In order to run a successful practice, we have to listen – to our staff and patients, and at times their supportive caregivers and family. Being a ‘good listener’ is a learned skill for most of us, and works beyond just being quiet, but active empathy and truly hearing people. This article might help you with your relationships with your staff and patients.
If you want insights in getting your practice to the next level – we are always here to listen – AND help! We have many customized solutions for your billing, eligibility, marketing challenges – and more.PerformPT.net (833) 764-0178

 Many of us think we listen without really having to try. And perhaps we do. Very often though we are merely hearing, in other words picking up sound through our ears. Listening is a different activity altogether. It requires focus, concentration, and effort.

There’s a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” ~ G.K. Chesterton

We are not talking here about social listening, the back and forth of conversation with very little focus on the speaker’s experience or concerns. What we are talking about is listening of the deep and powerful variety, so rare yet so essential for success – everywhere in our lives.

This kind of listening is a conscious activity – participating in a conversation even while remaining silent. It requires us to engage with someone else, putting aside our own concerns or agenda and giving them our total focus. Most of us aren’t taught to function in this way. We are far more likely to focus first on our own agenda and what we want and need.

 

Deep and powerful listening can be learned – but it can’t be faked. If we don’t believe in the value of listening, people will see through us, sensing our impatience, frustration, insincerity. When we recognize and value the incredible benefits of a deeper level of listening, we give ourselves a transformative tool to build our relationships and deliver results.

As Bernard Ferrari says in ‘Power Listening’, this kind of listening is at the front-end of decision-making. It gives us better information on which to base our decisions. It makes people feel included, valued and respected. It is a vital part of motivation and engagement.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”  Stephen R. Covey

What characterizes powerful listening? For a start, powerful listeners are ‘other-directed’ rather than focused on the self. Instead of hijacking a conversation for their own ends, they strive to be fully present and in-the-moment with the speaker.

They seek to understand the thoughts, feelings, and views of the speaker, rather than assuming they are the same as their own. They build rapport through eye contact and body language, allowing silence, warmth and caring, rather than questions, to draw the speaker out.

They listen as a receiver, rather than as a judge or critic. This means that they are neither racing ahead in their own mind to find a solution, nor are they interpreting what they hear as good or bad, right or wrong, stupendous or stupid. Instead, they check their perceptions of what the speaker is saying, meaning, thinking and feeling.

Ironically, because they seek to understand the other person rather than instantly responding from their own perspective, they create a climate that is more conducive to healthy debate and to finding a solution or agreement.

 

Taking the concept of deep listening out of the realms of theory and into a fast-paced, pressured business environment may seem almost impossible. It isn’t. Neither is it required each time every day. Half the battle is becoming aware of when we must listen at this level because we recognize the consequences of not doing so.

This does not mean allowing people to run on endlessly unchecked. It may, however, mean allowing the person you often cut off – because they keep repeating the same thing over and over again – to actually have their say, while you listen, seek to understand their views and feelings, and demonstrate that you have done so through your response. If you truly hear this person, and he or she knows it, they no longer need to battle to be heard and your influence over how they shape their communication grows considerably. Everyone wins.

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If you would like to meet our friends at Third Level, just click the link to read more. They are hugely instrumental in getting Teams to work together efficiently.

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Reference: https://thirdlevel.com/the-power-of-listening-2/

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Want to get an up-close glimpse at a person with cultural biases? Follow these instructions:

1. Grab a mirror.

2. Look into it.

That’s one way to summarize the starting point for “Battling Bias’s Distorted Images,” the cover story for the October issue of PT in Motion magazine. The article makes the case that while unconscious bias—also known as implicit bias—is very much a part of the human condition, it’s something that can be acknowledged and managed in ways that minimize its impact on relationships. For health care providers including physical therapists (PTs) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs), that’s an important step to take in effective patient care.

Through interviews with PTs in a variety of settings, author and Associate Editor Eric Ries explores how implicit bias—and these PTs’ recognition of it in themselves—has impacted and changed their lives, particularly at the professional level. Several describe the journey as a path that’s not always easy, but absolutely crucial to providing the best possible person-centered care.

 

The article also delves into how you can uncover implicit biases through self-tests such as the Implicit Association Test series, and what to do after they’re identified. PTs interviewed for the article provide insight on how physical therapy education programs can respond to the challenges of implicit bias, and provide practical tips on making behavior changes that may, in turn, lessen, if not eliminate, a particular bias.

According to Hadiya Green Guerrero, PT, DPT, interviewed for the story, efforts to counter implicit bias are necessary for PTs and PTAs because the stakes are high.

“Do your best to think about your biases and check them at the door,” Green Guerrero says in the article. “Seek to learn and understand each patient or client to the clinic, what constitutes his or her biggest health concerns, and what barriers that person faces to optimal well-being and needed interaction with the health care system.”

 

 

Let’s talk about your business challenges today.

Our fresh perspectives, experience, and specialized skill sets will get your practice where you want it, and with far less stress.

(833) 764-0178

{Reference: http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2019/10/07/OctoberPTiMMagazineBias/}

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All of the PT passion, skill, and energy in the world can’t guarantee a successful practice. You need knowledge.

JOIN PRACTICE OWNERS, STAFF THERAPISTS, FRONT DESK STAFF AND BILLERS TO LEARN 100+ WAYS TO RUN A MORE PROFITABLE, PRODUCTIVE AND EFFICIENT PRACTICE.

Don’t miss Kevin Rausch speaking on key topics.

 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THE PRIVATE PRACTICE SUMMIT?

PRIVATE PRACTICE OWNER

• If you are successful, and own multiple clinics, and are looking to get to the next level

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STAFF PHYSICAL THERAPIST

• If you are the bottleneck in your own practice and need to build a team around you

• If you are overloaded, and stuck with your day-to-day tasks as a therapist

• If you are a senior therapist, who someday wants to open their own practice

PRACTICE ADMINISTRATOR / MARKETER

• If you want to increase referrals and diversify your referral sources

• If you want to understand which metrics matter and how to measure and improve them

• If you want to grow your practice by attracting, hiring, retaining and motivating staff

FRONT DESK

• If you want to simplify benefit verification, pre-authorization and scheduling

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• If you want to reduce your appointment cancellation rates

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Let’s talk about your business challenges today.

Our fresh perspectives, experience, and specialized skill sets will get your practice where you want it, and with far less stress.

(833) 764-0178

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So you are planning to open your own physical therapy clinic. You have a good sense of what to do: find some clinical space, hang your shingle, and tell folks about your clinic. That’s about it, right?

Maybe not. What are some of the things you should avoid doing when you are planning on opening a private PT clinic? And what mistakes should you avoid when running and operating your own therapy practice?

Running a physical therapy clinic is challenging. Not only are you responsible for treating your patients and documenting their progress, you are now charged with keeping track of the finances, the employees, and the day-to-day operations. And remember, paid vacation time is a thing of the past. As they say in the medical business, you eat what you kill; every patient you see is money in, and a chance to have a positive customer service experience. And every bill and expense you have is money out the door.

Owning a private PT clinic is fun, too. You get to be the boss. You get to make the decisions that can vault your clinic to success—but some of your decisions can have negative consequences on the health of your business—and on your overall happiness with owning your own physical therapy clinic.

Here is a list of mistakes that should be avoided when owning and operating your own private physical therapy practice. Some are absolute no-no’s. Others are merely recommendations from a PT who has made a few mistakes over 10-plus years of PT clinic ownership.

Not Having a Plan

You didn’t get into and through physical therapy school without a plan, and your physical therapy clinic has a greater chance of success with a well thought out business plan. Your plan doesn’t need to be anything fancy; it simply has to define your business and its goals and provide a roadmap on how you will achieve those goals.

Failure to have a business plan can leave you in a sea of financial worries without a compass. Initially, plan out 12 to 18 months of your business, and don’t forget to update your plan year after that, so you have a sense of where your business is—and where it is going.

Buying the Most Expensive Equipment

When planning your physical therapy clinic, you should include a capital budget for medical and clinical equipment. This may include:

• Treatment tables

• Therapeutic modalities like ultrasound or electrical stimulation units

• Exercise equipment

• Computer equipment

When first starting out, it can be tempting to buy the best—and most expensive—equipment. That shows your patients that you have a shiny and exclusive clinic. But the finest PT equipment may come with a high price tag, and you may be drowning in debt before you even get your clinic off the ground.

 

Do you really need the fully adjustable hi-lo tables? Does your clinical exercise equipment need to be from the top name-brand manufacturer? Probably not. When starting out, you may fare better using clinical and exercise equipment that is budget-friendly but still gets the job done. Once you have established your business after a few years, you can consider trading up for the fancy stuff.

Your patients most likely won’t come to you because of your high-end PT equipment. They will come to you because of your excellent clinical skill set and your top-notch customer service.

Ignoring the Business Aspect of PT

So you’re a great PT, right? You get good results and your patients seem to enjoy their time with you. That should be enough for a successful business, right?

Wrong.

As a physical therapy clinic owner, don’t forget that you are a businessperson. You cannot ignore the business aspect of clinic ownership. Non-clinical roles of a PT clinic owner may include:

• Procurement of supplies

• Managing employees and staff

• Marketing your services

• Ensuring compliance with local and national regulations

 

You constantly need to manage employees, finances, and marketing—all, while treating your patients and making sure your documentation, is up to snuff. Failing to be a businessperson for your PT clinic can mean disaster for you and your business.

Failing to Put Customer Service First

Take care of your customers, or they will take their business elsewhere. In your physical therapy clinic, who are your customers?

Obviously, your customers are your patients. They are relying on you to provide a clean, organized clinical space in which they can engage in their rehab. They are relying on you to provide excellent clinical care in a timely manner, and they need you to make the best choices for their rehab. Take care of your patients properly, and they’ll come back every time they need PT. Fail to put your patients first, and they may just head for a different clinic.

 

Your customers are also doctors and other referral sources. Doctors will refer patients to your clinic, and they are expecting that patient to have a positive experience. Your referral sources also expect timely communication, so make sure you keep them informed of the progress of their patients. Keep your referral sources happy, and they’ll keep trusting you for the care of their patients.

Hiring the Wrong People

As a physical therapy clinic owner, eventually you are going to have to hire some people to work for you. You may need a receptionist to answer the phones, manage your schedule, and collect copayments. As your clinic (hopefully) gets busier, you may need to hire other physical therapists to work for you. But you must hire the right people for your clinic.

Having the best people for your PT clinic is paramount. You want your clinic to be known in your community as a positive place, and the right employees can make that happen. Hiring employees who are not a good fit for your clinic can spell disaster.

 

Who are the wrong people for your clinic? Start with the basics: your employees must show up on time, prepared to tackle each day. Customer service must be their number one goal. For clinical staff members, they must make sound clinical decisions and be recognized as an expert in the PT field.

Employing people who don’t share your vision can cause patients (and doctors) to turn away from your PT clinic, so hire wisely.

Letting Finances Get Out of Control

Managing the financial aspect of your private physical therapy practice can be challenging, but it needs to be done properly. Failure to properly manage the outflow of cash from your clinic can be a huge mistake and may lead to an unhealthy bottom line at the end of the month.

These days, it is easy to pay bills; Simply set up an automatic payment from your business checking account or credit card, and the money flows out. But here’s the problem: these auto payments can slowly and steadily creep up until you are overpaying for basic services. Recurring payments, like those for your telephone, internet service, and business insurance, can ratchet up over time, and you need to be aware of how much you are paying each month to ensure that costs remain in control.

 

You must be constantly aware of how much you are paying for basic utilities and materials in your clinic. Office and clinical supplies will be needed, and you should take time each month to ensure that your suppliers are giving you a competitive price for these goods. Shopping around for the best price for your necessary items may be the key to ensuring financial health for your PT clinic.

Owning a physical therapy clinic can be a fun and rewarding venture, but it can also turn into a nightmare business if you are making some big mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, and learning the ropes of the business world for a physical therapist can be tricky.

Work hard, provide excellent customer service, avoid some common pitfalls and mistakes, and you can have a successful physical therapy practice for many years.

 

 

Let’s talk about your business challenges today.

Our fresh perspectives, experience, and specialized skill sets will get your practice where you want it, and with far less stress.

(833) 764-0178

{Reference: https://www.verywellhealth.com/mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-pt-clinic-4131830}

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Physical therapy can be a pretty demanding profession. Sure, you aren’t digging ditches in the mud, but you may be lifting patients, managing an outpatient caseload, documenting functional progress, and satisfying insurance regulations to ensure payment.

So, are there things that you can do consistently to make your day in the clinic and your patient interactions go more smoothly? Are there special hacks that the pros use to help them get through a day? You bet there are.

Here is a list of 10 physical therapy pro tips that can help you be a successful physical therapist while working with your patients.

1. Take a 30-Second Break During Your Evaluations

When first meeting a patient and taking a history, your mind may be scrambling to get the story straight and to decide on the best way to assess your patient. A 30-second break after taking the history may be all that you need to clear your head to perform a thorough evaluation. Keep things like a dynamometer or a goniometer in a cabinet or drawer away from the patient. After you get the history for your patient and are ready to start performing tests and measures, excuse yourself to retrieve the measuring equipment. That can give you a quick break to catch your breath, clear your head, and perform the best evaluation and assessment.

2. Start All Evaluations by Asking Your Patient What He or She Does for a Living

When you first meet a patient to perform an evaluation, start your questioning by asking what he or she does for a living. Why? When you ask someone what job they do, you are really asking what position they put their body in all day long. Someone with back pain who sits all day at a desk may need posture correction exercises. A mechanic who reaches overhead at work may be causing their own shoulder pain. This question can also give you insight into how their condition affects their ability to do their job. (Super pro tip: even if your patient is older or elderly, ask what their job is. Never assume someone is retired based upon their age!)

 

3. Grab the Non-Injured Limb During Treatment? No Worries

Uh oh. Your patient has a frozen shoulder on their right side, and you start performing range of motion on the left shoulder. The patient calmly informs you that you are treating the wrong shoulder! What do you do? Simply smile and say, “Oops.” and move to the correct side. It’s not the end of the world; we all make mistakes. Plus you can use that faux pas to see how the patient’s non-injured side moves compared to their injured side and assess the severity of their condition.

4. Mix It Up

Be careful not to fall into the predictable pattern of prescribing exercises to your patients that are all the same sets and repetitions. Mix it up a bit, and prescribe the correct number of reps based on the patient’s needs. Are you working with an endurance athlete? Perhaps prescribe higher repetitions of an exercise. Trying to build strength? Keep it at eight to ten reps. Take a day and visit another PT clinic to learn some different exercises. Just try not to get in a rut of using the same exercises at the same intensity for all your patients. Physical therapy is a specialized service, and your patients should get specialized care from you.

 

5. Rely on Your Clinical Skills and Judgment

These days, it seems that every patient shows up to the physical therapy clinic with X-ray and MRI reports. Is an MRI really necessary before starting PT? Most of the time, the answer is no. Glance at the MRI pictures and reports after your evaluation. This can help keep your clinical skills sharp and can prevent you from performing an examination that is biased by the MRI pictures. Not every patient with a herniated disc requires McKenzie extension exercises. Patients with rotator cuff tears all move differently, and your assessment should reflect that fact. Rely on your clinical skills first and make a professional assessment based on your evaluation findings.

6. Theraband Isn’t Just for Strengthening.

Theraband, or other resistance bands, can be used for activities other than strengthening exercises. If your patient has foot drop, you can tie one end of the band around their upper calf and the opposite end around the patient’s toe. The tension on the band can help pull their ankle up when walking to prevent catching their toe on the floor. If your patient is standing on a dusty or slippery floor, use a small bit of resistance band to help improve contact between your patient’s foot and the floor (much like Dycem).

 

7. Use a Towel as a Handle for Theraband

Do you have a patient who has rheumatoid or osteoarthritis and is having trouble gripping a resistance band? Or are patients complaining about how the resistance band is cutting into their hand while gripping it? If so, there is an easy fix: use a small towel as a handle. Simply tie a loop at the end of the resistance band, and feed a rolled up hand towel through the loop. Now your patient can hold the towel as a handle while performing upper extremity exercises.

8. Don’t Use Fancy Anatomical Terms and Medical Jargon

So, your patient has a posterior lumbar derangement and requires a grade III flexion and rotation mobilization to reduce the derangement and regain normal intervertebral mobility. That sounds impressive, but your patient doesn’t need to know all those fancy words. When you are speaking with doctors, nurses or other physical therapists, it is fine to use medical terminology. But when speaking with patients and their families, use terms that are easily understandable.

 

9. Always Ask Your Patients If They Have Any Questions

It’s so easy to get caught up in trying to stay on schedule and to try to move quickly from one patient to the next. Before leaving any patient, get in the habit of asking if he or she has any questions about their physical therapy care. Taking thirty seconds to ask your patients if everything is clear and understood can help you develop a positive working relationship with your patients.

10. Communicate Effectively With Doctors and Referral Sources

One of the most important things you can do is communicate with professionals who refer patients to you. Be sure to write clear and concise notes, and make sure the doctor (or whoever is reading your notes) understands exactly what your physical therapy plan of care is.

Being a physical therapist can be tough, but it can also be very rewarding. By learning some professional tricks of the trade, you can be sure to maximize your time with your patients to get the best rehabilitation outcomes.

 

 

Let’s talk about your business challenges today.

Our fresh perspectives, experience, and specialized skill sets will get your practice where you want it, and with far less stress.

(833) 764-0178

{Reference: https://www.verywellhealth.com/pro-tips-for-physical-therapists-4066018}

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Don’t Miss the Upcoming Event in Orlando.

Discover how to increase revenue, boost patient loyalty, start profitable cash-based programs, and improve staff efficiency!

Meet our own Mr. Kevin Rausch
who will be speaking.

 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

PRIVATE PRACTICE OWNER, CLINICIAN, OFFICE MANAGER, FRONT-OFFICE, BILLER

• If you are successful, own multiple clinics and is looking to get to the next level

• If you are doing ok, but wish you were doing a lot better

• If you are tired and fed up with POPTS practices, hospitals, corporate groups and declining payments

• If you can’t take a vacation without things falling apart

• If you are dependent on referrals from a handful of physicians

• If you are overloaded, and stuck with your day-to-day tasks as a practice owner

• If you are starting out, and want to hit the ground running, and avoid costly mistakes

• If you want to grow your practice by attracting, hiring, retaining and motivating staff

• If you are the bottleneck in your own practice

• If you have tried other marketing strategies, and nothing has worked

MAY 17, 18, 19 ORLANDO, FL

Visit: https://ignitionevent.com/

 

 

Let’s talk about your business challenges today.

Our fresh perspectives, experience, and specialized skill sets will get your practice where you want it, and with far less stress.

(833) 764-0178

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