Preparing for PPS: How Top Performers Are Redefining Growth
PPS is where the best in private practice go to get better. Paul Martin shares how to make the most of this year's conference, and why the strategies revealed there will define growth in 2025 and 2026.
Full transcript
Generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Martin Rehab M&A Advisory. I'm Paul Martin, founder and president of Martin Healthcare Advisors. And today, I am so excited. We are actually going to kick off on providing you everything you need to best prepare for an event that I am going to tell you just cannot miss. And that is the APA private practice section annual conference. It's happening in one of the best venues we've ever been to over the years from November 12th to the 15th in Orlando, Florida.
Who doesn't want to come to Orlando in early November? Perfect timing. Now, we believe that this year's private practice section conference, after studying a number of the different sessions, is all about moving you and your business to what we call the next level. That is building stronger internal systems, scaling or growing your business intelligently and with purpose. And finally, positioning yourself as a top performer in a market that is changing extremely fast. So, here's the truth. Larger companies in your markets can outspend you on marketing, technology, brand presence, but they cannot outthink you.
They can't outecute you. And what matters most today is how you lead, how you plan, and also how you adapt to the conditions around you. And that's exactly what this year's conference we believe is designed to help you do. Look, I'm here to tell you the outpatient physical therapy market has changed dramatically over the past few years. We've seen this in the past. Private equity is active again as recent interest rate dropped. New consolidators are entering the space. We get calls from new companies wanting to come into the space and consolidate private practices.
Recruiting and retention challenges continue to test even the best operators. Don't think that the big companies have it easy when it comes to recruiting and retention. They have a lot of the same challenges that you do. And in this environment, the best opportunities, which would mean the best deals, the best partnerships, and the best growth paths are going to be the best performers. That's what that that's where they're going to go. Okay? The companies that are growing, the companies that are getting the best deals or partnerships, they're going to be the best performers.
Now, those who can attract and develop and retain strong staff, those who can execute with discipline, and those who can see kind of around the corner, those are the companies that are winning in today's market. And that's why we believe this year's theme, as we see it, next level, is so relevant. It's about learning how to rise above the noise, how to navigate this current environment and transform challenges into movement and momentum. I will tell you this and I have attended a lot of conferences. The private practice section conference is not just another conference.
It's literally the industry's, you know, let's call it the command center for strategic growth. You're gonna find four days that are packed with business strategy sessions, leadership workshops, marketing deep dives. This isn't all about clinical education. This is business education for owners and executives who truly want to grow their companies, whether that's internally or externally. Some of the sessions that we are seeing are going to cover a number of different areas that we believe are very important. First, how do you design a sustainable growth model that can withstand the market pressures around you?
This is a biggie, guys. How do you recruit and retain therapists who are invested in your mission? And another biggie here, how to integrate AI and automation to improve profitability and patient care. And finally, how to prepare your company for a partnership, a recapitalization, or a straight fullout sale. You know, every session is built around really one driving question. How do you get faster, better, smarter, and more profitable than your competition? So, I want to just look and we'll do more of these with more sessions that we believe, but just a couple highlights.
You're going to hear from Amanda Brewer, great speaker. And she's going to have a host of other speakers on this topic. That's going to be on AI integration and change management. How many of us with our staff struggle with change? They're going to be exploring how leading physical therapy organizations are now leveraging AI to eliminate the worst thing about our jobs, right? Administrative j drag and to boost clinical focus. There's also a session called breaking the burnout cycle retention strategies. Could not be more timely. This is a very practical session that will dive deep into what really is working to keep therapists engaged, motivated, and performing.
We have a whole new tribe of young therapists who think differently than we therapists that treated back in the 80s, the 90s, and the early 2000s. You also may want to attend scaling innovation and these are lessons from team rehab's AI scribing rollout. This is Nick Weber from team rehab and he's going to share realworld challenges and rewards of implementing largecale technology across a growing network of clinics. And that is a company that over the years has done a phenomenal job at scaling in their markets.
Another focus in many of these sessions and I think it's important is practice administration track. You're going to find sessions that are going to drive you know opportunities as well as strategies for leadership, operations, finance, marketing. These are the foundational disciplines of every high-erforming organization. And finally, and this I believe is one of the keys to these physical therapy private practice sessions is the peer-to-peer roundts. That's where you're able to benchmark your business against top peers, exchange ideas openly, and walk away with insights that you can then implement immediately.
And don't just think of the peer-to-peer roundts as giving you and providing you with those opportunities. We're going to talk more about how you should seek out those who are one or two steps ahead of you and find out how they got to those steps. I would also like to personally invite all of you to my session. That's Thursday at 1:30 p.m. And I'm going to be talking about how to position your business for growth, for a potential partnership or acquisition in 2025 and beyond. And in this session, we are going to dig deep into the current merger and acquisition landscape in the rehabilitation industry.
How are very, you know, current lower borrowing costs and shifting private equity strategies, how are they driving renewed demand for quality, well-run companies? And how can you put your organization in the best possible position to capitalize when that time finally comes? We're going to talk about how today's acquirers and investors are truly valuing your business and also how to transform recruiting and retention into a measurable business asset. All right, a business asset. And let me tell you, as I said before, the big companies struggle with recruiting just like you do.
And then what are some of the steps that kind of separate the good operators from the great next level performers. So again, brave new market is the title of my session. And if you want a clear picture of where this industry is heading and how you can make the most of it, you're going to want to be in that room on Thursday at 1:30. I'm also going to leave a good 10-15 minutes for questions because I have found in the past that folks really want questions answered in front of a group.
So when you leave Orlando, you're going to take home a growth playbook and again built for today's environment. They're going to be real strategies, real examples, and real next steps for you to take. And at Martin Healthcare Advisors, we spend every single day, every minute of every day that we're working helping rehab business owners just like you, improve EPIDA, that's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization, that's the cash flow of your business. How to strengthen operations and prepare for whatever is coming next in your market.
And whether that's growth around you, growth for you, partnership or a sale, we will be there talking to you about those topics. And while you're at the conference, we would love the opportunity to meet with you. So before you go, please click the link below. That click will take you to a quick form where my assistant, my incredible assistant, will help schedule a private meeting with me or one of our senior consultants. And in those meetings, we're literally going to map your company against the acquirers around you.
But foremost, we're going to talk about challenges you're having in your market and how you can drive through those to get to that next level. Again it's an opportunity one-on-one to talk through not only specifics to your company but the dynamics of this market and what are the big what are the strategies what are the top three strategies that top performers are using right now because I will tell you this and this may be a little bit of a cliche but in this market average is no longer safe it's invisible top performers are the ones who stand out.
They're the ones who are attracting this capital and they're the ones who control their future. So, please join us. If you have not signed up, jump in right now and join us in Orlando for what I think will be one of the best private practice section conferences in many years. And again, click below if you'd like to talk to me sooner than the private practice section conference or at the conference. And I appreciate your time today. Have a great rest of your day and a great weekend. Thank you.
Want to talk about your own business?
Marlton, NJ 08053