Today on PT Breakfast Club, we’re talking physical therapy, AI, EMRs, patient experience, and the uncomfortable question: is healthcare technology making clinicians better, or just making the old system suck less?
Jimmy McKay and Tony Maritato start with the clinical and administrative divide inside EMRs. Tony asks what an EMR should actually do in an AI world, while Jimmy introduces the idea of the “centaur” vs the “reverse centaur”: good technology gives humans horsepower, bad technology turns humans into the tool.
From there, the conversation moves into wearable data, remote therapeutic monitoring, patient apps, gamification, Peloton, video games, hotels, and software. The core question: why is physical therapy still trying to build a better EMR when other industries are better at getting people to come back, stay engaged, and actually want to participate?
The episode also digs into Sean Pastuch and Active Life, the messy space between physical therapy and fitness, why clinicians get defensive about trainers, UnitedHealthcare reimbursement, whether $60 visits can work, price anchoring, and what PT clinics can learn from Dick’s Sporting Goods creating an experience kids actually want to visit.
The throughline: understand what game you’re playing.
In this episode:
• AI, EMRs, and the clinical/admin divide
• Centaurs vs reverse centaurs in healthcare technology
• Why RTM often feels like homework
• What PT can steal from video games, software, and hotels
• Active Life, trainers, and the space between PT and fitness
• Insurance reimbursement and the $60 visit problem
• Price anchoring for PT clinics
• Why attention leads to trust, and trust leads to action
Chapters:
00:00 PT Breakfast Club intro
01:11 What should an EMR actually do?
02:20 The clinical vs administrative EMR divide
04:51 Centaur vs reverse centaur
05:47 AI physical therapists and the obligation to train the tool
07:21 Wearables, patient data, and EMR integration
09:51 Capture vs synthesis: the real data problem
12:09 AI should make the therapist better
12:21 Why RTM feels like homework
13:58 Can EMRs become tools patients want to use?
14:33 Tony’s EMR wish list: photos, safeguards, customization
15:39 Stop making mayonnaise-flavored ice cream
15:49 What healthcare can steal from Peloton
17:42 Gamification, rewards, and human accountability
18:56 Peloton, quiet quitting, and churn signals
20:31 What PT can steal from hospitality
20:52 Are we just making EMRs suck less?
21:47 The silverware company running a restaurant
23:00 Do the unreasonable thing before your competitor does
24:16 Active Life and the space between PT and fitness
27:41 Sean Pastuch found the gap after discharge
28:43 Scope creep or better communication?
30:42 Where does PT actually live?
33:00 Figure out what you like doing, then who it helps
34:30 UnitedHealthcare and the $60 visit problem
38:30 Understand what game you’re playing
40:01 Protecting the profession vs protecting the patient
42:12 If you hate the insurance game, choose another game
44:45 Price anchoring: “Why $74.95, not $500?”
45:37 One headline did the whole job
46:08 What Dick’s Sporting Goods changed
47:52 Attention leads to trust
51:19 Advice for a PTA entering assisted living
53:07 Find the bicycle in the room
54:07 Closing thoughts
Follow:
Tony Maritato: Total Therapy Solution
Dave Kittle: Concierge Pain Relief / The Dave Kittle Show
Jimmy McKay: PT Pintcast
This livestream is for conversation and entertainment only, not medical, legal, billing, or business advice.
#PhysicalTherapy #AIinHealthcare #PTBusiness
