Category: Blog

2023 is right around the corner! We know full well that every new year brings new challenges to physical therapy marketing. We need to be open to change and learn new skills to crush our goals. Here are 3 business skills entrepreneurs can develop or improve this year. Better yet — you can hire our team. Regardless, it’s important to understand why they are so important — and what they are and actually accomplish! Bring us your questions! With a little help from our experts: from consulting, to billing to marketing — we can get your practice to the next level.

Ready to level up in your business this year? You have a fresh start so aside from setting goals and determining your focus you need to take action. You can do this by developing new skills that will help your business succeed.

If you’re a digital entrepreneur, you know that the online business work is always changing. It’s crucial that you focus on continuing your education and gaining new skills to help your business evolve.

Here are 3 business skills digital entrepreneurs can develop or improve this year.

1. Managing Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads aren’t going away any time soon so you might as well learn how to master them. Sure, you can hire a Facebook ads expert or consultant, but it’s best that you know at least the basics yourself.

Investing in the ads themselves can be expensive. Add in the extra expense of paying someone to create the copy, set up the campaign, and manage them for you and you could be left with dwindling profits.

Instead, you can take a course or hire a Facebook ads coach so you can learn the basics first and perhaps even master one of these stages to save yourself some money. Once you understand Facebook ads, you can also develop a solid strategy and test things out more effectively.

2. SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a hot commodity in the online space. If you run a website or blog, it’s important that you understand SEO and keep up with all of Google’s updates.

Again, you can hire someone to do SEO research and execute a strategy, but it often stands to have some SEO skills of your own to start. You can always delegate keyword research but you do need to be involved in some of the SEO strategy to get the best results.

Luckily, you can enroll in SEO workshops or trainings online hosted by trusted experts in the field. I like taking advice from Mike Pearson from Stupid Simple SEO who is a proven SEO expert and has a ton of great nuggets to offer.

3. Sales

If you’re in business for yourself, you have to know how to sell whether that’s hard selling or soft selling. You can’t just expect to be the brains behind a valuable product or service, you also need to know how to sell it.

This is especially true if you’re a solopreneur. Start by getting clear on your target market and what their needs are. Then create a sales funnel for your solutions that will help them.

You can sell online with integrity in a variety of ways via your email list, social media, webinars, and courses.

Summary

Don’t slack on your skills next year. You don’t have to go back to school or get a new business certification in most cases. You can learn things quickly and without much effort — thanks to the internet.

Focus on constantly learning to master new skill sets so you can run and market your business better.

Is your practice preparing for the future? We know PT — and we can help to make sure your business flourishes for 2023 and the years to come. Let our experts in physical therapy marketing services take all of the guesswork out of promoting and building your business.  Visit our Facebook page or give us a call at (833) 764-0178.

Reference: [https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/01/digital-skills-for-2019.html]

It is that time of year — when the bombardment of ads encourages everyone to review their Medicare coverage — and includes considering the Medicare Advantage plan. But buyers beware. The window of open enrolment can mean that clients and patients may look to healthcare practitioners for advice, opinions, or clarification. Depending on the profession and circumstances, there can be vast differences in the responses — especially with physical therapy.  

This insightful article outlines some broad reasons why the Medicare Advantage plan may not, in truth, be advantageous. 

Along with leaves changing colour and the omnipresence of pumpkin spice comes the avalanche of ads, commercials and telephone calls, entreating us to believe that Medicare Advantage is the best thing since the invention of the Internet. With open enrollment season upon us, it’s critical to examine that claim. In traditional Medicare, the government pays doctors and hospitals directly. Recipients usually pay premiums and must meet deductibles, and many choose a supplemental “Medigap” plan to help with out-of-pocket costs. Medicare Advantage was designed about 20 years ago as an alternative to traditional Medicare, meant to provide innovative ways of delivering care at a lower cost. It pays insurers — middlemen — a monthly fee per patient to manage their care. Premiums are often lower than traditional Medicare and can offer perks such as gym memberships or limited dental or vision care.

However, while traditional Medicare gives access to any participating provider, Medicare Advantage plans limit care to doctors and hospitals in their networks. They are also more likely to deny needed care by requiring prior authorizations for tests or procedures.

Earlier this year, the federal government reported that 13% of denials in Medicare Advantage would not have been refused under traditional Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans are also increasingly ending nursing home and rehabilitation care before providers consider patients ready to go home. While medical professionals make those decisions under traditional Medicare, in Medicare Advantage the insurer decides. So instead of innovating care, Medicare Advantage seems to mainly withhold it. It has also proven to be costly. Because such plans get higher government payouts for sicker patients, insurers have the incentive to exaggerate the sickness of enrollees. According to federal audits, 8 of 10 of the largest companies have submitted inflated bills, and 4 of 5 of the very largest have faced federal lawsuits accusing them of fraud. In 2020 alone, these exaggerated risk scores generated $12 billion in excess payments. Because of this and other factors, the government spends 4% more for Medicare Advantage enrollees than traditional Medicare.

Despite all this, the low premiums and perks may still be attractive to seniors who are not (yet) sick. The situation often changes when they develop an illness. They may find a specialist or hospital they wish to see is out of network. They may experience delays or denials of care due to administrative barriers. Their out-of-pocket costs will often be higher. A little-known fact about Medicare is that when patients are enrolled in Medicare Advantage for over 12 months but want to change to traditional Medicare, Medigap plans are no longer obligated to take them without underwriting, which involves passing a health screen. In other words, if you get cancer and want to go to a cancer centre not covered by your Medicare Advantage plan, you may be stuck. Surely this program should be called Medicare Disadvantage. When a middleman makes profits from “managing” your healthcare, they inevitably do so by limiting the care you get. Medicare recipients, beware! And as citizens and taxpayers, we should all demand that Congress take Medicare out of the hands of corporations, freeing billions of dollars in savings to deliver actual health care.

Navigating the challenges (and endless information!) of owning a physical therapy clinic can feel overwhelming — which is why we are here! Perform Practice Solutions can help you optimize your practice — significantly. Visit our Facebook page or call us at (833) 764-0178.

Reference: [https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article267774792.html]

At Perform Practice Solutions, we are always looking for ways to improve your practice revenue. CMS has finally done something right and is reimbursing for RTM codes. Below you will find a guide on what CMS’s new final rule is and how to apply it to your practice.

This can add up to $100 extra per case for each of your Medicare patients. This compounded on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis will increase your bottom line by possible leaps and bounds.

Whether you are currently offering these services and not billing, OR want to figure out how to enhance your practice with these services AND build your bottom line — we can help. Just book a free consultation with Kevin Rausch and he will get all your questions answered — www.calendly.com/kevinrausch.

What is Remote Therapeutic Monitoring

1. CMS approved the final rule starting in January 2022. It is the use of patient-engagement technologies to remotely monitor and communicate with patients outside the walls of the clinic between the PT visits

2. These are designed to be billed separately from clinic visits however currently insurance is accepting these in addition to normal codes

What is Being Monitored

3. A Patient’s Musculoskeletal System (MSK) Status.

How are Data Points Tracked?

4. An app. This is data that is self-reported by patients and analyzed by the PT to improve care. Medbridge is a common app you can use.

Benefits for the PT

5. It is a way to monitor:
a) HEP Compliance
b) Patient’s response to PT
c) Patient pain levels
d) PTs can modify the POC before seeing the patient again

Key Points:

6. Take-away

1. Patients should log in daily to the app to track their progress
2. This will help progress the patient faster and get them better results
3. This will develop the best possible POC
4. This goes above and beyond regular PT office visits
5. Supports the patient outside the clinic

RTM CODES

98975 RTM – Setup/ Education $26.99 Billed ONLY Once per Episode of Care

1. Initial set-up includes downloading the app on the patient’s phone
2. Educating patients on the process and what is expected of them
3. Reviewing the prescribed exercises on their HEP
4. Having the patient demonstrate and confirm the understanding of expectations
5. Requires 16 days of monitoring within a 30-day period

98977 RTM – Device Supply $68.51 Billed Once each 30-day Period

1. Billed once every 30 days
2. The cost of the app for patients
3. Requires 16 days of monitoring in a 30-day period

98980 RTM – Management-1 st 20 minutes/month $59.77 Billed Once per Calendar Month

1. Management of data and communication with the patient
2. First 20 minutes of monitoring and managing each calendar month
3. Must contain at least 1 minute of interactive communication with the patient

98981 RTM – Management-2nd 20 minute/month $49.08 Billed Multiple Times per Calendar Month

1. PT analysis of the data
2. Modifying HEP

You don’t need to do everything on your own. From billing to marketing, including credentialing and patient eligibility verification, Perform Practice Solutions can help. Give us a call today at (833) 764-0178, book your free consultation with Kevin Rausch — www.calendly.com/kevinrausch — and join our Facebook community for more physical therapy billing solutions and ideas.

Many businesses are adopting growth marketing as a strategy. For that, it’s key to define what it takes to be successful with this approach. Here are four ways to meet your growth marketing goals — and remember, we offer free consultations to see how marketing your practice will benefit you and get all your questions answered. 

Whether you’ve been implementing growth marketing for a while or are new to the practice, you want to succeed. No one likes to miss a goal post. In business, the stakes are high. Not meeting your targets could lead to disappointed stakeholders, future resignations and financial losses. But to achieve success with growth marketing, you must be willing to learn from failure.

Unlike traditional marketing, there’s some experimentation involved. Growth marketers approach their strategies and tactics like scientists. Data and observation fuel a hypothesis, which gets tested to determine what holds water and what doesn’t. Nevertheless, growth marketing does offer tried-and-true tactics to help businesses thrive. Here are four ways to meet—and even crush—your growth marketing goals.

1. Use More Than One Channel

The marketing landscape is more dynamic than ever. TV, radio, and print are still around, but companies also reach consumers through social media and guerilla marketing tactics. Novel approaches such as native advertising are emerging to target audiences in unexpected ways. To exceed growth expectations, marketers should expand the number of channels or media types they use.

Attempting to reach leads and customers through various forms of media is known as cross-channel marketing. While most businesses do this to some degree, growth marketing strategies hyperfocus on finding the right combination. Even more so, marketers aim to discover which channels work best at each stage of the buyer’s journey or marketing funnel.

Maybe blog posts, podcasts and online events are highly effective for generating awareness and qualifying leads. However, personalized emails, direct mail and targeted online ads convert more leads into sales. Leveraging cross-channel marketing opportunities helps your business get its message across in ways that prospects and clients can appreciate. Using multiple media types also ensures you’re exercising the most appropriate tool for your audience at the right time.

2. Learn From A/B Testing Results

Remember that bit about testing hypotheses? A/B or split testing is where you get to do that. You start with an educated guess about your audience and run a test to determine whether it’s true. For example, you might conclude your clients respond better to promotions emphasizing limited-time savings. You reached this conclusion based on customer survey data.

So you test this hypothesis by sending two versions of an email. Both highlight your latest product sale, but only one includes language that encourages readers to act quickly. The test results show more conversions came from the email that stressed urgency. In this case, the results confirm the original hypothesis. Now you know to continue using this language to drive more sales with that audience.

Successful growth marketers also use A/B testing to discover who their consumers are. They may not have enough reliable data yet or want to see whether various customer segments respond differently. For instance, distinct landing page versions might reveal that certain age groups engage more with specific design features. Growth marketers can then use those test results to refine the page so it will resonate with their targeted demographic.

3. Concentrate on the Entire Buyer’s Journey

Traditional advertising usually focuses on the early stages of the buyer’s journey. The goal of a TV spot is to make consumers aware that a product, service or brand exists. Often, the hope is people will remember the business’s or product’s name when they’re ready to buy. But conventional marketing doesn’t typically address other stages of the buyer’s journey or funnel.

A complete marketing funnel consists of six different stages. Awareness represents the top of the funnel. However, the remaining stages are acquisition, activation, retention, revenue and referral. Many people might be aware your product exists. A smaller percentage will visit your website or store for more information. From there, some will fill out a form, subscribe to your email list or make a purchase.

Once leads become customers, you want them to stay. Ideally, you want them to make repeat purchases or add more services. Hopefully, those clients are so satisfied and enthusiastic about your brand that they refer others. Growth marketers who meet or exceed their goals realize that generating awareness is only the beginning. Revenue opportunities exist throughout the entire funnel, and customer relationships require nurturing to drive sales.

4. Rely on Real-Time Data

Effective growth marketers realize data from a few months ago may not be reliable. Consumer behaviors and lifestyles can sometimes change drastically. A looming economic recession and supply chain disruptions might lead to behavior changes that impact your business. If consumer confidence is low, your customers might be less willing to add on new services.

Alternatively, real-time data from website analytics and surveys may reveal a growing interest in replacing aging products or equipment. Perhaps current feedback indicates more of your customer base is responsive to promotions. They’re willing to act and recommit when they can get a deal. At the same time, customers want reassurance they can get the savings on the product they want.

Growth marketers see all of this data as an opportunity to personalize the customer experience. Current inventory and client data could help craft marketing messages targeting customers with aged equipment. Those communications would likely highlight current promos on newer models from the same brand or manufacturer. Personalized emails could also show online and local inventory numbers to motivate clients.

Conquering Growth Marketing Objectives

It takes grit and a willingness to learn and adapt to become successful at growth marketing. Strategies and tactics that drive results with one customer segment may not move the needle with another. Implementing diverse initiatives and juggling simultaneous experiments are par for the course. That said, a commitment to cross-channel marketing, A/B testing, relationship building, and real-time data can help you realize the outcomes you want to see.

You don’t need to do everything on your own. Perform Practice Solutions is your Physical Therapy Digital Marketing company. We can help you with marketing strategies to help you achieve your clients. Contact us today at (833) 764-0178 and join our Facebook community for more perform physical therapy solutions and ideas.

Reference: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2022/07/24/4-ways-to-crush-your-growth-marketing-goals/?sh=516cef46184a]