Education Committee Report
By Jason Sanders, PT, DPT
When Private Practice Section (PPS) members are surveyed, their number one reason for membership is their desire for education.
Members’ stated areas of interest have included PR and marketing, finance, government affairs, technology, and payment policy to name just a few. PPS board members keep this in mind as they annually review and update their strategic plan for PPS’s volunteer-based committees. The portions of the strategic plan assigned to the Education Committee require both independent development of projects within our committee as well as collaboration with other committees to develop content that meets the needs of our membership.
This year the committee continues to develop initiatives to provide and promote educational opportunities that advance the business aptitude for physical therapist–owned business. We continue to coordinate the “Kick Starting Your Private Practice” course being offered as a pre-conference course at the Combined Sections Meeting (CSM). Additionally, in conjunction with PPS staff we continue to mine and offer monthly webinars on hot topics pertinent to the private practitioner.
In an effort to broaden the reach of PPS as the go-to source for physical therapy business education, we continue the development of a curriculum and a multimodal educational package that can used by physical therapy schools to educate students on the fundamental aspects of managing a physical therapy business. We continue to work with representatives from APTA’s American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) to ensure our content will meet the required standards to provide a comprehensive educational package that will complement the business and leadership education that schools are providing for the next generation of physical therapists.
In past years we developed a series of “101” videos. This series was launched with videos on PR and marketing, finance, and an operations-based video on key performance indicators (KPIs) and their role in a successful practice. This past year we have developed additional videos on human resources and compliance as well as an additional operations video focused on KPI interpretation and management. We look to record and release these videos by the summer of 2019.
One of our more exciting and successful initiatives remains the development and growth of the Peer2Peer Network. This program takes networking to the next level through structured meetings that focus on each member’s individual success. PPS members from noncompeting markets meet in small groups where they share best practices and function as an advisory board for each other. Groups meet formally twice a year but stay in contact throughout the year to assist with the daily challenges of ownership and also to hold each other accountable. A wonderful byproduct of uniting people with common challenges, purpose, and passion has been rich friendships that transcend our businesses. Over the past two years Peer2Peer members have been working on defining, collecting, and benchmarking KPIs. This year PPS members not participating in Peer2Peer will be able to utilize this same KPI process to help analyze their business and look for opportunities for improvement. Over 165 PPS members will be participating in this great offering in 2019.
These initiatives, in addition to our ongoing efforts to assist in the management of the PPS learning platform and its content, as well as our efforts to engage and retain our members via the various PPS platforms, have kept our committee busy in 2018 with the promise of a productive 2019. My thanks to you all.