10 Characteristics of Successful Cash Practices

 

There is a growing interest in the cash practice movement by families with high deductibles, private practices, and new graduates who want to start their own business. In light of the changing dynamics of todays’ healthcare economy, I see this as a movement that will continue to grow.

Moreover, there is a growing number of therapy clinics that are looking to offer fitness/wellness services to recoup some of the lost income from decreased insurance reimbursement.

There are many reasons that therapists considered the cash practice business model but generally the main reason centers on being able to better serve their patients while preserving their income.

10 Characteristics of Successful Cash Practices

1. The practice must be fully committed to the care of their patients. If the practice has clarity on this essential focus, then it’s possible to be successful. A great cash practice makes the patient the hero of the story, and not the practice owners.

2. Every member of the staff, especially the therapists have exceptional communication skills. Those who have poor interpersonal skills and fail to listen will kill the growth of any practice.

3. The staff has a holistic understanding of each patient. They are able to see beyond the patient’s clinical diagnosis to real people with real human needs. The therapist’s understanding goes well beyond interpreting the clinical information and offering evidence based treatment.

4. The practices’ therapists strive to be highly knowledgeable and professionally skilled.  All care staff are lifelong learners and offer the most effective care possible.

5. There is a focus on wellness, prevention, and patient independence. Individualized home programs and wellness checkups are routinely offered. After care programs are in place to assist every patient in being independent and avoid unecessary expensive medical procedures.

6. Patients have an effortless means to make an appointment with their cash practice provider. Anything less is a compromise.

7. The therapists are comfortable with emerging technology and social media. They have a strong professional online platform where patients get to know, like and trust them. 

8. The practice has streamlined their clinical documentation workflows.

9. The practice has embraced the cost of medical care. They are transparent about their fees and have developed frameworks to explain them to consumers.

10. The practice has accepted change as a fact of life. They are creatively experimenting with innovative, cost-effective solutions to patient problems.

Therapy practices are in the people business. It doesn’t matter how you get paid. It’s about people. The interaction between people, especially when patients are suffering, can be quite complex and demanding.

However, if a cash practice possesses most of these key characteristics they will be better positioned to develop a sucessful cash-based practice to serve their patients and to remain economically viable.

Announcements

I’m launching a Cash Practice Pilot Course for therapists interested in starting their own private practice in January 2016.

The course promises to help students build a solid business foundation that will take students from a practice idea to seeing their first patient. I’m limiting the class to 15 students because I will provide one-on-one coaching to help students do whatever it takes to launch their own practice pilot clinic. The deadline for signing up for the pilot course is midnight December 31st.

If you’re interested please email me at heypaul@paulpotterpt.com and type Pilot Signup in the subject line. I’ll arrange phone call so I can answer your questions about the pilot course.

The last announcement is I want to make my readers aware of an upcoming change to the title of the Functional Freedom podcast. The focus of my podcast and blog has evolved into helping therapists launch and grow their own private practices. The new name and brand will better reflect the focus and direction of the podcast. I will be adding new podcast features in 2016 that will help you gain the personal and professional freedom to have a successful and meaningful practice. I’ll share more about the upcoming changes in future podcast episodes.

I want to take this opportunity to thank  the listeners of my podcast show after show. The number of downloads and subscribers is slowly growing. I had the opportunity to speak with a few of you during my research for the cash practice pilot course. Getting to meet you and hear about your dreams and steps you’ve taken to fulfill your calling as a therapy entrepreneur has been the greatest pleasure of doing the podcast and blog.

You all are amazing people and you are doing some pretty amazing things. Keep it up. I hope to inspire, encourage and provide you quality information so that you can continue to make a difference in your part of the universe.