You're listening to the PT Pinecast,
where smart people in healthcare come to
make noise.
Here's your host, Jimmy McKay.
Welcome to a breaking news.
Something just hit my inbox.
Important enough for me to put on a
tie for the first time in, checks notes,
three and a half years.
I'm physical therapist, Jimmy McKay.
And let's dive into some statistics just
dropped in the state of physical therapy
or the state of rehab report by Prompt.
Health in twenty twenty six.
Eighty percent.
That's how many PTs,
according to this brand new report,
that just should have hit your inbox if
you follow prompt.
Now, eighty percent.
That's how many PTs,
according to this brand new industry
report,
are either considering leaving the
profession or retiring.
have already got one foot out the door.
And that's not a vibe shift.
That's a system failure.
Let's dive deep into the twenty twenty six
rehab therapy industry report,
which just came off.
It's hot off the inbox for what's really
happening inside your clinic walls.
You think you can figure out what's going
on by reading anonymous survey reports
from your clinicians?
You can't.
You think you can figure it out by
being in Reddit threads or Facebook
groups?
You can't.
You need hard data where all the data
people
Oh, good.
There you are.
Prompt got the data.
This way you can figure out what's really
happening inside your clinic walls,
what people won't say to your face or
in anonymous surveys.
Why are some practices growing like crazy
while others are bleeding out
behind the front desk stick around we're
going to dive into this it's not just
for therapists this is for clinic owners
directors and educators anybody who gives
a damn about where this profession is
headed i i wish this report dropped before
this weekend so we could have talked about
it a lot at the on-site graham sessions
that we were at at apc headquarters but
here we are on a random tuesday in
january and we're going to dig into this
now for the people watching the live
stream on any platform you can comment
live and eventually i'll be able to get
to the comments
I am a one-man show.
I know, Tony Meritato,
I'm dumbfounded too,
but I dug into the closet deep to
break out the tie.
So let's get into this.
We know we'll be talking about this in
depth with Tony and Dave Kittle on our
PT Breakfast Club live stream on Thursday
morning, eight-thirty Eastern.
Now, the report comes from Prompt Credit,
where credit is due,
surveying over five hundred and fifty
outpatient practices.
That's PTs, OTs,
SLPs all over the country.
The goal
Figure out why some clinics are thriving
in this economy while others are stuck in
survival mode.
We talked about some of these things on
the show and on the podcast a lot.
I read the whole thing.
I didn't.
I skimmed it just like you would.
I then threw it into AI and I
got some notes and then I bring them
to you.
So on this live stream,
I'm going to give you the real take.
What's driving growth?
What's breaking people and what you can
actually do about it starting now.
Let's start where the fire is the hottest.
I mean, come on.
This is all over the place.
Burnout is not a personal problem.
It's an operational failure.
We talk about this ad nauseum.
I don't have any tattoos,
but if I did,
burnout might be the thing I tattoo on
my ass.
Nearly half of clinic leaders say burnout
is a moderate or major concern,
not a shock.
Here's the plot twist.
It's twelve points higher in clinics.
still using disconnected or manual
systems.
I just said, it's not a personal problem.
It's an operational failure.
Can you solve everything by getting
connected or automating?
No.
Can you reduce things by twelve points?
Yes.
Clinicians aren't melting down because
they're fragile.
They're melting down because they're doing
three hours of stuff outside clinic hours
while using an EHR or other systems that
feel like they're stuck in the mud.
They're managing sixty percent
productivity quotas
with zero tools to protect their time.
And don't get us started on student loans
and flat salaries.
We already talked about that this morning.
Here's a quote from the report.
Burnout rises when admin friction rises.
Those two things are,
according to this report, in lockstep.
You want to fix burnout?
You don't need yoga mats.
You don't need pizza parties.
I do love pizza,
but that ain't going to do it.
You do need your damn systems to talk
to each other and to act like they
were born and live in twenty twenty six.
That is the first pause.
I do want to thank our friends at
Sarah Health for being a new sponsor of
the show.
Talk to Stephen Cohen live from Graham
Sessions this weekend.
Sarah Health,
the remote care platform that's turning
patient engagement into real clinic
revenue.
Wouldn't we like that?
Sarah helps PT clinics streamline
communication with patients outside extra
staff time in lockstep with this report.
Patients get daily automated text messages
tailored to their care plan.
No app.
No login,
just better outcomes with an average sixty
five percent response rate.
Sarah makes it easy to meet remote
therapeutic monitoring requirements and
still get paid by Medicare and commercial
insurers.
It's simple to set up,
easy to integrate with your EMR and
patients actually use it.
Sarah Health is where you want to go.
Look, I paid the bills.
Now we can go back to the report.
They're not paying me to do this.
Sarah Health is.
Now, step two, cash flow.
is more important than visit volume that's
what the data in this prompt health report
is saying here's what everyone gets wrong
they think more visits is more money it's
not all the clinics say they're busier
than ever but revenue is still a mess
so what separates the high performers and
the high growth clinics to the ones who
aren't the ones who might not be in
business in january twenty twenty seven
here's what it is the big three
They submit clean claims within twenty
four hours.
They get their homework done and they do
it quickly.
What does that mean?
They get paid in on average,
according to this report,
under seventeen days.
And the third big takeaway from this,
they use automation to catch denials
before they happen.
The big three submit clean claims within
twenty four hours,
get paid under seventeen days.
There's cash flow and they use automation
to catch denials before they happen.
You know what drives all this?
If you've been paying attention,
you heard the beginning of the episode.
Faster,
accurate documentation during clinic
hours.
Two birds, one very powerful stone.
Clinics using AI scribing are literally
closing notes a full day sooner.
What does that mean?
Closed notes a full day sooner equals a
faster claim.
Faster claim?
equals a faster check.
Faster check,
a clinic that actually pays their bills on
time.
I'll go one step further.
Pay your bills on time.
Understand cash flow,
which was not on the syllabus in PT
school, but should have been.
When you know what money you're going to
have a week, a month, a quarter ahead,
you can start thinking in the future,
which is where the owner should be
thinking.
Robbie Walkers said it best in this
report.
If you want predictability in your
business,
you can't just hope people call to book.
Revenue should run like clockwork,
not bingo night, kids.
We're getting some more comments about the
tie,
and I'm starting to think maybe I need
to dress better on the live streams.
Let's keep going in the report.
I do want to thank US Physical Therapy.
This live stream brought to you by USPH,
a national network of clinics focused on
developing clinicians.
Who would have thought?
That's also in the report.
Leadership tracks available.
We'll get into that,
why that's important in the report.
But yeah, leadership tracks at USPH,
mentorship, career growth,
and the stability to build your future in
PT.
If you want a place that supports how
you want to practice,
that's US Physical Therapy.
Hit them at USPH.com.
That's USPH.com.
Next segment of the report,
we teased it in the intro,
the automation gap.
Everybody thinks they've gone digital.
But there's a difference between having
digital tools and running an honestly,
truly connected and automated operation.
Fast forward to page thirteen, the visual,
if you have this report in your inbox.
And here's the big three takeaways.
Ninety-six percent of practices use
reminders.
That's fantastic.
I mean, kudos.
Ninety-six percent of the five hundred
plus clinics surveyed for this use
reminders.
You know there's going to be a plot
twist, though.
Here it comes.
Plot twist.
Only a fraction actually automate intake,
wait lists, and billing accuracy.
listen that's like running a really great
first six miles of the marathon and then
putting on lead boots i'll say it again
ninety six percent of practices using
reminders kudos but that's two thousand
and six only a fraction automate intake
weightless and billing accuracy and that
is where the big hairy scary problem
begins to start drop offs
What happens?
No shows.
What happens?
Underscheduled plans of care.
What happens?
Missed revenue.
That's what this data from Prompt says
right here.
The Rehab Therapy Industry Report.
Get it now.
Maybe at Prompt website.
I don't even know what it is.
I don't have the notes in front of
me.
I do have this report though.
High growth practices.
What are they doing well to separate
themselves from low or no growth
practices?
They fill canceled slots automatically.
You have inventory.
You didn't go into this profession to
think that you had inventory, but you do.
You have whatever time slot matrix you
decided.
The difference between high growth
Low growth and no growth or circling the
drain clinics.
The big one here, according to data,
because everybody loves the data,
high growth practices fill canceled slots
automatically.
I would love to hear your take.
You can do it in the comments now
or you can DM me.
This is just what the data says.
You can't yell at me.
It's just not going to help.
High growth practices run reactivation
campaigns on autopilot.
You put a lot of effort into a
reactivation campaign once and
Make it feel, look, smell,
taste like you and your clinic,
but then automate it.
Let it run on its own.
That will fill canceled slots
automatically.
And patients come back because the process
is smooth.
It's twenty twenty six.
I could right now faster than we've been
talking on this live stream and we've been
talking for ten minutes.
I could book a haircut at my boy
Rod, his barbershop down the street.
How can I do that?
And ask yourself,
can I do that reliably at your clinic?
If the answer is no,
I do not have any empathy for you.
Patients come back because the process is
smooth.
This is not nice to have anymore.
According to the data in this report,
it is need to have.
You don't need more patients.
You need less friction.
We've been saying this.
Look, Tony, Dave, look, look,
my live stream co-partners.
But now it's proved.
We didn't just feel this.
Now it's proved.
Okay, next segment.
Let's dig into this.
Five hundred and fifty plus clinics
surveyed and they broke this down to
something that I love,
which is like personality types,
clinician archetypes.
I had a video just a couple of
weeks ago, semi-viral,
where I compared if physical therapists
were Avengers and I matched personality
type to types of PT.
Captain America, outpatient ortho.
uh iron man sports pt uh acute care
hulk you get the idea they broke them
down into behavior types based on how they
document and bill this i like expect more
short form videos for this and here is
what they came up with is this the
right graphic there it is okay so here's
the four types and this is cute we
all love
cute little things like this, where we,
this is why astrology is so popular.
Let's figure out what it means.
So here's what the report says.
The four types, a traditionalist,
an over coder, autopilot, and treadmill.
Those are the four types.
I want you keeping track at home.
What type
are you what type of therapist are you
in terms of documentation and billing
again traditionalist overcoater autopilot
and treadmill so a traditionalist their
risk is they slow revenue they're negative
hours as fast that shouldn't be written
like that that's a bad report they're
hours slower
than other types of billers.
The risk is they slow revenue.
What to do to improve the traditionalist
so you're not seventeen hours behind
everybody else?
Remove friction.
That means if you've been listening along,
you're already shouting at the speaker.
Automate.
So the traditionalist needs to be shown a
frictionless or as close to frictionless
tool.
So they change their behavior and this is
what happens in your business.
They don't slow revenue.
That's step one.
The second type of behavior in terms of
document and billing for a therapist is
the over coder.
Just too many codes.
So I guess an advantage there would be,
hey, safer code mix.
They're safer.
ironically, according to the data,
they are an audit risk.
Ooh, your stomach just dropped out.
Because you're thinking,
you know who your clinicians are,
business owners.
You are already assigning these archetypes
to your clinicians.
You know you're doing that already.
But you have to autopilot this.
So the overcoders are an audit risk.
How do you improve this?
According to the report, CPT alignment.
You do it with tools.
Of course you do.
next up the type of therapist the
archetype in terms of document and billing
this is not treating this is not
personality type this is document billing
is the autopilot now the risk here is
they might under document okay so how do
you prevent this
Guided templates, according to the report.
Guided templates.
You give them, gosh,
you give them guardrails.
I'm not good at bowling,
but bowling with those little bumpers,
man,
I could be in the Hall of Fame.
Guided templates.
And finally, the treadmill.
That's burnout city, baby.
That is burnout city.
You need to reduce late-night charting for
this person,
or they will have already left or have...
Two feet almost out the door.
They are minus twenty-eight hours.
I thought the traditionalist was bad.
Seventeen hours slower.
The treadmill person is twenty-eight hours
slower.
For here,
you need to lift the note burden,
and as Tony Meritato is chiming in right
there,
documentation shouldn't take thought.
That doesn't mean it doesn't take skill,
but you should be having the skill during
the session.
That's where the skill comes in.
I don't want, you didn't sign up.
I've seen so many people.
I didn't sign up to be good at
documentation.
Good.
Gosh, if only there was a tool.
There are.
You not using them,
you not using them as an owner.
I'm talking to the owners here because
you're the one.
You have a decision makers.
You not using them in twenty twenty six
is a decision.
You have decided not to solve this
problem.
Oh, great quote from Megan Brown.
Megan says an excuse is it is a.
The excuse is a problem you have decided
not to solve.
Ooh, that hits hard.
Thank you, Megan.
So here's the thing.
This is the kind of data you can
use to coach your team, not punish them,
but it also needs,
you have to ask yourself as a business
owner,
do you have the tools to do these
things?
And if you don't, it's on you.
I know I'm putting a lot of pressure
on the owners, but you guys wanted,
you wanted the ball.
Now you've got it.
Bottom line,
in this section of Prompt's report,
it says AI doesn't replace therapists.
It supports them based on their work
style.
And it should be doing that.
It should be doing that.
And here's their archetypes one more time.
Take a screenshot of that.
I do want to thank Empower EMR.
If your clinic is stuck in an EMR
that slows you down, should you be?
Empower EMR gives you speed,
clean workflows,
and features PTs actually ask for.
For better notes, faster documentation,
and smooth operations.
All wrapped up in customer support that
doesn't ghost you.
Upgrade your clinic's brain with Empower
EMR.
You're nodding along.
EmpowerEMR.com, EmpowerEMR.com.
Sharif just came on the show to talk
about many of these things just the other
day.
Fantastic.
Again, bottom line,
AI doesn't replace therapists.
AI is not the thing.
It's the thing that helps you get to
the thing.
It supports or should be supporting them
based on their work style.
let's wrap this thing up.
Parting shots from this report.
It's big.
If you need it and you don't have
it, go to Prompt's website.
Download it.
This is going to be everywhere.
We're going to dive deep into it on
Thursday.
It's going to be a lot of, oh,
we said that.
Oh, yeah, we said that.
We said that.
If the information in Prompt's report
shocks you,
Shame on you, I feel.
But some people need to be told fifty
times in fifty different ways.
Here it is in writing in a PDF.
Parting shot.
Let's do that.
Let's do the parting shot.
This is the parting shot.
One last mic drop moment.
No pressure.
Just your legacy on the line.
I'll give another thank you to our new
sponsor, Sarah Health,
a remote care platform that's turning
patient engagement into real clinic
revenue.
Again, this report is, I mean,
I'm sure Stephen Cohen is screaming at
this report and saying, yes,
this is exactly what RTM helps you do.
Do it right.
Sarah Health helps PT clinics streamline
communication with patients without extra
time.
Patients get daily automated messages
tailored to their care plan.
No app, no login.
It's done via text.
Stephen was explaining that this weekend.
You just get better outcomes.
With an average sixty-five percent
response rate,
Sarah makes it easy to meet RTM
requirements and get reimbursed by
Medicare and commercial insurance faster.
It's simple to set up,
easy to integrate with whatever EMR you're
using, and patients actually use it.
That's the bottom line,
so I'll say it twice.
Patients actually use it.
Learn more at SarahHealth.io.
That's SarahHealth.io.
All right.
Parting shot.
Growth isn't about seeing more patients.
It's about reducing burnout,
but that's operational, not emotional.
So maybe we need a new word for
burnout.
Operational friction.
Bad setup in twenty twenty six is not
excuse.
Automating the right stuff.
Fixing cash flow.
It's funny how all these things sort of
touch each other, isn't it?
Run your practice like a system.
not a fire drill.
That's what I took out of this.
It's not an accident.
The high performing clinics in this report
didn't get there by accident.
They didn't get there because they had an
inside scoop.
You don't have to guess what's working.
And now it shows you in data what
high growth clinics are doing and what
clinics who are about to crash and burn
and not exist are not doing.
So if you're a clinic owner, a director,
or just somebody who's trying to make PT
better, if you're not the owner,
send this video or that report to your
boss.
send it to them and let's be realistic
fix one thing fix one thing this week
one workflow one system one unnecessary
friction point that we just talked about
one let's be realistic
Now,
don't forget to subscribe and share this
with someone who runs a clinic.
I'll see you guys in the next episode.
I already know we're going to be talking
about this on PT Breakfast Club on
Thursday, eight thirty Eastern.
This has been PT Pinecast.
I'm Jimmy,
your tour guide through the chaos.
I'm just yelling into a microphone because
I want you to exist in twenty twenty
seven.
I'll see you guys in the next episode.
Until then,
stop treating your staff like robots and
start building a system that support
humans so you can be a great physical
therapist and great PT clinic and help
people
which is why we started this big damn
thing in the first place.