2024 State of Rehab w/ Heidi Jannenga, WebPT

Neil [0:18]: Hello and welcome to the Practice Marketing Podcast, highlighting successful strategies from North America’s fastest growing clinics and experts so you can learn from their wins and power your practice growth. Hi, I’m your host, Neil Trickett, CEO of Practice Promotions, and today we’re going to have a special guest here, and we’re going to talk about the 2024 State of Rehab Therapy report with Heidi Jannenga, co-founder of WebPT. She really should not need any introduction, because in 2008 she co-founded WebPT after recognizing the need for a more sophisticated, industry-specific EMR platform, and has since guided the company through exponential growth while garnering national recognition. Now WebPT provides many practice experience management software solutions, with the goal of helping rehab therapists run their businesses better. She’s also a philanthropist, helping especially in the physical therapy and rehab therapy space with Rizing Tide, a not-for-profit scholarship program for clinicians. But today we’re not actually talking about EMRs, we’re going to talk about WebPT’s 2024 State of Rehab Therapy report. This report surveys thousands of rehab therapists and practice owners about their top concerns and challenges, so I’m excited to hear from Heidi today. Heidi, welcome to the podcast.

Heidi [1:38]: Thank you, Neil, it’s so great to be back. Excited to talk a little bit about our data and sort of the implications, what it means, and what people can do hopefully with using this information.

Neil [1:52]: Absolutely, knowledge helps us win the day. So, on the report here, what did you find? What were the top concerns for rehab therapists?

Heidi [2:06]: Well, they aren’t new, which is interesting. I feel like we’ve been battling some of these things for a while, including, still the number one thing is the declining insurance reimbursements or payment rates, and that’s been kind of the bane of our existence since I’ve been a PT, which is now going on almost 30 years. So that was still the highest one. Then, of course, something we’ve been really talking about post-pandemic is the burnout. And thirdly, and it’s probably based on number one, is salaries that really fail to keep pace with expectations, and we know that’s commensurate with student debt, the cost of education. People are still trying to pay those loans off, and when you think you should be making a certain amount in order to pay those back, and when those two things don’t match up, that becomes a very difficult conversation to have, not only with the employer but also with yourself.

Neil [3:20]: Yeah, for sure, and I really think you hit the nail on the head there with how the demand from the market, in terms of compensation and salaries, but we’re kind of choked on the front end with the insurance reimbursements. But I am kind of encouraged, because I do see more of the industry, it’s kind of like it’s the straw that’s broken the camel’s back, and people are really starting to think outside of the box now and start to look at other ways of servicing their communities, whether from cash pay or cash-add services that they’re bringing into their practices, or they’re not accepting really lowball insurance contracts. I’m starting to see a bit more of that in the industry. I don’t know if that’s something you’re seeing too.

Heidi [4:21]: Absolutely, and I actually just came from the GRAM sessions, which I attended this weekend. I don’t know if you’ve ever attended, Neil, but it’s one of my favorite little mini-conferences. It’s sponsored by the Private Practice Section, every year, late January, early February time frame. It’s more like a think tank than an actual conference, but this was one of the topics we talked about, with regard to the out-of-necessity of so many things, including feedback from providers, and all of these issues we’re dealing with of how do we become creative with meeting the needs and meeting people where they are, which hopefully will damper some of the burnout effects to where we can keep people in our profession longer, like we used to.

Neil [5:13]: Yeah, absolutely, we’ve got some amazing talented people in our profession and we’ve got to figure out ways to really keep them in the workforce, keep servicing, and not have the draw to other variants of industries. How can we keep them working for us and keep working for our industry? So let’s address that burnout question first, because you’ve delved a lot into this, you’ve talked a lot about this over the years, and your report says resignations did get a little bit better, they dropped from 11% in ’22 to 9.2% in ’23. So does that mean that 9% of private practice therapists actually resigned in ’23?

Heidi [5:59]: That doesn’t mean they resigned and left the profession as a whole, but this is the kind of turnover people are experiencing throughout the country, and as you know, it’s so difficult to develop patient rapport, develop physician relationships, when you’ve got this kind of turn. And then the other thing is there are a percentage of those that are leaving the profession, and it just doesn’t help when we’ve made so much headway in terms of more people understanding the value of PT, in which the referral volume is up. We just recently, I did some research for a blog I was writing, and we’ve been pounding this, you know, the 10% number we’ve talked about, 90% of people don’t know about physical therapy or don’t understand the value. And so only seeing 10% of those who could actually benefit from a physical therapist, that number now is up to 25% in terms of that number, coming from United Healthcare, in terms of the volume of referrals that are now getting sent to PT for MSK issues. That’s great, but now that we have this provider shortage on the other side of things, and that doesn’t add up, right, when you have increased interest and you have a provider shortage, usually what happens is prices go up. But in our case, because of all the regulation and we don’t set our own prices, that’s not what’s happening, as a matter of fact it’s the opposite. And so what you’re seeing is this burnout that occurs because of the perception of overwork, that you have to do so much more, there’s this waiting list for patients, I could only see them for a certain period of time, all the things that don’t add up to “why did I become a physical therapist.” And so, to your point, what we’re now seeing is changes in compensation, we’re seeing how people are getting paid, changes in more people going to cash-base or cash-add services, where they’re going to share, hey, if you really want this much time, it’s going to cost you a little bit more. And you know, I think it’s the right thing to do, it’s normal business principles to be able to do those things. Just another interesting statistic, I don’t know that we’re going to get out of this hole anytime soon.

Neil [8:43]: Interesting statistic, and I’m sure you might have seen Larry Benz’s most recent post, where he talked about the actual percentage of therapists in the industry who are actually working full-time, and I’m going to probably say the wrong number, we probably should look it up, but it’s somewhere in the realm of a shocking 60% or something like that who are actually working full-time. So not only do we not have enough to go around, those that are in the industry are not even working full-time.

Heidi [9:21]: Yeah, and I’ve heard that from a lot of clients, different networks I’m in, that therapists are looking for more of different challenges within the workplace. So yes, they enjoy the care side of it, but they might want, some have an interest in doing some social media for the clinic, for example, or others have different programs, or running a program or something, so there’s different things clinics are doing to retain their therapists by giving them these different opportunities. But you’re right that the actual pure service side of it is not as high probably as it used to be in the past, patient care is not always the number one priority coming out of school. And it really begs the dilemma of who do we recruit into our DPT programs? It used to be like the entrepreneurial mindset, starting your own practice, and how many people graduate today thinking they just want to be an employee?

Neil [10:35]: Yeah, that’s different than, I’m sure when you went to school, I went to school, you know, straight on, be a PT, get your head down, treating patients, and then maybe one day you’ll go into management, or be a professor or something like that. So yeah, I think it’s a very different, we’re a different generation, different generational philosophies incorporated into that, and people are looking for all kinds of different opportunities today than just being the employee.

Heidi [11:06]: Well, in our career pathing, in order to get to management, that means you see fewer patients, right, and so that’s like the celebration where we do this in software development too, and we’ve learned to retrain ourselves to think, there’s people that just love what they do, they love treating patients, and so why can’t someone who loves treating patients actually make the same salary or more than someone who moves up into management? We celebrate managers because supposedly you have to do a lot more work, but it’s just different work, and treating patients is so valuable to us as therapists. We now have sort of this four-box kind of scenario of people, and this goes to, well, how do you retrain or rethink the retention of your employees, and that goes to talking to them, like, what motivates you? If being a clinician is really what you want, well, why don’t we celebrate that and make them the best clinician possible, and be able to compensate them accordingly?

Neil [12:17]: Yeah, and I totally agree there, and I think that again, looking from the practice owner side, our listeners out there, practice owners can be like, yeah, that’s great, I want to pay them more, but I’m choked on the front end. But then that again comes back to what you were talking about before, and I’ve talked about this on another podcast, which is that we have to start thinking outside the box, because we have a very valuable service we can offer the communities we work in, and there’s a huge demand for wellness and other types of services out there. We’ve got to start shifting the model of practice care, and there is a ton of opportunity, which can afford better pay rates, and that does afford us more opportunity to pay our staff. And I think what I’ve seen is the clinics we work with that incorporate different lines of care, whether it’s just straight rehab or they’re doing additional services through rehab, or they’re incorporating acupuncture, massage, other lines of service into their practice, they’re able to retain their employees better because they can have better compensation models.

Heidi [13:27]: Well, and it’s so amazing to hear that we’re starting, across the board, to also get the confidence to be able to stand up to insurance companies and say we’re not going to take these crazy lowball insurance rates. It’s about knowing the language, right, of access to care, how many other therapists are there around, you’ve got a lot of bodies here that need our services, you need to pay up, or at least we’re not going to take this lowball rate. And so pushing back on those contracts and not accepting whatever they’re willing to give, but instead pushing back, not only as a practice owner, but also getting your patients to write letters in for the value of your services. So I think there’s a lot of positive momentum to try to make some changes in this area, but for sure the adoption of cash-base is really the only way, at this point, that we see of making significant change as far as compensation capabilities in the short term.

Neil [14:44]: Yeah, so we know that compensation is an important discussion to retain employees, but it’s not the number one thing, right, and I think your data showed that. So could you help us understand a little bit more, what can really help us obviously retain employees and also attract new employees to us?

Heidi [15:00]: Yeah, so, looking for a challenge is interesting, because I think it’s really relationship building, it’s going back to HR 101, really understanding and spending time with your employees, understanding what drives them, what motivates them, creating a career path that’s not, maybe you talk about it more than once a year, because new things pop up, new opportunities pop up. It’s also being very transparent, having them understand more about the business side of the business, sharing with them where their salary comes from, how we generate salaries in this profession, having a better understanding of the insurance rates, how claims management works, all the ins and outs of a practice, even at the hospital level, this is at any job you might have in our industry, and what are the opportunities in improving that compensation, if that’s what you’re looking for. So those were some of the things people are looking for, but also coming back to basic relationship building, nurturing, mentoring, the education, their connection to a purpose within their job, they want to feel like, I know we’re impacting patients, but they want to impact more than that, it’s community building, it’s bigger than themselves, that they can feel like they belong to something. I mean, for me it’s like basic stuff, like culture, and how do you nurture that. And I know it’s so hard right now for everyone because volumes have to go up, so everyone seems really stressed, but as an owner, taking the time to make sure you’re including your team in your goals, your annual goals, like especially right now, should already be set for 2025, but not just doing it in a back room and then rolling it out to everybody, but really being transparent, these are the things we’re trying to accomplish, and here’s how you can be a part of helping everyone accomplish it together.

Neil [18:24]: I totally agree with that, and one thing I’ve learned the hard way over the years is you have goals at a leadership level, but wherever you can really foster everybody’s input toward that, you get much more buy-in, and that’s also a great thing that retains people, because if you go too far with just focusing on the individual’s progression, you get someone who becomes almost a little bit selfish in a way, and that’s not what you want to foster. But if you can foster what’s important to them, and have them be part of the direction of your practice, that really builds the relationship. And I think this was really interesting from the report, I’ll read this out: it says, among those considering a professional change, the top two answers were that they were no longer aligned with their employer’s values, or that they were seeking a new challenge. And while burnout was the third most common answer, salary only rated seventh. That’s not to say the practice of the future should forgo better salaries and smoother workflows, just that a strong company culture, a positive work environment, and professional growth opportunities can make all the difference compared to your competitor.

Heidi [18:54]: Thought that was really well put. Yeah, it can’t be emphasized enough, it’s not just about stroking a bigger check, it is truly about creating a place you want to get up in the morning and come to, and feel like you’re creating impact, but at the same time feeling like you’re growing in a nurturing environment. So yeah, it goes back to culture eats strategy for lunch.

Neil [19:34]: So, any final comments on what we could do to reduce burnout or remain optimistic for ourselves in this workforce?

Heidi [19:41]: Yeah, I think it’s not all doom and gloom in our industry, we are still creating tremendous impact, and as we think about some things that are changing in our current environment, with leadership and presidency change and all the things trickling down from that, some of the things we’re doing as physical therapists can really be amplified in terms of saving money to the overall health care system, the immediate impact we have on patients. I really think there’s some opportunity here, and again it comes back to our own confidence in ourselves and being able to relay that in the overall system. We have so much data, so much research, it’s really getting it into the right hands of the right people, and continuing to push forward with what we’re doing, as far as being the MSK primary care providers, and continue to amplify that through all our messages, whether it’s through our patients, advocacy through the government, wherever we can, continue to beat that drum.

Neil [21:01]: Yeah, totally agree, and you’ve talked about this before, and this also was in your report, talking about the administrative burden on therapists. What do we do, we love treating patients, we love the clinical aspect of it. I really enjoyed the marketing side, that’s why I transitioned from my own private practice to now marketing for clinics, I really enjoy that part of it, but I really don’t miss the insurance part, the documentation and the headaches. I really enjoy treating patients, and it’s the same thing for our therapists, they love treating patients, they get the frustrations obviously from all the insurance requirements and documentation requirements. So is there a way we could look at automation, how can we reduce the administrative burden on our team?

Heidi [21:58]: Yeah, absolutely, and being the founder of an EMR, you take a lot of hits on the administrative burden. WebPT was founded because of the administrative burden, to try to relieve some of it, and what we’ve seen since the adoption of EMR, from physicians to physical therapists across the healthcare continuum, is that it has enabled more and more regulatory change to be rolled out so much easier, because there’s technology to roll these things out. Now, the contrary to what’s real in terms of practice every day is there are still these barriers and boundaries now starting to close in, and although as an EMR you’re trying to offset to where you’re checking all the boxes on behalf of your provider, so they don’t have to do a lot of things, it’s still the bane of our existence as treating providers. So yes, 100%, automation, AI right now is the hottest thing in healthcare in general, taking in the data, learning about how you do it, to push forward suggestions that could hopefully speed up the time of your documentation, as well as on the front end, and of course on the billing side, whether it’s prior authorizations or getting your claims paid a little bit faster, all of those things are definitely happening now and will continue to accelerate as more AI is being incorporated in companies like ours and others. We have a partnership with Prediction Health that is accelerating the opportunities they’re providing, incorporated within WebPT as well.

Neil [24:08]: Very cool. Yeah, I think the clinics that really embrace that AI revolution that’s happening right now, how they can speed up efficiencies within the clinic so the stuff we really don’t want to have that much attention on all the time, from billing to admin to paperwork pushing, whatever it may be, so we can put more focus on the patients. I think the clinics that invest in that and put that as a priority, I think that’ll help them with their retention aspect too.

Heidi [24:46]: Yeah, so really interesting, Neil, we did this, and this is fresh off of this data from GRAM sessions, and albeit a small sample size, there were 150 people in the room, they divided us into groups of 10 to 12 people, mixed up to be large practice owners, small practice owners, clinicians and others, so a very diverse group at every table. Our task was, they were going to use AI to put all of our answers together into one big document, to create what are the things that are tremendously interesting. And sitting at my table, no one mentioned anything about technology, it was all about people, knowing your clinician, the obvious things, business plan, location, types of services you want to deliver. But even when we got to the scaling part of it, technology now is a commodity, it’s something that just has to happen with starting a practice, it’s not some novel idea anymore, it’s kind of a commodity now.

Neil [27:01]: And so to your point of this AI revolution, AI doesn’t just exist on its own, it has to start with data, and so having the overlay of AI on top of your EMR, that’s the source of the data, the source of learning, how you interact with each patient, your behaviors, it’s got to learn those things through the data of your EMR. But I just find it fascinating that even today, clinicians at heart are all about people, relationships, and our more traditional way, maybe our differentiator, and will continue to be our differentiator, of us being the provider that’s still willing to put your hands on patients.

Heidi [27:49]: Absolutely, yeah, I think that’s one of the big differences in us compared to a lot of the other medical providers out there, the amount of time we actually get to spend with our patients, and changing their lives, which is key there.

Neil [28:05]: Continuing on with your report, you did talk about declining insurance reimbursements and some of the things we can look at, what you’re seeing in the market. You mentioned this a little bit before, but the report talked about rehab therapists finally saying no to bad insurance contracts. What kind of things have you seen there?

Heidi [28:21]: Yeah, definitely a lot more folks going out of network, refusing the in-network benefit payment rates, and essentially saying we will no longer be taking this, however you can utilize this out of network, which usually is a burden to the patient, because it’s going to cost them more, whether it’s co-insurance or co-pay, it’s usually going to cost them more, so it’s a tricky decision for owners to make. But what we’ve seen and heard through the report is they just can’t survive if they continue to accept this rate at the volume they’re seeing, the numbers just don’t add up. And while I understand, maybe this is going to be, the more people that do this, this is what will finally get the attention of insurance companies, when patients are saying I can’t get into a clinic because you’re not accepted at any of the places I want to go, or that are closest to me anymore. It’s hard, because it’s probably what led us to making these decisions in the first place, because you want to see the patients, and probably some patients get turned away, or, heaven forbid, those that continue to take these smaller, less-paying contracts don’t provide the same value, the same level of care, and then the sentiment about PT goes down.

Neil [30:03]: Yeah, absolutely, and what I’ve seen in the marketplace has been a trend toward practices, and this is in other industries too, like my dentist, I know an OB practice that did this, but basically getting their practices together in a geographic area and conglomerating, they still had all their individual practices, but they had their buying power with the insurances as a whole, and they’re basically saying, we’re not going to take your insurance at these rates, and you would not have anybody providing care within this whole county. They have that kind of buying power against the insurance companies. I think we’ve yet to see that happen in the rehab industry, but I’ve seen it happen in other medical and dental industries, which is very interesting, that kind of pushback against the insurance companies.

Heidi [31:03]: Yeah, we have to be strategic about it, there can’t be any collusion, but there are ways to create networks and other things where you can get together and bond with other practices. And that’s the other thing I think is slowly changing, that’s important, especially in private practice, we’re starting to realize we’re all in this together, and it’s not about me undercutting you across the street so I can do a little bit better, it’s about the whole of our industry, which I’m so happy to see. And I know it’s probably not everywhere, but I definitely think the trend is on the rise, that by doing this individually we’re only hurting ourselves, versus thinking about the greater whole of everyone, and what it means if I take this insurance up $40 a visit, what am I saying about the value we’re providing. So it’s really good to see those trends starting to happen, and I look forward to actually the 2025 report as we put that data together, seeing a little bit more of that.

Neil [32:29]: Excellent. Yeah, the thing I’ve seen is that clinics that are really good at marketing and feel really confident in the network they’ve built within the community, they have more out-of-network, more cash-pay services, because they know their price point, they know their cost, they know where they really cannot go below in terms of what they need to be getting for a per-visit reimbursement. The clinics I find are very reliant on just certain physician referrals, maybe they service a certain demographic, and I can understand if the focus is they need to just help those particular patients that have lower-reimbursing insurances, I get that. But I think a lot of clinics fall into it because they’re not quite confident how they can attract higher-paying patients or have the mechanisms in place for that, so they tend to think, hey, I’ll take the PPO but I’ll also take the HMO just because I have to. But I think again I’ve seen the transformation happening with that, and I’m encouraged to see what the future will bring, as more clinics and practice owners realize they can be more independent, they can work out of network with certain insurances and renegotiate harder with insurance companies.

Heidi [34:03]: Yeah, we’re powered by the data now too, we have access to more data than we ever have in the past, so I think you’re spot on with the ability to do that, and then also just reinforcing within our own insurance contracts that we have the PT benefits in there, that we’re putting our money where our mouth is.

Neil [34:26]: Yeah, absolutely, so I know you have a very good pulse on this because you do so much on hiring and the future of our rehab therapy workforce, but what do you find students are concerned about, as you’ve chatted with quite a few of them?

Heidi [34:44]: Yeah, it’s been great to have this direct interaction with so many students now through our Rizing Tide Foundation, and the students that are coming out, unfortunately they’re less confident than maybe you and I were when we graduated, ready to tackle any patient that happened to walk in the door. They’re very concerned about hurting people, they don’t want to do anything to harm or to not continue serving value every day, so they’re concerned about that, they don’t have the confidence to jump out and immediately treat any patient that walks in, or they’re really looking for mentoring when they get out, they aren’t going to be super independent.

Neil [35:33]: That’s a great point, and I’ve seen that with some of our top-performing clients that are really awesome at attracting therapists, especially students, internship programs, and especially new grads, they have very robust mentorship programs. I think that’s something new grads have always sought out, but probably more in today’s world, like what you’re talking about. So we have to adapt to that, and maybe within our mentorship programs have ways to encourage people, that they’re not going to hurt someone, or ways to prevent that, or to feel more, how can we build confidence basically in our new grads quickly?

Heidi [36:20]: Well, I think it’s really hard, because we’re now very specialized in what we do, in different practices. We have pelvic health-specific practices, we have orthopedic practices, which see, in general, but within there you have dry needling, a lot of these interesting specialty aspects, and students are coming out as generalists. I think there’s just so many more of these opportunities than when you and I graduated, where being a generalist is kind of like being a primary care provider. But now you have all these specialties, and that’s why so many students aren’t going straight out to the workforce, they say, no, I’ve got to go do a residency program. I’d say probably 60% of our scholars absolutely think they should and must do a residency program, to decide their specialty, become much more well-versed in that specialty before they want to go out, and then when they go out, they want to see that finite sort of group of patients.

Neil [37:32]: Interesting, so we’ve sort of set ourselves up a little bit for this, but I just feel like there’s a mismatch right now, we haven’t sort of matched up what’s happening in reality to education. Students are definitely a little bit more behind on some of the business aspects of things, but with regard to the specialty practice, are we doing a disservice?

Heidi [38:06]: I don’t think we are, because the patients are demanding it, and there’s enough patients to go around, but we’re now creating much more of these specialty practices, or lanes even within a larger practice, so it’s like, how do I come in and be a generalist?

Neil [38:23]: Yeah, very interesting information there, because I think if I had a practice today, that would really help me think in a different way about attracting new grads and working with them, and what could we offer that would help us stand out as a competitor in the marketplace, why would they come work for us? I definitely put a lot of attention on mentorship programs and training programs within the clinic, that could be a great avenue for a lot of practices out there, if you don’t really have a very good internship or mentorship program in place, that’s something you can put some effort into and transform your ability to recruit new grads and new hires. So you’re a super expert in this, let’s talk about technology’s place in the practice, what’s the biggest technology pain point for practices that you’ve seen?

Heidi [39:10]: Well, of course it’s the efficiency of the documentation system, still remains the number one issue, how much do I need to document, and now can I just talk into a room and the room will listen to me and create a note for me? We’re moving in that direction as far as ambient documentation, eventually to be much less effort on the provider side, which hopefully empowers, again, part of our mission, to allow the therapist to get back to treating, hands-on with patients, which is what we all love and would love to do for all the time we spend with our patients, and not have to document. But it’s really now not just about documentation, of course it’s technology, it runs the entire practice, from your marketing to the front office, all the things in between, to your billing and all of that. So it’s really now looking for that sort of one integrated platform that makes this side of the practice experience as easy, seamless, and effortless as possible.

Neil [40:43]: I’m curious on your side at WebPT, do you find that people don’t take advantage of all the different tools or systems they get, they kind of gravitate just to documentation, or just to billing? I’m curious on that aspect, because I know you offer a wide variety of different software tools.

Heidi [41:06]: Yeah, we’re still, first and foremost, like an education company, I feel like a lot of times, especially since we’ve gained a lot of notoriety with our experience on the business side, having to understand what are the solutions, what are the problems you’re incurring, so we can apply the right solution through technology. We do have a lot of solutions, but it’s really understanding what you’re trying to accomplish first, having that conversation, let’s talk about the big picture first, and then we can start plugging in the right pieces of technology. I’ll just say, normally when somebody wants to come in for technology, initially it’s all about the first part, which is getting paid, so it’s documentation and billing, the first things people think about, like I can’t exist without doing those things. And then, to your point, Neil, okay, I want to expand my practice, I want to automate some of my marketing, well, now that you have all of your patient lists within our system, how do you then utilize that to push out very specific marketing to your particular patients or people that they know? So it’s getting that foundation first, and then adding the pieces of the puzzle as they want to expand, or align with the goals of their business.

Neil [42:28]: Excellent. Yeah, and I think in business in general, this is something I do on a yearly basis, but it’s always amazing when we do it, just a list of our tech stack. In any business you have a tech stack, it’s going to be, what’s your EMR, but you might have your phone software, other softwares, and by the time you list it out, you go, oh my gosh, we have to be experts in all of this technology and software platforms. So it’s important to see, where are the most important aspects I need my team to train on and be proficient in, and where can we get better, rather than just adding another piece of software on here, wherever the shiny object of the week comes in, it’s very easy to layer that tech stack until it becomes a mess.

Heidi [43:22]: Yeah, I was just going to say the same thing, technology isn’t always the answer for everything, especially if you don’t already have processes in place to try to solve that problem. It may be a manual effort right now, and you want to apply technology to help make it more efficient, but if you’re not doing anything and you want to implement something new, this kind of goes back to what were the things that cause burnout, well, one of the number one things is administrative burden, and part of administrative burden is, oh my gosh, I have to do this and I have to do that, and I have this technology piece and I have to do this other marketing thing, why am I marketing, I’m supposed to be treating patients. So it’s really just, again, all for good intentions of what you’re trying to accomplish in the business, but if you’re not sharing how this ends up valuing you as an individual, the types of patients you want to see routed to your schedule, maybe it’s going to decrease your cancel/no-show rate, without the why behind things, sometimes it adds to, oh my gosh, I’m just getting layered on with all this stuff and I have no idea why I have to do this.

Neil [44:50]: Yeah, that’s a great point, and I will be the first to admit I am terrible at just going for it with my team and adding stuff onto them, and I think a lot of practice owners are probably laughing out there too, because it’s a bit more of the entrepreneurial thing, let’s just go, let’s just do this thing. We’ve got to recognize there are people within our team who are big planners, they need to know everything that’s going to happen before they start, and I’m the other way, let’s just go, we’ll figure it out along the way. So it’s very easy for practice owners, if you’re that type of personality, to layer things onto your team without realizing the impact it’s having on them, and sometimes you just have to step back and go, whoa, I think I have too much layered on them, I’ve got to peel some things off so they can be good at what they’re doing.

Heidi [45:46]: Right, absolutely. So it just goes back to what we said earlier, it comes back to people at the end of the day, and who your folks are, knowing what you’re looking for ahead of time before you hire someone, and then continuing to nurture those relationships, it’s HR 101.

Neil [46:09]: Love it. So let’s talk a little bit about the future of WebPT, you had an awesome blog about your next chapter, getting back to basics, can you talk a little bit about that, and the direction of the future for WebPT?

Heidi [46:17]: Yeah, transparently, we’re now in our 17th year, which is unbelievable, to have been around in this industry serving just shy of 50% of the market share in the outpatient world. It’s no secret there are competitors out there today that we obviously have to continue to up our game against, and it’s always harder when you’re the big dog in a market to make sure you’re continuing to innovate and renew. So really, our theme for 2025 as an organization is getting back to the core. And what back to the core means for us is no changes as far as values or mission, but it’s really getting back to those things of shoring up the foundation, to make sure we’re living up to that mission every day with our interactions. What was our differentiator in the past really was our service levels, which were bar-none better than any of our competitors in the past, and we’ve lost our way in that area a bit. So bringing on a few new folks in the organization, promoting some folks who have been here and know what it means to be part of WebPT, and what those service levels entail, are really going to help us as we revive, if you will, some of the important aspects of what it means to be part of WebPT and what it means to serve our members. We continue to call our customers members, because they are part of our community and we’re partners with them, and we haven’t always lived up to that partner name here over the last couple of years, but we’re definitely moving in the right direction to get back to what people know and have known and expect from us as a brand. So that’s really our push for 2025, but it’s also, from a technology standpoint, making sure the core stability and functionality are all working, we’re working a lot on the integration of our products, we’ve added a lot of things over the years through acquisition, and making sure those are really integrating and working together optimally, and then of course layering on these new technologies of AI, to help with the efficiency and improvement of ease of use of all of our products together.

Neil [49:21]: Fantastic, looks like you’re working on a tremendous amount of stuff over there, so congratulations on that, I think that’s probably a great thing, because I think we’ve gone through this too, it’s all part of that natural business cycle, as you get to a mature company, you need that next level of innovation. And I think for some of our more established practices out there that have been around a while, got to a certain size, a lot of times it is getting back to those basics, or getting back to those core things that got you to where you are, and it’s fascinating in business how you kind of get off track sometimes, because you’ve got so many other things you’re working on and moving after, that you need to kind of come back. So I think that’s a very good thing you’re looking at there, I’ve certainly done that in my business too, we made some big changes with that last year, getting back to core values and service, and that’s been very, very good for us and our clients too. So I think it’s just one of those things that happens in business, being able to recognize it and get back to what makes things really work and service the customer.

Heidi [50:32]: Well, we’ve been so good over the years at being in tune and listening to our membership to drive the right things in the business, and I think sometimes, when you’ve had so much success, you start to try to anticipate, which you should anticipate to a certain extent, knowing what’s coming before anyone else, or even before they know what’s coming, but from a foundational layer of service levels and being that business resource, subject-matter expert in this technology and business aspect of PT that we’ve become known for, without that foundation, the technology and everything layered on top of that is frankly just not as important. You’ve got to be that trusted resource, and so right now our goal is really to rebuild some trust with the industry. We’re so thankful that so many of our members are thriving, so it’s not doom and gloom, but it really is a recognition that there are some cracks in the foundation that we don’t like, and it’s pinging them up, and making sure we’re staying true to our values and our mission, and that’s really what “back to the core” means to us this year.

Neil [52:03]: Excellent, you’ve given us a tremendous amount of great information today, and for our audience out there, you should definitely download the State of Rehab Therapy report from WebPT, tons of great data in there you can use to shape your strategies. So Heidi, from our conversation today, is there any kind of final advice you’d give our audience out there in terms of helping them grow their business here in 2025?

Heidi [52:30]: Well, let me just say one thing about the State of Rehab Therapy report, we’ve been doing this now for over 10 years, and it’s just been an honor and a privilege, I have to give a huge shout-out to our marketing team, who combs through all of this data, and this year we did a slightly different format, more narrative, to help explain things in layman’s terms rather than just showing all the data and charts. We’ve gotten tremendous positive feedback about this year’s report, so if you haven’t taken a moment to download it, I know we’ll put the link in the show notes. But the one thing I would say is, really take a hard look at what you’re trying to accomplish with the business. We didn’t talk about one of the other big areas, especially for a smaller private practice owner, which is, how do I remain independent and not get swallowed up by these larger enterprise organizations? Do I stay independent, or do I just sell my practice to one of these larger organizations? There’s no right answer, it’s a very individual choice, but regardless of whether you want to stay in business yourself or sell, you’ve got to be a viable business. And so what does that mean? It’s really to make sure you have a grasp of understanding the business metrics, the information that drives your business. So, selfishly, I’m going to say that technology helps with that, because if you don’t know how, as an example, within WebPT we serve you up with metrics to where we can be helpful in really making sure you can see changes in your business, so you can remain stable, and you have the opportunity to see how other therapists in your practice are doing, they can get feedback. So anyway, it’s really about finding the technology platform that’s going to assist you, partner with you, to be able to continue to stabilize and hopefully grow your business, if that’s the goal you want.

Neil [55:12]: Great advice there, Heidi, thank you so much for all your amazing insights today, especially going over the 2024 State of Rehab Therapy report. Again, that’ll be in our show notes, and I’ll also send that out to our subscribers and listeners, so you can get that, it’s free, I definitely encourage you to download it. And then we’ll also put a link for Heidi’s Rizing Tide Foundation, which is a fantastic organization, definitely take a look at that, help support that, it’s the next generation of therapists coming into the workforce, she’s doing some fantastic work there. So thank you, Heidi, for all your insight today, really appreciate having you on the podcast.

Heidi [55:54]: Thanks, appreciate the opportunity, and all you do for our industry, I really appreciate it.

Neil [56:04]: Ah, fantastic, thank you so much, and same to you, thank you for all that you’ve done for our industry, which is a tremendous amount. So to our listeners out there, don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast as well as our YouTube channel, we’ve got tons of free advice for you on PracticePromotions.net, so go there and get lots of marketing tips and business tips to run your practice. This is Neil Trickett from Practice Promotions and the Practice Marketing Podcast, wishing you much success in your practice.