Emily Monson, PT (L) and Mark Smith, PT (R) speak during an education summit for work injury rehabilitation.

Work injury rehabilitation and prevention programs are designed to diversify your clinic's revenue stream, yet some programs may not be capitalizing on all opportunities in a community. Now, RMS' visionary leaders are helping to find the causes pinning down workers' comp programs - and using a core value of education to jumpstart them.

Providers from all five of our northwest Wisconsin practices recently demonstrated their continued advancements in serving as experts of industrial rehabilitation for employers and employees in their local market. The therapists from Rice Lake, Turtle Lake, Clear Lake, Spooner and Hayward hosted a two-day-long education summit to further their specialty of treating the injured worker.

P.T.'s, P.T.A.'s, O.T.'s and Athletic Trainers all gathered to better themselves in the realm of industrial rehabilitation. The summit included coursework and education that helped to further advance the providers' skillset in treating an injured worker and successfully managing a workers' compensation claim from beginning to end. This specialty programming continues to expand the clinics' reach in treating their community. Their providers also continue to be sought for their expertise in treating the injured worker.

As practice owners and directors, we're always searching for those special defining characteristics of our clinics that will help us service a community and separate us from our competitors. Those special qualities can often be discovered by listening to and asking the right questions of our customers and referral sources.

One therapist in our Illinois market is taking advantage of some helpful advice offered by a surgeon, who suggested that patients could benefit from transportation services. Susan Trchka, PT - of Physical Therapy & Rehab Specialists-Hinsdale - has since expanded her clinic's services and is now providing transport solutions for immobile patients. The expansion of this service is the result of surveying referral sources and listening to their needs.

The additional transportation option is anticipated to draw a large number of patients to the clinic that otherwise would have been referred to a competitor. The expansion of this service offers a much-needed solution to get patients to the clinic, while complimenting great physical therapy. This patient-focused solution has been welcomed in the community and a PTRS-themed vehicle has been proven to help increase brand awareness.

Outreach athletic programs with local sports groups continue to have an impact on generating referrals and bringing patients into the clinic. These types of programs help grow a practice in a number of ways by increasing your clinic's visibility in the community, building new referral source relationships and offering new revenue producing opportunities.

A therapist in our Wisconsin market is capitalizing on a sports outreach opportunity by helping take a local training program for advanced hockey players to the next level. Amy Greenfield, PT - of Spooner Physical Therapy & Rehab Specialists - will instruct a high school Strength and Speed Academy for players of the Reaction Hockey Club. The program is primed to benefit from the expertise of a P.T. that has a dual degree as an Athletic Trainer.

At the high school level, athletes are still developing strength, but must also develop core stability and balance. As a result, weight training is combined with traditional physical therapy to improve things like flexibility, balance, agility and reactivity. The results, measured by functional performance testing, create well-balanced athletes. The program will help to reduce the players' risk of injuries, an advantage over other programs that don't have licensed and certified instructors.

The Spirit Committee recently decorated Central Office and hosted a Sweets and Treats Day for all cast mates.

The philosophy of our Central Office and clinics has been shaped by visionary leaders for many years now. As part of that vision, we embrace and champion value goals, which help drive performance results in our daily work. It is that philosophy which has helped us achieve industry-leading standards of patient care and practice management.

Now, the Spirit Committee is helping to promote and live our value goals every day. The committee is currently working on planning special promotions for the Central Office that encourage team-building and pride in the workplace. With each of these special occasions, a specific value goal is chosen and programming is built around it. Committee members must be castmates in excellent standing and serve as ambassadors each and every day to the value goals that drive our impressive performance results.

Now we want to share the concept of a Spirit Committee with our family of clinics. Programming such as this can be easily adapted to the clinic setting, leading to enhanced rewards for team members and better engagement. Just contact Connie Ziccarelli, COO for more information on starting a program like this in your practice.

Hi, ! This Issue's Theme is: Accentuate the Positive and Progress

 

The theme for this issue was a no-brainer to pick. Everywhere we look around our family of talent, we see signs of positive work leading to growth and extraordinary progress. 

 

Whether it's holding an education summit to advance skillsets, or expanding a service for the benefit of our patients, we're demonstrating positive things and showing value.

 

These terrific advancements benefit our providers and FDCs, but most notably our patients. We see evidence in all of our recent news stories about our patients being priority No. 1, and the personal excellence put in everyday to help progress our clinics means that our patients are the first beneficiaries.

Getting Naked: A Business Fable by Patrick Lencioni 

 

Click the book to purchase on Amazon.com

 

*Special thanks to Emily Monson, PT for contributing this month's book selection. 

   

Mark Nelson (L to R), Justin Smith and Kevin Svoboda, PT take a moment to pose at the Combined Sections Meeting in Chicago.

Our family of talent has a proven track record of staying current on the latest industry trends. For more than a decade, we've dedicated ourselves to staying smart on every aspect of the therapy industry, from patient care to reimbursement strategies. 

 

Now, others are taking notice of our dedication and asking us to help them stay smart, too. One strategic education partner is the American Physical Therapy Association, with whom we had a great opportunity to meet at February's Combined Sections Meeting in Chicago. 

 

We wholeheartedly support the philosophy of PTs helping PTs, and we were honored when the APTA endorsed us and asked us to share our knowledge in order to produce podcasts that educated therapists on a national level how to implement a Physician Quality Reporting System.

Additionally, we exhibited at a booth at Combined Sections and was able to give back to the P.T. profession by providing guidance, education and resources to more than 12,000 other therapists. 

 

We will continue to share our knowledge and help other therapists when we visit the Wisconsin Physical Therapy Association Spring Conference in April and the Private Practice Section Conference in October.

 

Everywhere we look, teamwork is making a difference in helping to grow our clinics and make an impact in the lives of their patients. As a Human Resources Specialist, I'm especially interested in how everyone at the clinic level is working together to achieve their goals.

 

Accentuating the positive in a team setting can have many benefits that may sometimes go overlooked. The biggest benefit is how a positive team leads to happy patients and customers. If you receive great customer service at a restaurant or encounter an especially helpful employee in a store, you undoubtedly are left with a great lasting impression of that place. 

 

At the same time, when a patient receives outstanding customer service from a positive team at their therapy visit, they are just as likely to be left with that same great feeling. This can pay dividends in the form of great word of mouth or improved patient compliance.

 

The happiness and well being of our customers can start from the second the patient walks in the door to when they leave. This can be accomplished by staying true to the core systems that have made us successful, like explaining financial responsibility or providing patient education.

 

When every member of the clinic team - from FDCs to providers - feels compelled to care about the quality of every patient's experience, the result is a truly positive place of healing.