Keep Growing Through A Staffing Shortage
This week Paul follows up on his recent interview with Mansoor Ahmed, CEO of Wiz Health by explaining how you can counter a staffing shortage effectively by enhancing therapist productivity.
Full transcript
Generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability.
Good afternoon and welcome to another episode of Paul Martin's Crucial Conversations. We are continuing our series on innovation within the physical therapy industry of course and we've really uncovered some groundbreaking strategies that I believe will not just achieve growth but a radical improvement in the way and we address the way we address our most pressing challenges that we have today in our industry. Today we are going to look back at an interview that we did with Mansoor Ahmed. Mansoor is a pioneer in marrying physical therapy operations with where his background is healthcare IT and we're going to uncover some extremely insightful opportunities from for action from the interview that we did with Mansoor.
This interview is so crucial for your opportunity to embrace one of the biggest challenges we have which is enhance therapist productivity. We're going to try to combat therapist burnout and we're going to improve staff attraction and most importantly staff retention in this current staffing. Literally we are at low levels of being able to actually attain staff and attract new staff. We have to retain the current staff that we have. You are in a war for talent with your local competitors and I think what Mansoor discussed could really be a differencemaker to attract the best talent that's available in your market.
So let's dive into again we're going to do four opportunities for action. So opportunity for action number one let's embrace systems and processes for growth. You know, Mansoor talked about his time with spectrum therapy consultants and he highlighted a universal truth. Robust internal and external growth are indispensable for attracting potential acquirers and achieving a successful transition and transaction. So the implementation of systematic processes and a keen focus on growth that is what transformed spectrum from a business that was on the downsizing on the brink of downsizing to becoming an extremely valuable acquisition target.
So what's the actionable insight? Consider an assessment of your current processes and systems. Identifying areas that are lacking efficiency or scalability will go miles towards moving you forward to achieving your goals. And then develop a plan for integrating technology and streamlined and a streamlined process to foster both internal expansion and external market pre penetration. You know, we do all of that in our outside in assessment and would love to talk to you more about that. All right. What's opportunity for action number two? Let's leverage innovative solutions that will enhance margin pressures.
Look, we're all facing margin pressures from both high salary demands, reimbursement cuts, and Mansoor advocated for an outsidethebox solution to these things. Innovation protect particularly through healthcare it emerges as literally the lifeline for surviving and thriving amidst financial constraints. Okay, a lot of big words there. What is the actionable insight? Well, we need to invest in technology and technology that will reduce operational costs and enhance revenue. We don't want to just in invest in the next cool thing that's out there or what your therapists think is really slick.
We want to make sure it reduces operational costs and enhances revenue. So consider tools that automate your billing, optimize scheduling, improve therapy outcomes through advanced data anal analysis, and make sure that you can truly and clearly see the return on the investment that you will receive by utilizing any new technology. Any technology company that cannot show you by what you're going to pay for the new technology what the return on investment that you're going to receive. That's something you don't want to invest in. All right.
Opportunity for action number three. Let's implement AI to alleviate the documentation burden. We have this from every business owner I talk to. There is a gripe among the therapists that work for them on getting their documentation done. They're bringing it home over the weekend. They're staying late after hours, etc., etc. So, what Wiz Health's AI technology clearly is illustrating, it's how to combat therapist burnout that I just described, and it's caused by documentation overload. And this enables therapists to focus on more patient care. Rather than on paperwork.
This is a technology that not only improves work life balance, but it also enhances patient and therapist satisfaction. What do your patients want? They want your therapist's eyes on them and their brain focusing on them. So, what's the actionable insight here? Well, explore and integrate AIdriven documentation solutions just like the one that Mansoor brought up. Assess your current EMR and documentation practices today for efficiency gaps. Consider piloting some AI tools. This is again would be an absolute non-starter if you're not able to pilot with just a few of your therapists some of these tools.
And some of these will seamlessly integrate into your existing system to reduce time therapists spend on paperwork. Try it on, like I said, try it on one or two or maybe three therapists. Test before you pull the plug on anything. And note when you're doing your pilot, we can look at therapist level experience. Simply the age of therapist. Maybe a younger physical therapist, maybe a middle-aged physical therapist, an older physical therapist to try this technology on to make sure it's going to work throughout your whole system.
All right, opportunity number four, use technology as this is called use technology as a talent magnet. We need a magnet out there for talent. Okay, we are in a war for talent. Mansoor's technology will not only streamline operations, but it's also going to act as a very powerful tool to attract and retain the top talent in your market. Look, if you are able to prove out that this significantly reduces the document documentation burden, clinics can offer a better work life balance for new therapists coming out of school.
Those in this new age, they really are have a huge focus in work life balance and that will make you more attractive to again these prospective younger employees as well as more experienced employees. All right, what's the actionable insight here? Highlight the use of technology, innovative technology in your current recruitment efforts. Make sure that you're showcasing how your commitment to easing the documentation burden and the investment that you've made in this as well as improving work life balance really sets your business apart to be the employer of choice in your market.
All right. So in conclusion, you know, some of the insights Mansoor Ahmed gave are really inspiring to me and I hope they are to you guys as well. I believe that for physical therapy clinics navigating these two huge challenges of operational efficiency and human resource management that by embracing growth strategies levering healthcare IT as well as focusing on innovative solutions to industrywide challenges and we have those and we all know what those are. I really believe your clinics can not only enhance the operational footprint but also attract the caliber of professionals that will be needed to sustain growth and excellence.
You don't just want therapists. You want therapists that are going to be major contributors. So as we wrap up today, I really encourage all of you to reflect on how these strategies that we talked to and talked about with Mansoor Ahmed, how they could be adapted to your very unique circumstances. For a deeper discussion on implementing these insights or to explore other areas of interest, as always, click below. Let's talk. Hey, I really appreciate all of you joining me today and let's continue to push the boundaries of innovation and physical therapy together. Thanks and have a great day.
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