A Blueprint for Boosting Performance
This week Paul looks back at his recent interview with Rob Pace to reveal actionable insights about the importance of growth and innovation as well as a path to increased value for your business.
Full transcript
Generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability.
Good afternoon and welcome back to another episode of Paul Martin's Crucial Conversations. Today we are going to grab for you some actionable insights from a crucial conversation that we had few weeks back with Rob Pace. Remember, Rob's a physical therapist. He's also the chief operating officer of Physical Rehabilitation Network, better known as PRN. I will have to say no disrespect to any of our previous guests, but this opportunities for action and actionable insights and the one we're going to do for Mansoor Ahmed are two of the best crucial conversations that we have had on this show.
And I'm excited to share this with you today. Rob is just an absolute thought leader in this industry. And not only did he shed light on the importance of growth as well as innovation, but he also provided us a blueprint for boosting performance as well as the value of your business. So let's dive into four opportunities for action. We're going to call them actionable insights that have that emerged from the discussion that we had with Rob. First opportunity, embrace your growth strategies. You know, growth both internal as well as external in this industry is absolutely essential for the success of any physical therapy business looking to be competitive in the current rehab M&A market.
Rob really emphasized the importance of constantly progressing, whether that's expanding service lines within your clinics or by increasing your footprint with new locations. He really stressed focusing on identifying areas within your current operations where you can introduce new services or simply optimize the existing services. Now, we're not talking about going significantly outside of physical therapy. We're talking about new service lines within the realm of physical therapy, as well as optimizing current service lines that you're already offering. You know, in our experience, the more you can get your team involved in the expansion of your niche programs, the better shot you have of them being successful.
We are absolutely steadfast that it is vital to create a written plan for strategic expansion and that by doing that you're evaluating demands in the market as well as looking at demands for new potential clinic locations. Look, we can grow internally for sure, but it's that external growth that many times becomes very attractive to an acquirer. We have developed a mapping zip code analysis of physicians and patients. We use a incredible mapping system and that will guide you literally to the next market, the next town that you will have the best opportunity and lowest risk of being successful.
This analysis has worked 100% of the time in terms of startups and their startup as compared to budgets. 100% of times using this analysis it has been successful. All right. What are what's opportunity two? So opportunity two is to leverage technological advances. It's it's the buzz all around us you know particularly artificial intelligence AI and look it holds the keys to addressing some of the major challenges that we are facing in today's industry from improving patient care delivery and again not to be confused with guiding in any way patient care but the delivery of the care and optimizing administrative processes which also is involved in delivering ing the care.
The potential's enormous. So, invest in technology that supports strategic scheduling, documentation, potentially enhancing patient therapist matching based on acuity and skill set as well as it can streamline revenue cycle management. So, keep your eyes open for what's coming. This can lead to improved efficiency, better patient outcomes, increased profitability. Again, keep your eyes open. It is happening extremely fast. All right. Opportunity for an action step for number three here. Look to enhance staff retention through operational efficiency. This was a very crucial insight from Rob and it revolves around the utilization of staff in ways that maximize their skills and impacts patient outcomes positively.
Really interesting. He described a topoflic license approach where therapists focus on diagnosis. They th they focus on designing treatment plans, delegating appropriately, and clinics can then improve job satisfaction and staff retention when therapists are truly able to be doctors of physical therapy. No, implement training programs that empower your therapist to utilize the full scope of practice while ensuring that the support staff are effectively being integrated into patient care where it makes the most sense for the therapist, the patient, and for the practice. This has to be a topdown driven initiative.
And all of which we need to make sure we're staying within the guard rails of compliance. Not saying that we should go out of compliance in any way, staying within the realms of compliance. And that's why this is such a sensitive subject for many PT business owners. You know, they have a way that they want their patients to be taken through a treatment program. And some of these strategies will not be an option that I'm describing. You know, having a therapist stay one on-one with a patient for a full hour could be a value of many business owners out there.
And if that is what their values are, that is how they can run their business. It's their business. The key though is can we get the same patient outcomes with a revised patient care model versus just this is the way we've always done it here. And I think Rob did a phenomenal job in describing that again with patient care at the very top of that conversation. All right, opportunity for action number four. This is a biggie. Prepare for value based care. Look, as healthcare as the landscape continues to evolve, many industries healthcare industries are transitioning towards valuebased care and it's going to become more and more important.
Look, the model emphasizes outcomes, but also patient satisfaction and cost effectiveness. That's where we thrive. So, as you see your payers more as not simply payers that you're trying to get more out of, but see your payers as your partners. This is something that many of the large companies have done a really good job, which is really truly becoming partners with their payers and work towards building a partnership with payers to develop creative reimbursement models that reflect the enormous value that we bring to the health care system.
I've said this before, we as physical therapists are the greatest value in healthcare. This approach can also open doors for more innovative care models that ensure sustainability as well as growth. So, as I told you, Rob brought an enormous amount of value to our show. And in conclusion, you know, some of the insights from Rob really highlight a clear path forward for physical therapists and for physical therapy businesses that are aiming to thrive in today's competitive landscape by embracing growth strategies, leveraging technology, enhancing operational efficiencies, and focusing on valuebased care.
Even before we have that placed on us, start thinking about how we can show our value. You can begin to position your clinic not only to survive, but to thrive. I encourage all of you to take these opportunities for action and integrate them into your strategic planning. And if you're eager to discuss how these insights can be tailored to your business or you have any questions, just click below. Let's talk. Thank you for joining me today and let's continue to innovate and push the boundaries of what's possible in this incredible industry. Thanks. Have a great day.
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