06:35.810
They work in manufacturing.
00:06:35.850 --> 00:06:36.831
And some of them have left
00:06:36.870 --> 00:06:38.411
the profession altogether.
00:06:39.192 --> 00:06:41.553
And that's a really, really small number.
00:06:42.055 --> 00:06:42.175
Now,
00:06:42.214 --> 00:06:44.315
we produce about twelve thousand PTs a
00:06:44.336 --> 00:06:44.696
year.
00:06:45.336 --> 00:06:47.158
So here's another way to look at it.
00:06:48.021 --> 00:06:49.043
We have a very inefficient
00:06:49.083 --> 00:06:49.963
education system in the
00:06:49.983 --> 00:06:50.946
United States for PTs.
00:06:50.985 --> 00:06:51.867
We have about three hundred
00:06:51.887 --> 00:06:52.970
programs producing twelve
00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:53.990
thousand grads a year.
00:06:54.451 --> 00:06:55.494
By contrast,
00:06:55.853 --> 00:06:56.815
physicians have about one
00:06:56.836 --> 00:06:58.699
hundred and fifty programs
00:06:58.718 --> 00:06:59.761
in the US producing about
00:06:59.821 --> 00:07:01.684
twenty thousand graduates a year.
00:07:02.528 --> 00:07:04.089
It would take the number of
00:07:04.129 --> 00:07:05.730
orthopedic practices, by the way,
00:07:05.769 --> 00:07:06.831
got twenty nine thousand
00:07:06.911 --> 00:07:08.071
practicing orthopedists,
00:07:08.591 --> 00:07:09.451
seven hundred fifty
00:07:09.492 --> 00:07:10.312
graduates from their
00:07:10.711 --> 00:07:12.112
residency programs per year.
00:07:12.452 --> 00:07:13.452
You know that it would take
00:07:13.492 --> 00:07:14.612
thirty eight years to
00:07:14.673 --> 00:07:16.274
reproduce the number of
00:07:16.334 --> 00:07:18.074
orthopedists we have and
00:07:18.095 --> 00:07:19.074
the number of orthopedists.
00:07:19.115 --> 00:07:20.915
They work well into their sixties.
00:07:21.735 --> 00:07:23.237
They're at the peak of their career.
00:07:23.596 --> 00:07:26.317
Their best highest use is seeing patients.
00:07:26.358 --> 00:07:27.757
They're allowed to use extenders.
00:07:27.958 --> 00:07:28.838
They make a lot of money.
00:07:29.259 --> 00:07:29.918
Average salary,
00:07:29.939 --> 00:07:30.999
four hundred thousand dollars.
00:07:31.338 --> 00:07:32.860
Family practice physicians.
00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:33.540
OK,
00:07:33.899 --> 00:07:36.100
we have roughly four thousand four
00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:37.862
hundred graduates of family
00:07:37.922 --> 00:07:40.341
practice residencies per year.
00:07:40.642 --> 00:07:41.483
About one hundred thousand
00:07:41.523 --> 00:07:42.262
of them practicing would
00:07:42.302 --> 00:07:43.283
take them twenty two years
00:07:43.302 --> 00:07:44.624
to reproduce their their numbers.
00:07:44.944 --> 00:07:45.644
In PT,
00:07:46.064 --> 00:07:47.326
we have two hundred fifty thousand
00:07:47.346 --> 00:07:48.365
producing twelve thousand
00:07:48.386 --> 00:07:50.468
graduates a year take twenty years.
00:07:50.767 --> 00:07:51.487
The reality, though,
00:07:51.507 --> 00:07:53.410
is only take a few years if
00:07:53.490 --> 00:07:55.310
all the PTs saw patients full time.
00:07:55.331 --> 00:07:57.192
Right.
00:07:57.331 --> 00:07:58.333
So the math on it is
00:07:58.413 --> 00:07:59.533
actually spellbinding.
00:08:00.213 --> 00:08:01.175
And then you get to some of
00:08:01.194 --> 00:08:01.954
the reasons why.
00:08:02.035 --> 00:08:03.516
Now, my post, quite honestly,
00:08:03.536 --> 00:08:06.298
and I reveal this in the second iteration,
00:08:06.858 --> 00:08:07.497
I'm not really,
00:08:07.678 --> 00:08:08.918
I don't really care about
00:08:08.999 --> 00:08:10.240
productivity arguments.
00:08:10.379 --> 00:08:11.521
I'm not, you know,
00:08:11.540 --> 00:08:12.521
the fact that I'm comparing
00:08:12.541 --> 00:08:13.622
an orthopedic to a family
00:08:13.661 --> 00:08:14.682
practice to a PT is ridiculous.
00:08:15.312 --> 00:08:17.853
Honestly, quite irreverent and irrelevant,
00:08:17.934 --> 00:08:19.334
both of them.
00:08:19.653 --> 00:08:21.935
But I am trying to show that
00:08:22.314 --> 00:08:24.255
our best and highest use as
00:08:24.295 --> 00:08:26.776
a PT is obviously not clinical.
00:08:26.817 --> 00:08:27.656
If that were the case,
00:08:27.697 --> 00:08:28.617
we'd have more than twenty
00:08:28.637 --> 00:08:29.497
percent of the PTC.
00:08:30.817 --> 00:08:31.899
And we're restricted and
00:08:31.918 --> 00:08:33.220
we're restricted horribly.
00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:34.181
We effectively have a
00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:36.363
compensation cap on the
00:08:36.503 --> 00:08:37.504
earnings that a physical
00:08:37.524 --> 00:08:38.403
therapist can do.
00:08:38.744 --> 00:08:39.904
Let me give you an example, Jimmy.
00:08:40.105 --> 00:08:41.447
Let's hypothetically say a
00:08:41.506 --> 00:08:42.827
PT works in an outpatient
00:08:42.868 --> 00:08:44.369
clinic and one hundred
00:08:44.428 --> 00:08:45.549
percent of their patients
00:08:45.850 --> 00:08:46.870
is either Medicare or
00:08:46.931 --> 00:08:48.552
Medicare Advantage or a
00:08:48.672 --> 00:08:49.773
payer in some states,
00:08:49.812 --> 00:08:51.815
the blues that follow Medicare rules.
00:08:52.711 --> 00:08:53.672
They effectively,
00:08:54.152 --> 00:08:55.614
the max revenue they can
00:08:55.653 --> 00:08:57.154
generate by seeing eight or
00:08:57.195 --> 00:08:58.176
nine patients a day,
00:08:58.495 --> 00:08:59.817
forty six weeks a year,
00:08:59.918 --> 00:09:01.538
forty seven weeks a year is
00:09:01.578 --> 00:09:03.880
around two hundred ten thousand dollars.
00:09:03.900 --> 00:09:04.642
That's gross.
00:09:04.982 --> 00:09:06.083
That's before overhead.
00:09:06.264 --> 00:09:06.644
Overhead.
00:09:06.703 --> 00:09:06.964
Right.
00:09:07.144 --> 00:09:07.345
Yeah.
00:09:07.705 --> 00:09:08.605
And so that's before you
00:09:08.645 --> 00:09:09.447
paid for the lights.
00:09:09.947 --> 00:09:11.708
You've paid for revenue cycle management.
00:09:12.149 --> 00:09:13.269
You've paid for any support
00:09:13.289 --> 00:09:14.230
staff that you need that
00:09:14.270 --> 00:09:15.932
contributes to you seeing those patients.
00:09:16.393 --> 00:09:18.053
And why are we at such limitations?
00:09:18.134 --> 00:09:19.294
There, you've got a lot of factors.
00:09:19.315 --> 00:09:20.996
Our own profession has just
00:09:21.116 --> 00:09:22.278
really restricted us in
00:09:22.317 --> 00:09:23.999
terms of the RCs and
00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:26.642
exclusive PT can only be one-on-one,
00:09:26.721 --> 00:09:27.662
all that kind of BS.
00:09:28.143 --> 00:09:29.964
But the payers have also restricted us.
00:09:30.125 --> 00:09:31.285
They have superimposed rules
00:09:31.326 --> 00:09:32.326
that do not allow us to use
00:09:32.366 --> 00:09:33.366
extenders like PT
00:09:33.407 --> 00:09:34.989
technicians or PT
00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:36.250
assistants at the top of
00:09:36.350 --> 00:09:37.471
our license to use our
00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:38.812
extenders at the top of
00:09:38.831 --> 00:09:39.993
their license like ortho
00:09:40.013 --> 00:09:41.173
and family practice have.
00:09:41.995 --> 00:09:43.336
And then the other one, frankly,
00:09:43.535 --> 00:09:44.197
is cultural.
00:09:45.208 --> 00:09:45.990
A lot of people come into
00:09:46.009 --> 00:09:46.870
our field for the inherent
00:09:46.889 --> 00:09:48.030
flexibility so they can
00:09:48.051 --> 00:09:49.211
come in and out of the profession.
00:09:49.912 --> 00:09:51.693
I think then that culture, though,
00:09:51.714 --> 00:09:53.534
has got some negative connotations to it.
00:09:53.934 --> 00:09:56.056
How many great clinical PTs do you know?
00:09:56.417 --> 00:09:57.618
I got board certification in
00:09:57.638 --> 00:09:59.219
two areas that are then
00:09:59.578 --> 00:10:01.379
incentivized to get out of
00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:02.380
seeing patients because
00:10:02.400 --> 00:10:03.201
they can make more money.
00:10:03.280 --> 00:10:04.903
They get rewarded by it, in essence,
00:10:04.923 --> 00:10:06.202
through management and
00:10:06.342 --> 00:10:07.504
other kinds of things.
00:10:08.625 --> 00:10:09.546
We have a higher burnout
00:10:09.586 --> 00:10:11.447
rate than a higher attrition rate.
00:10:12.673 --> 00:10:13.995
probably than any other profession.
00:10:14.336 --> 00:10:16.076
But the biggest concern I have,
00:10:16.857 --> 00:10:17.719
all that is a concern,
00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:18.720
but the biggest concern is
00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:20.381
I have is name me one industry,
00:10:21.423 --> 00:10:23.384
one profession that you
00:10:23.424 --> 00:10:25.706
could say is less productive today,
00:10:25.746 --> 00:10:26.587
given the advent of
00:10:26.628 --> 00:10:28.049
technology and innovation
00:10:28.309 --> 00:10:29.291
than physical therapy.
00:10:29.850 --> 00:10:31.111
The data will tell you that
00:10:31.432 --> 00:10:32.373
when we used to average
00:10:32.393 --> 00:10:33.595
about twelve patients a day,
00:10:33.615 --> 00:10:35.277
we're now averaging closer to ten.
00:10:35.956 --> 00:10:37.379
And that is because of the
00:10:37.558 --> 00:10:38.980
external constraints,
00:10:39.041 --> 00:10:39.642
the rules and the
00:10:39.682 --> 00:10:41.062
regulations that are placed on us.
00:10:41.504 --> 00:10:43.225
I know no of no other
00:10:43.466 --> 00:10:45.729
medical professional that can say that.
00:10:46.089 --> 00:10:47.431
And that is a root cause
00:10:47.490 --> 00:10:48.653
problem that we got to address.
00:10:49.153 --> 00:10:49.472
Yeah,
00:10:49.493 --> 00:10:50.673
that was going to be one of my next
00:10:50.714 --> 00:10:51.154
questions.
00:10:51.195 --> 00:10:52.054
And it was that stat
00:10:52.095 --> 00:10:53.296
dropping from about twelve
00:10:53.336 --> 00:10:55.538
patients per day to ten, you know,
00:10:55.557 --> 00:10:57.059
despite technology and automation.
00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:59.481
Why is that moving backwards?
00:11:00.642 --> 00:11:03.104
Is it is it is this self-caused?
00:11:03.284 --> 00:11:04.966
Is this a little bit of us
00:11:05.005 --> 00:11:06.586
and a little bit of everybody else?
00:11:06.606 --> 00:11:08.028
I mean, because ultimately,
00:11:08.688 --> 00:11:10.190
If it's caused by us,
00:11:10.470 --> 00:11:11.470
that's sort of good because
00:11:11.490 --> 00:11:12.250
we can control it.
00:11:12.291 --> 00:11:13.331
If it's caused by other people,
00:11:13.451 --> 00:11:14.591
we can blame it.
00:11:14.610 --> 00:11:15.831
We can write about it on the internet.
00:11:15.851 --> 00:11:17.192
That doesn't do a whole lot, right?
00:11:17.613 --> 00:11:18.812
But it draws attention to it.
00:11:19.192 --> 00:11:20.854
So how do we dig out of that?
00:11:21.533 --> 00:11:25.416
It's a multitude of reasons, by the way.
00:11:26.197 --> 00:11:29.000
One reason very simply is on
00:11:29.019 --> 00:11:30.721
the math is that, you know,
00:11:30.740 --> 00:11:31.941
let's say ten to fifteen
00:11:31.961 --> 00:11:33.721
percent of your patients cancel per day.
00:11:34.081 --> 00:11:35.222
That automatically brings
00:11:35.243 --> 00:11:36.764
your productivity ability down.
00:11:37.163 --> 00:11:39.024
So we can use technology to
00:11:39.044 --> 00:11:40.046
help us with quick call
00:11:40.105 --> 00:11:41.706
lists and with patients
00:11:41.726 --> 00:11:42.427
because there's a high
00:11:42.466 --> 00:11:43.827
demand for PT right now.
00:11:44.148 --> 00:11:45.227
I believe that problem is a
00:11:45.307 --> 00:11:47.109
little bit fixable.
00:11:47.409 --> 00:11:48.389
I think we can get it down
00:11:48.409 --> 00:11:49.931
to five percent open table
00:11:49.971 --> 00:11:51.591
and other kinds of things that use it in
00:11:52.131 --> 00:11:53.153
non-physical therapy have
00:11:53.192 --> 00:11:54.913
done a good job of reducing
00:11:54.972 --> 00:11:56.033
no-show cancellations.
00:11:56.494 --> 00:11:58.335
And when you have no-show cancellations,
00:11:58.735 --> 00:11:59.576
filling it back,
00:11:59.596 --> 00:12:00.676
filling it in with somebody
00:12:00.716 --> 00:12:01.716
who will sit at that table.
00:12:02.057 --> 00:12:03.277
So that's a fixable problem.
00:12:03.636 --> 00:12:05.038
The second fixable problem is,
00:12:05.057 --> 00:12:06.739
is we've got to completely
00:12:07.479 --> 00:12:08.779
renovate our own profession.
00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:10.801
We have RCs, you know,
00:12:10.860 --> 00:12:12.321
practice restrictions and
00:12:12.701 --> 00:12:14.182
stuff within our profession
00:12:14.361 --> 00:12:16.743
that limit certain tasks
00:12:16.763 --> 00:12:18.303
that we do to exclusive
00:12:18.484 --> 00:12:20.224
one-on-one of a physical therapist.
00:12:20.604 --> 00:12:22.024
Can you imagine orthopedics
00:12:22.504 --> 00:12:23.666
or family practice
00:12:23.686 --> 00:12:26.506
physician advertising that
00:12:26.547 --> 00:12:27.427
patients should come to
00:12:27.466 --> 00:12:28.187
them because they get
00:12:28.227 --> 00:12:29.368
exclusive one-to-one?
00:12:29.594 --> 00:12:29.754
No,
00:12:29.793 --> 00:12:31.336
they operate at the top of their license,
00:12:31.355 --> 00:12:33.076
which I call neck up skills,
00:12:33.096 --> 00:12:34.177
which is a term I borrowed
00:12:34.538 --> 00:12:36.080
from my good friend, Carl DeRosa,
00:12:36.100 --> 00:12:37.041
who first started talking
00:12:37.061 --> 00:12:38.522
about this probably twenty years ago.
00:12:39.523 --> 00:12:41.184
And the reality is we have
00:12:41.205 --> 00:12:42.866
to change those limitations.
00:12:43.307 --> 00:12:44.067
Most of the time.
00:12:44.107 --> 00:12:44.807
Here's the irony.
00:12:45.009 --> 00:12:45.448
Most of the time,
00:12:45.469 --> 00:12:46.990
our practice acts allow it.
00:12:47.791 --> 00:12:49.153
So it's not our practice act.
00:12:49.192 --> 00:12:51.895
Some states, New York, Massachusetts,
00:12:51.916 --> 00:12:52.697
there are some states that
00:12:52.736 --> 00:12:53.798
are really restrictive,
00:12:54.138 --> 00:12:55.620
just penalize our own profession.
00:12:56.160 --> 00:12:58.102
But it is it is our profession itself.
00:12:58.462 --> 00:13:00.524
And it is the payers that arguably,
00:13:00.686 --> 00:13:01.687
you know, restrict them.
00:13:02.187 --> 00:13:03.908
So that's a second factor
00:13:04.509 --> 00:13:05.691
that really drives it.
00:13:06.392 --> 00:13:07.552
And, you know, then, of course.
00:13:08.413 --> 00:13:10.354
The third piece that is also
00:13:11.794 --> 00:13:14.537
fixable is that we have a
00:13:14.576 --> 00:13:17.239
fee-for-service system that
00:13:17.339 --> 00:13:19.860
effectively has made us hourly workers.
00:13:21.282 --> 00:13:22.523
Every CPT code,
00:13:22.543 --> 00:13:23.523
with the exception of a few,
00:13:23.562 --> 00:13:24.364
are time-based.
00:13:25.083 --> 00:13:27.005
And that is the way that we're reimbursed.
00:13:28.265 --> 00:13:28.966
I don't think we're going to
00:13:28.985 --> 00:13:30.067
be jumping into value-based
00:13:30.106 --> 00:13:30.986
care anytime soon,
00:13:31.027 --> 00:13:32.687
but I hope we do in many ways.
00:13:32.768 --> 00:13:33.388
And if we do,
00:13:33.427 --> 00:13:35.509
that could change that element of it.
00:13:35.849 --> 00:13:37.849
So parts of these are indeed fixable.
00:13:39.250 --> 00:13:39.450
You know,
00:13:39.509 --> 00:13:41.429
PT's salaries have gone up in
00:13:41.470 --> 00:13:42.650
part because of inflation
00:13:42.870 --> 00:13:43.691
and because of the
00:13:44.091 --> 00:13:45.091
education degree and
00:13:45.152 --> 00:13:46.312
student debt and all the things.
00:13:46.412 --> 00:13:46.511
And
00:13:46.991 --> 00:13:48.313
most notably the shortages,
00:13:49.235 --> 00:13:50.657
but it still has a cap to it.
00:13:50.817 --> 00:13:53.279
And that cap at some point will burst.
00:13:54.400 --> 00:13:57.104
Employers at some level can't pay above.
00:13:57.524 --> 00:13:59.206
I think the number is probably, you know,
00:13:59.225 --> 00:14:00.347
one hundred fifteen,
00:14:00.388 --> 00:14:01.349
one hundred fifteen
00:14:01.369 --> 00:14:02.811
thousand a year in the in the
00:14:03.270 --> 00:14:04.192
in the most expensive
00:14:04.231 --> 00:14:05.653
markets because again that
00:14:05.692 --> 00:14:06.832
cap is going to be two
00:14:06.873 --> 00:14:07.614
hundred to two hundred
00:14:07.634 --> 00:14:08.514
fifty thousand on the
00:14:08.573 --> 00:14:10.115
revenue side and we have
00:14:10.174 --> 00:14:12.197
legitimate overhead yeah um
00:14:12.216 --> 00:14:13.537
so hopefully that those are
00:14:13.576 --> 00:14:14.457
the things that I've come
00:14:14.498 --> 00:14:15.458
up with certainly other
00:14:15.499 --> 00:14:17.019
people would speculate
00:14:17.059 --> 00:14:18.701
otherwise but um you know
00:14:18.721 --> 00:14:19.821
in many cases we are our
00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:20.922
worst enemy but there are
00:14:20.961 --> 00:14:22.663
lots of externalities that
00:14:22.682 --> 00:14:23.923
have put pressure on us as well
00:14:24.283 --> 00:14:25.046
yeah the thing that jumped
00:14:25.105 --> 00:14:25.746
out of me the quote that
00:14:25.767 --> 00:14:26.649
you had said in your
00:14:26.668 --> 00:14:28.432
two-part series was we must
00:14:28.451 --> 00:14:30.115
stop incentivizing pts to
00:14:30.275 --> 00:14:31.557
stop seeing patients
00:14:31.818 --> 00:14:33.341
through over emphasizing
00:14:33.402 --> 00:14:34.344
management roles that
00:14:34.364 --> 00:14:35.706
detract from patient care
00:14:37.442 --> 00:14:38.104
Absolutely.
00:14:38.264 --> 00:14:39.144
And that's what we do.
00:14:39.585 --> 00:14:40.385
How do you get ahead?
00:14:40.525 --> 00:14:41.768
You become a clinic director
00:14:42.107 --> 00:14:43.548
who then hires enough
00:14:43.589 --> 00:14:44.610
therapists where they don't
00:14:44.850 --> 00:14:46.251
get to see patients anymore.
00:14:46.511 --> 00:14:47.693
And everybody loses sort of
00:14:47.734 --> 00:14:49.355
in that process over the
00:14:49.394 --> 00:14:50.557
long run because you don't
00:14:50.596 --> 00:14:52.097
see a lot of PTs that get
00:14:52.177 --> 00:14:53.899
out of clinical care that go back in it.
00:14:54.380 --> 00:14:55.020
You just don't.
00:14:55.081 --> 00:14:55.721
Right.
00:14:56.982 --> 00:14:59.105
And so that's a tough nut to
00:14:59.164 --> 00:15:01.227
crack because our best and
00:15:01.268 --> 00:15:02.828
highest utilization might
00:15:02.869 --> 00:15:03.830
not be seeing patients.
00:15:03.950 --> 00:15:04.370
Arguably,
00:15:04.431 --> 00:15:06.212
it isn't because the majority of
00:15:06.273 --> 00:15:08.355
PTs aren't seeing patients.
00:15:09.216 --> 00:15:10.616
So it's a real problem.
00:15:11.018 --> 00:15:12.019
Still think we have the best
00:15:12.058 --> 00:15:12.940
profession going.
00:15:12.980 --> 00:15:14.500
We have so many good things going for it.
00:15:14.541 --> 00:15:15.701
But those challenges...
00:15:16.743 --> 00:15:18.044
are going to make it difficult.
00:15:18.184 --> 00:15:20.206
And private practice is
00:15:20.246 --> 00:15:21.248
really at the forefront of
00:15:21.268 --> 00:15:22.327
this because they get hit
00:15:22.349 --> 00:15:22.908
with all of these
00:15:22.969 --> 00:15:25.892
challenges occurring at the same time.
00:15:26.717 --> 00:15:27.418
right so you can wave a
00:15:27.458 --> 00:15:28.559
magic wand we'll sum it up
00:15:28.620 --> 00:15:29.860
right you can you can fix a
00:15:29.900 --> 00:15:31.782
few fronts I won't ask you
00:15:31.802 --> 00:15:33.344
exactly how to fix it but
00:15:33.403 --> 00:15:34.985
where's the where is it in
00:15:35.044 --> 00:15:37.187
washington is it within our
00:15:37.326 --> 00:15:39.208
own profession where are
00:15:39.249 --> 00:15:40.629
the places that things need
00:15:40.669 --> 00:15:41.711
to change I won't because I
00:15:41.730 --> 00:15:42.510
feel like the how many
00:15:42.530 --> 00:15:43.192
different things need to
00:15:43.231 --> 00:15:45.114
change might be a a a
00:15:45.173 --> 00:15:46.554
three-part episode but
00:15:46.654 --> 00:15:47.755
where are these things like
00:15:47.796 --> 00:15:49.898
where would you put if you only had
00:15:51.099 --> 00:15:51.619
uh a certain amount of
00:15:51.658 --> 00:15:52.480
effort where would you put
00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:53.461
the pressure to actually
00:15:53.500 --> 00:15:54.360
change the things the
00:15:54.422 --> 00:15:56.123
biggest levers to pull to
00:15:56.182 --> 00:15:58.504
sort of reverse this yes
00:15:58.644 --> 00:16:00.307
yes and yes so first thing
00:16:00.366 --> 00:16:01.807
I would do is I would start
00:16:01.827 --> 00:16:03.009
within our own profession
00:16:03.408 --> 00:16:04.770
and make physical therapy
00:16:04.811 --> 00:16:07.232
the exclusive provision of
00:16:07.253 --> 00:16:08.833
a physical therapist acting
00:16:08.953 --> 00:16:10.495
within their state practice act
00:16:10.875 --> 00:16:11.917
What does that mean?
00:16:11.937 --> 00:16:13.077
That means that within our
00:16:13.118 --> 00:16:15.519
state practice act and almost every state,
00:16:15.558 --> 00:16:17.201
it calls for us to allow us
00:16:17.221 --> 00:16:18.201
to use extenders,
00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:20.022
allow us to leverage our
00:16:20.102 --> 00:16:21.342
neck up skills so that we
00:16:21.363 --> 00:16:22.644
can see more and more patients.
00:16:23.565 --> 00:16:24.686
Then we have to battle the
00:16:24.745 --> 00:16:25.886
payers and particularly the
00:16:25.907 --> 00:16:28.087
CPT code system itself and
00:16:28.187 --> 00:16:32.110
others that really reward us for value,
00:16:32.291 --> 00:16:33.091
not volume.
00:16:33.111 --> 00:16:33.251
Yeah.
00:16:34.032 --> 00:16:34.932
I was in the military.
00:16:35.072 --> 00:16:36.493
We had no CPT codes.
00:16:36.852 --> 00:16:37.552
The average number of
00:16:38.092 --> 00:16:40.333
patients that a therapist saw in the Army,
00:16:40.374 --> 00:16:42.375
Navy in those days was about,
00:16:42.434 --> 00:16:43.575
Air Force was about thirty
00:16:43.615 --> 00:16:45.076
a day and never felt
00:16:45.176 --> 00:16:46.655
overworked because we used
00:16:46.716 --> 00:16:47.755
ninety one J's and other
00:16:47.816 --> 00:16:49.616
technicians to help us leverage
00:16:50.116 --> 00:16:52.216
our ability to do evaluation skills,
00:16:52.277 --> 00:16:53.498
manual therapy skills,
00:16:53.918 --> 00:16:55.197
and the higher order skills
00:16:55.217 --> 00:16:56.138
that physical therapists.
00:16:56.158 --> 00:16:57.998
We became more case managers,
00:16:58.457 --> 00:16:59.859
but also utilizing our
00:16:59.918 --> 00:17:01.538
hands and our cognitive
00:17:01.558 --> 00:17:04.819
skills where that is what's the best way.
00:17:05.180 --> 00:17:06.299
The third thing is cultural.
00:17:06.980 --> 00:17:08.359
I would say we have to start
00:17:08.420 --> 00:17:09.859
shifting more compensation
00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:10.621
to our therapists.
00:17:11.181 --> 00:17:12.941
I know that sounds inherently obvious,
00:17:13.441 --> 00:17:14.721
but that means you have to
00:17:14.740 --> 00:17:16.182
stop rewarding middle management.
00:17:16.281 --> 00:17:16.721
You have to say,
00:17:16.741 --> 00:17:17.662
if you want to be a manager,
00:17:17.741 --> 00:17:18.602
you're going to take a pay cut.
00:17:19.135 --> 00:17:19.375
You know,
00:17:19.516 --> 00:17:21.278
if you become an office manager
00:17:21.317 --> 00:17:22.338
of an orthopedic practice,
00:17:22.358 --> 00:17:23.098
you make a whole lot less
00:17:23.118 --> 00:17:24.119
than the orthopedic surgeon
00:17:24.941 --> 00:17:25.981
or a family practice.
00:17:26.001 --> 00:17:27.442
And so you have to look
00:17:27.522 --> 00:17:29.085
organizationally and say, you know,
00:17:30.013 --> 00:17:31.013
PTs are pretty smart.
00:17:31.034 --> 00:17:32.295
They have transportable skills.
00:17:32.315 --> 00:17:33.234
They have good skills that
00:17:33.276 --> 00:17:34.635
lend themselves well for business,
00:17:35.056 --> 00:17:37.356
marketing, other uses.
00:17:37.917 --> 00:17:40.219
And a PT can both manage a
00:17:40.298 --> 00:17:41.838
practice without needing a
00:17:41.898 --> 00:17:43.220
middle manager who's also a
00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:44.340
physical therapist that's
00:17:44.401 --> 00:17:45.340
managing a practice.
00:17:46.121 --> 00:17:48.142
You don't see MD or
00:17:48.261 --> 00:17:50.002
orthopedic surgeons being
00:17:50.063 --> 00:17:51.723
the manager of two or three
00:17:51.763 --> 00:17:53.003
multi-site practices.
00:17:53.065 --> 00:17:55.085
You see office managers and
00:17:55.125 --> 00:17:56.385
other administrative folks
00:17:56.405 --> 00:17:56.986
when you need them,
00:17:57.026 --> 00:17:58.207
and they make a lot less.
00:17:58.547 --> 00:18:00.147
than that so I think part of
00:18:00.188 --> 00:18:01.869
it is is indeed cultural
00:18:02.130 --> 00:18:02.770
and that's going to take a
00:18:02.810 --> 00:18:04.952
long time yeah it's we have
00:18:04.972 --> 00:18:06.193
to reward our clinicians I
00:18:06.213 --> 00:18:07.634
mean you have to you know
00:18:07.674 --> 00:18:08.875
go to variable pay where
00:18:08.895 --> 00:18:10.237
they get a good base salary
00:18:10.817 --> 00:18:11.538
and I'm not saying this
00:18:11.597 --> 00:18:12.479
applies to everybody
00:18:12.499 --> 00:18:13.279
because some folks don't
00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:15.080
like to to you know work
00:18:15.141 --> 00:18:16.241
under incentives but if
00:18:16.281 --> 00:18:18.503
they view another job of
00:18:18.584 --> 00:18:19.984
moving that's non-clinical
00:18:20.006 --> 00:18:21.426
for more money you're
00:18:21.487 --> 00:18:22.748
better off saying you can
00:18:22.788 --> 00:18:23.769
make more money as a
00:18:23.828 --> 00:18:25.069
clinician and here's how
00:18:25.566 --> 00:18:27.186
Yeah, the culture change,
00:18:27.227 --> 00:18:28.207
definitely important and
00:18:28.247 --> 00:18:29.407
definitely rules and regulations,
00:18:29.428 --> 00:18:30.048
as you highlighted.
00:18:30.468 --> 00:18:31.068
I actually believe we got an
00:18:31.169 --> 00:18:33.150
email today as we record two hours ago,
00:18:33.269 --> 00:18:34.510
APTA New York reporting
00:18:34.530 --> 00:18:35.830
that a bill was passed by
00:18:35.871 --> 00:18:37.291
the governor that allows
00:18:37.912 --> 00:18:40.413
OTAs and PTAs to provide care to workers,
00:18:40.452 --> 00:18:41.653
compensation patients under
00:18:41.713 --> 00:18:43.275
direct and supervision of
00:18:43.295 --> 00:18:44.675
an authorized power being a
00:18:44.736 --> 00:18:45.536
PT in New York.
00:18:45.556 --> 00:18:47.517
And that looks like more neck up skill,
00:18:48.017 --> 00:18:49.038
more neck up skills being
00:18:49.097 --> 00:18:50.878
rewarded for being a physical therapist.
00:18:52.477 --> 00:18:52.916
That's good.
00:18:53.377 --> 00:18:54.979
In Medicare, they went the opposite way.
00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:56.760
You get paid less if it's
00:18:56.780 --> 00:18:57.882
done by a PT assistant.
00:18:58.222 --> 00:18:58.482
Yeah.
00:18:58.782 --> 00:18:58.962
Yeah.
00:18:59.042 --> 00:18:59.963
And fighting those things.
00:19:00.825 --> 00:19:02.106
One of those things is under our control,
00:19:02.126 --> 00:19:03.107
which is culture change.
00:19:03.147 --> 00:19:04.729
I think a lot of people are
00:19:04.749 --> 00:19:05.549
starting to begin to
00:19:05.589 --> 00:19:07.231
recognizing it and your piece,
00:19:07.291 --> 00:19:08.031
writing about it,
00:19:08.712 --> 00:19:09.473
stirring the pot a little
00:19:09.513 --> 00:19:11.115
bit and putting it out there and saying,
00:19:11.155 --> 00:19:12.096
let's talk about this.
00:19:12.396 --> 00:19:13.478
Because if we don't talk about it,
00:19:14.358 --> 00:19:15.079
it doesn't change.
00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:16.540
What's your prediction next
00:19:16.560 --> 00:19:17.260
couple of years?
00:19:17.861 --> 00:19:18.842
Which one of these things is
00:19:18.922 --> 00:19:20.942
more likely to actually come to fruition?
00:19:20.962 --> 00:19:21.942
Is it the culture change?
00:19:21.982 --> 00:19:23.223
Because I always look at
00:19:23.284 --> 00:19:25.224
which one can I have my
00:19:25.305 --> 00:19:26.665
fingerprints on the most?
00:19:27.365 --> 00:19:31.167
And rules and regulations and advocacy,
00:19:31.327 --> 00:19:31.929
I'm all for.
00:19:32.249 --> 00:19:33.890
I'm glad someone else is doing it.
00:19:33.910 --> 00:19:34.569
That's not my bag.
00:19:34.589 --> 00:19:35.390
I'm glad it's going on,
00:19:35.410 --> 00:19:36.611
but I also recognize that's
00:19:36.631 --> 00:19:37.791
a long-term change.
00:19:38.071 --> 00:19:39.653
I look at culture being not...
00:19:40.292 --> 00:19:41.773
It's simple but not easy,
00:19:41.993 --> 00:19:43.494
but that's under our control.
00:19:43.575 --> 00:19:44.555
I feel like that's the
00:19:44.575 --> 00:19:46.375
control the controllables side.
00:19:47.336 --> 00:19:48.758
Yeah, so a couple things.
00:19:49.178 --> 00:19:51.019
One is I hope to see PTs
00:19:51.118 --> 00:19:52.579
regain productivity to more
00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:54.201
of the twelve rather than the ten.
00:19:54.861 --> 00:19:57.041
I think through AI and other things,
00:19:57.261 --> 00:19:57.883
if they can get the
00:19:57.942 --> 00:19:58.883
matching to the right
00:19:58.923 --> 00:19:59.663
fields and all the
00:19:59.683 --> 00:20:01.605
regulatory things done correctly,
00:20:02.484 --> 00:20:03.266
I think that could help
00:20:03.306 --> 00:20:04.086
productivity and probably
00:20:04.125 --> 00:20:05.146
limit burnout a little bit.
00:20:06.067 --> 00:20:06.948
However, my fear,
00:20:06.968 --> 00:20:07.567
and there was just an
00:20:07.627 --> 00:20:08.709
article written about this
00:20:08.749 --> 00:20:10.950
about physicians that, yeah,
00:20:10.970 --> 00:20:11.930
there's a balance there.
00:20:12.070 --> 00:20:13.290
If all of a sudden you don't
00:20:13.330 --> 00:20:14.951
have the constraints of an EMR,
00:20:15.051 --> 00:20:16.053
you're still can suffer
00:20:16.073 --> 00:20:18.233
from burnout by seeing too many patients.
00:20:18.713 --> 00:20:19.894
But I do think you'll see
00:20:20.154 --> 00:20:21.996
some incremental gains there.
00:20:22.135 --> 00:20:23.616
There's no reason why we
00:20:23.636 --> 00:20:24.896
should have productivity loss.
00:20:25.538 --> 00:20:26.438
Second thing is I'm hoping
00:20:26.458 --> 00:20:27.318
the culture changes.
00:20:27.419 --> 00:20:29.759
I think the economics of PT is such,
00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:31.181
we're a penny nickel business.
00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:32.300
We're not a dime quarter
00:20:32.340 --> 00:20:33.642
business nor a dollar business.
00:20:34.182 --> 00:20:35.461
as such that the margins are
00:20:35.522 --> 00:20:37.282
so small that you're gonna
00:20:37.343 --> 00:20:39.483
have to see scalability and
00:20:39.544 --> 00:20:40.963
moving to a management
00:20:41.044 --> 00:20:43.545
level that is skinny at best.
00:20:44.644 --> 00:20:45.905
And the good news is PTs
00:20:45.925 --> 00:20:47.165
don't need a lot of babysitting.
00:20:47.665 --> 00:20:49.126
They're trusted, they're autonomous.
00:20:49.547 --> 00:20:50.366
And here's the beauty,
00:20:50.666 --> 00:20:51.887
a PT that works in a more
00:20:51.928 --> 00:20:53.248
autonomous mastery
00:20:53.307 --> 00:20:55.209
purposeful environment
00:20:55.588 --> 00:20:58.470
thrives and needs less management.
00:20:58.509 --> 00:20:59.589
What I say to my employees
00:20:59.630 --> 00:21:00.670
all the time is those who
00:21:00.710 --> 00:21:02.070
manage best manage least.
00:21:03.151 --> 00:21:04.192
And then third thing is,
00:21:04.432 --> 00:21:05.313
I don't know whether
00:21:05.413 --> 00:21:06.834
value-based care is around.
00:21:06.954 --> 00:21:08.895
I suspect it isn't because
00:21:09.195 --> 00:21:10.958
providers are unwilling to
00:21:11.959 --> 00:21:12.818
take on risk when they've
00:21:12.838 --> 00:21:13.980
got their shins kicked in
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:15.080
us for a lot less
00:21:15.121 --> 00:21:16.082
reimbursement over the last
00:21:16.102 --> 00:21:16.622
several years.
00:21:16.642 --> 00:21:18.564
And let's face it, value-based care,
00:21:18.903 --> 00:21:19.825
while it's attractive in
00:21:19.865 --> 00:21:21.165
many ways from a practice
00:21:21.185 --> 00:21:22.146
independent standpoint,
00:21:22.426 --> 00:21:23.907
It's not economical in most
00:21:23.928 --> 00:21:25.048
of the primary care models.
00:21:25.067 --> 00:21:26.989
I mean, you saw what's happening with CVS.
00:21:27.009 --> 00:21:28.568
They're trying to now branch
00:21:28.648 --> 00:21:29.929
it in a separate company
00:21:29.949 --> 00:21:30.930
because of their they have
00:21:30.950 --> 00:21:31.769
the insurance side,
00:21:31.789 --> 00:21:33.510
but they also have the provider, you know,
00:21:33.530 --> 00:21:34.651
business side of it as well.
00:21:35.530 --> 00:21:36.471
And then I think lastly,
00:21:38.259 --> 00:21:41.941
we have to get the payers to change their,
00:21:42.461 --> 00:21:43.560
the fee for service
00:21:43.621 --> 00:21:46.122
environment to a per diem
00:21:46.701 --> 00:21:50.803
or an episodic case per day, you know,
00:21:50.863 --> 00:21:52.643
per, per, per case, whatever.
00:21:53.782 --> 00:21:55.384
Really instead of value-based care,
00:21:55.403 --> 00:21:55.844
you're going to see
00:21:55.884 --> 00:21:57.564
alternative payment models,
00:21:57.963 --> 00:21:58.865
which is different, right?
00:21:58.904 --> 00:21:59.765
They're, they're, they're,
00:21:59.884 --> 00:22:01.125
the one is not necessarily
00:22:01.204 --> 00:22:01.884
part of the other.
00:22:02.285 --> 00:22:03.006
And those alternative
00:22:03.046 --> 00:22:04.925
payment models may be,
00:22:05.185 --> 00:22:07.388
uh allow a therapist to
00:22:07.469 --> 00:22:09.069
scale and use their uh neck
00:22:09.109 --> 00:22:10.912
up skills uh I hope we go
00:22:10.972 --> 00:22:12.733
more to a military model
00:22:12.753 --> 00:22:14.056
you know from that
00:22:14.096 --> 00:22:15.416
standpoint yeah I've been
00:22:15.457 --> 00:22:17.519
hearing uh current and
00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:19.301
former military therapists
00:22:20.979 --> 00:22:21.818
acting confused.
00:22:22.180 --> 00:22:23.319
Why is it this way when I
00:22:23.380 --> 00:22:24.160
leave the military?
00:22:25.040 --> 00:22:26.942
We do so well and it's so effective.
00:22:26.961 --> 00:22:28.061
And look, we have data.
00:22:28.241 --> 00:22:29.542
It's not just we think, we feel,
00:22:30.303 --> 00:22:30.843
we believe.
00:22:30.884 --> 00:22:32.263
It's look at this data and
00:22:32.284 --> 00:22:33.805
the outcomes and how effective,
00:22:33.944 --> 00:22:36.205
cost effective and quality
00:22:36.286 --> 00:22:37.105
outcome effective.
00:22:37.586 --> 00:22:39.227
And it's twenty twenty four.
00:22:39.267 --> 00:22:40.028
I've been hearing this since
00:22:40.087 --> 00:22:41.867
I was in school in twenty fourteen.
00:22:41.887 --> 00:22:43.528
Well, it's very simple, though, Jimmy.
00:22:43.548 --> 00:22:43.729
I mean,
00:22:43.769 --> 00:22:45.269
the government always absolves
00:22:45.289 --> 00:22:46.250
themselves of the rules
00:22:46.269 --> 00:22:47.371
they place on everybody else.
00:22:49.133 --> 00:22:50.953
That doesn't feel fair, Larry.
00:22:50.973 --> 00:22:52.354
No, I hear you.
00:22:54.214 --> 00:22:55.415
So if these are the kinds of
00:22:55.476 --> 00:22:58.217
topics that you want to dig into,
00:22:58.596 --> 00:22:59.617
I want people who are
00:22:59.657 --> 00:23:01.198
listening and watching to understand,
00:23:01.238 --> 00:23:02.098
like you're having these
00:23:02.159 --> 00:23:03.499
conversations pretty regularly.
00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:04.180
You're creating, you're,
00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:05.019
you're having these
00:23:05.059 --> 00:23:06.980
conversations with yourself in your head.
00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:09.342
You're talking to friends with a keyboard.
00:23:09.701 --> 00:23:11.163
And then that's the beauty of this,
00:23:11.682 --> 00:23:12.583
not social media,
00:23:12.623 --> 00:23:14.124
but media that's social is
00:23:14.483 --> 00:23:15.365
these are the things that
00:23:15.384 --> 00:23:16.865
are in Larry's head all the time,
00:23:16.904 --> 00:23:17.925
or these conversations that
00:23:17.945 --> 00:23:18.506
are happening.
00:23:19.006 --> 00:23:21.008
in rooms around the country, right?
00:23:21.288 --> 00:23:22.387
We're coming up on PPS.
00:23:22.888 --> 00:23:23.848
A lot of these things,
00:23:24.190 --> 00:23:25.570
plus a couple other hundred
00:23:25.590 --> 00:23:26.611
topics get discussed,
00:23:26.891 --> 00:23:27.692
but now you're able to have
00:23:27.731 --> 00:23:28.673
those conversations at
00:23:28.712 --> 00:23:29.913
scale and share those
00:23:29.952 --> 00:23:31.273
things and people can interact,
00:23:31.615 --> 00:23:32.535
which to me is,
00:23:33.035 --> 00:23:34.016
instead of just arguing
00:23:34.375 --> 00:23:35.376
what we do on Twitter a lot,
00:23:35.396 --> 00:23:36.678
these are the good outcomes
00:23:36.917 --> 00:23:38.699
of platforms like Substack.
00:23:38.719 --> 00:23:39.519
So all things physical
00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:40.440
therapy on Substack.
00:23:40.460 --> 00:23:41.340
We'll share that link again.
00:23:42.121 --> 00:23:42.922
Larry, parting shot.
00:23:42.942 --> 00:23:43.461
What do you want to leave
00:23:43.481 --> 00:23:44.042
with the audience?
00:23:44.343 --> 00:23:45.123
Hopefully a good note.
00:23:45.163 --> 00:23:45.824
Hopefully a good note.
00:23:46.203 --> 00:23:47.805
No, it's a word of encouragement.
00:23:47.845 --> 00:23:49.086
There's nothing wrong with data.
00:23:49.487 --> 00:23:51.228
Just realize it and then
00:23:51.288 --> 00:23:52.648
reflect on it and say,
00:23:52.709 --> 00:23:54.230
how can I as a clinician
00:23:55.050 --> 00:23:56.413
continue to sustain an
00:23:56.492 --> 00:23:57.413
environment throughout my
00:23:57.472 --> 00:23:59.255
career where clinical
00:23:59.355 --> 00:24:00.615
emphasis is maintained as
00:24:00.675 --> 00:24:01.596
priority number one?
00:24:01.957 --> 00:24:02.938
If I'm an employer,
00:24:03.157 --> 00:24:04.637
what can I do to keep my
00:24:04.678 --> 00:24:06.398
clinicians practicing clinically?
00:24:06.699 --> 00:24:07.940
And what am I doing through
00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:10.601
the unintended consequences
00:24:10.701 --> 00:24:12.481
or causing my clinicians to
00:24:12.563 --> 00:24:14.743
practice less clinically?
00:24:15.104 --> 00:24:16.964
And then from an advocacy standpoint,
00:24:17.065 --> 00:24:18.345
what can we agree with?
00:24:18.384 --> 00:24:19.705
Can we agree that physical
00:24:19.726 --> 00:24:21.946
therapists under the domain
00:24:22.007 --> 00:24:23.567
of physical therapy are the
00:24:23.627 --> 00:24:25.749
arbitrators and should be
00:24:25.788 --> 00:24:27.069
able to practice clinically?
00:24:27.250 --> 00:24:29.251
through their state practice acts,
00:24:29.352 --> 00:24:32.054
which are heavily vetted at
00:24:32.074 --> 00:24:34.214
the state level through associations,
00:24:35.375 --> 00:24:36.317
rather than under the
00:24:36.336 --> 00:24:37.897
constraints of payers,
00:24:38.317 --> 00:24:40.019
or in our own particular case,
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:41.540
our own profession,
00:24:41.921 --> 00:24:43.442
which has told us that
00:24:43.602 --> 00:24:47.105
one-on-one care is the way, the truth,
00:24:47.144 --> 00:24:47.644
and the life.
00:24:48.066 --> 00:24:49.186
That's very unfortunate.
00:24:49.807 --> 00:24:50.769
yeah yeah we did a live
00:24:50.808 --> 00:24:53.114
stream with about this and
00:24:53.335 --> 00:24:54.798
where's the value in being
00:24:54.817 --> 00:24:56.902
a pt and we we came upon or
00:24:56.942 --> 00:24:58.163
my my sort of outcome of
00:24:58.183 --> 00:24:58.865
that is it's a little
00:24:58.885 --> 00:25:01.009
culture change right we think
00:25:01.942 --> 00:25:03.384
Like if you the biggest
00:25:03.444 --> 00:25:04.345
mistake you can make if you
00:25:04.546 --> 00:25:05.547
if you create a product or
00:25:05.606 --> 00:25:06.667
a service or you provide a
00:25:06.728 --> 00:25:09.790
service is assuming what
00:25:09.911 --> 00:25:10.811
about that product or
00:25:10.852 --> 00:25:13.835
service your customer actually values.
00:25:14.355 --> 00:25:15.615
I mean, so many providers will tell me,
00:25:15.695 --> 00:25:17.258
well, one on one care, they value it.
00:25:17.617 --> 00:25:18.900
And I'll say like every time
00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:20.401
you're saying every single one,
00:25:20.441 --> 00:25:21.382
because if you can solve my
00:25:21.422 --> 00:25:22.462
problem in half the time,
00:25:22.663 --> 00:25:24.125
I actually value that more.
00:25:25.493 --> 00:25:26.994
Now, this is case dependent,
00:25:27.296 --> 00:25:28.957
but what I mean is it's case dependent.
00:25:29.196 --> 00:25:30.758
So it's not just more
00:25:30.857 --> 00:25:31.959
one-on-one time is better.
00:25:31.999 --> 00:25:33.019
Why not two hours then?
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:35.101
Why is one-on-one for an hour?
00:25:35.121 --> 00:25:36.701
Why should it be one patient a day then?
00:25:36.883 --> 00:25:37.563
Right, right, right.
00:25:37.583 --> 00:25:39.243
If it's so much better, then over-serve.
00:25:39.284 --> 00:25:40.484
Do a patient for eight hours.
00:25:40.865 --> 00:25:42.145
And of course, that's funny.
00:25:43.027 --> 00:25:44.248
but that's going to the edge
00:25:44.288 --> 00:25:44.868
of that argument.
00:25:44.909 --> 00:25:46.130
So like, let's figure it out.
00:25:46.369 --> 00:25:47.830
Like figure out what the
00:25:47.990 --> 00:25:48.751
answer actually is.
00:25:48.832 --> 00:25:51.114
And that's just not assume all things,
00:25:51.153 --> 00:25:52.295
physical therapy on sub stack.
00:25:52.315 --> 00:25:52.934
We'll share that link.
00:25:52.954 --> 00:25:54.316
Larry, are you headed to PPS?
00:25:54.336 --> 00:25:54.916
We're going to see.
00:25:54.957 --> 00:25:55.457
Absolutely.
00:25:55.477 --> 00:25:56.458
It'll be a PPS.
00:25:56.498 --> 00:25:56.738
Sure.
00:25:56.778 --> 00:25:57.098
Stop.
00:25:57.138 --> 00:25:57.818
Come talk to me.
00:25:58.160 --> 00:25:58.940
That's how I get all my
00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:00.461
ideas is through interactions.
00:26:00.541 --> 00:26:03.003
I talk to physical therapists, owners,
00:26:03.064 --> 00:26:04.704
practice folks all the time.
00:26:05.286 --> 00:26:06.006
And these are the kinds of
00:26:06.026 --> 00:26:06.787
things that they're,
00:26:06.807 --> 00:26:08.147
that are on their mind and,
00:26:09.088 --> 00:26:10.451
And now I just have the
00:26:10.490 --> 00:26:11.373
ability to kind of write
00:26:11.393 --> 00:26:12.473
about them and report what
00:26:12.493 --> 00:26:13.855
people are telling me.
00:26:13.876 --> 00:26:14.376
The internet,
00:26:14.497 --> 00:26:16.740
it has some good uses as well.
00:26:16.780 --> 00:26:17.162
Larry Bench,
00:26:17.182 --> 00:26:18.423
appreciate you stopping by on the show.
00:26:18.844 --> 00:26:19.305
Absolutely.