Don't let the Aliens Control Your Direct Access to Physical Therapy!

This is totally awesome! Now we can't lose!

Don't let the Aliens your Direct Access to Physical Therapy!

What’s a Patient Worth?

I wanted to first thank Jerry and Sturdy for the opportunity to post on their exciting new practice business website.

I’m David Straight, PT and my passion is helping physical therapy private practices with marketing especially through the use of the Internet. My company provides physical therapy private practices with top quality and affordable:
· Websites
· Newsletters
· Survey systems
· Search engine listing
· Pay-per-click advertising
· Corporate identity – logos and stationery

I wanted to talk about a concept that isn’t taught in school and is often overlooked by new practice owners and seasoned PT professionals alike. It is the concept of “lifetime market value”.

Lifetime market value describes the value of a patient or referral source over the lifetime of your business. Let’s think of this concept in terms of a patient. When one patient comes in your door and you see him/her for one course of treatment, you may make, say $800, for the sake of this discussion. If you treat that patient well, exceed their expectations, they may come back to you 3 to 4 times over the lifetime of your business. In essence, that patient is really worth $3200.00. You can quickly see why it is so important to provide the best service possible and the potential rewards for you hard work.

Let’s take the concept a step further. The patient goes back to the doctor and talks you up. That same patient also tells two friends. The lifetime value of that patient could then be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

How does this concept relate to what my company, www.e-rehab.com does? We provide you with a website that will provide a great image of your practice, answers FAQ’s, and describes how patients can benefit from PT. Our newsletter system welcomes patients to the practice even before their initial evaluation and stays in touch with them after discharge.

The Five Second Marketing Plan
If you want to be successful in a service business, here is a marketing plan that is sure to lead to success:
1. Realize that your patients are customers and they have expectations!
2. Exceed those expectations.
3. Look for ways to improve your service every day.

My parting thoughts are that you need to realize the lifetime market value of your customers (your patients), provide great and dynamic customer service, and if you need help using the most powerful communications tool to do this (i.e. the Internet) give me a call.

David Straight, PT, MPT, OCS is the President of www.E-rehab.com. He can be reached at 800-468-5161, email: dave@e-rehab.com or on the web at www.e-rehab.com .

So, You Want To Start Your Own Clinic

So, you want to start your own clinic? You have spent years honing your clinical skills and expertise. Your patients love you and respect the quality of care you provide. Now you’re at a crossroads, seeking more independence to make decisions that affect your patients and that could give you more control over your practice. Or maybe you are just toying with the idea for whatever reason. This is an exciting time! But there are questions and obstacles facing you. What insurance companies do I take? Should I take Medicare? How am I going to turn my satisfied patients into more patients? Where will the referrals come from? What is Excel? Do I incorporate or work as a sole proprietor? This is a time when it’s easy to get carried away with the excitement. You may ignore all the questions. It’s easy to get the cart before the horse.

Create a written plan. Before you run out and get an attorney and incorporate and before you sign a lease, you need to create a written plan. It is vitally important that you create a written business plan. Your plan and timeline for set-up/start up will precede the actual start of your business. So, you'll actually have 2 plans, your start up plan and your business plan. The start up plan will be all the things you need to do before you open your doors for business. The business plan will be your plan for operations for the first 1-5 years.

Fail to plan, plan to fail. It is as simple as that. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re not likely to get there. And if you think you know where you’re going, but have never been there and leave without a map, you’re not likely to get there in any reasonable time and in the condition you left in. An idea is not enough. Write it down. Your plans should be written and changeable. As you proceed, you will learn new things to add to your plan and you will need to modify, edit and delete portions.

Your start up plan should include all the things you need to do in order to open your doors. In most places you’ll need to obtain a business license. You will want to have a lease, a bank account, billing software or a service, equipment, business cards, stationery and liability insurance to name a few. You will also want to sequence these items with an end goal in mind of opening your doors for business on a specific day.

There are many resources available for writing business plans. There are multiple software packages, books and websites. The critical pieces of your business plan are your:
Vision: Why, Where and What do you want your clinic/business to be?

To read the rest of this article, go to www.JDSMManagement.com.


Sturdy McKee is CEO of san francisco sport and spine physical therapy and JDSM Medical Management. He can be found at www.JDSMManagement.com.