Jarod Carter, PT, DPT, MTC
Dr. Jarod Carter is the president and founder of Carter Physiotherapy, PLLC, in Austin, Texas. He can be reached at jarod@drjarodcarter.com.
Practice location: Austin, Texas.
Practice specifics: One location, solo practitioner, four years in practice.
Describe the most influential book/person/event that enhanced your professional career and why: I spent a year as a private physical therapist for a wealthy couple. The husband often conducted business calls over the course of our treatment session. During that year, I learned an enormous amount about business, marketing, value, and developing a wealth-generating mindset.
Describe the flow of your average day: I see six patients a day, four days per week, and spend a full hour with each of them. Emails, calls, marketing, and other administrative tasks usually take about an hour every day. I have a part-time assistant who handles much of the administrative and marketing efforts. Since my practice is completely cash-based, I do not spend time dealing with insurance companies.
Describe your essential business philosophy: Do not allow yourself to get sucked into a business model and/or treatment model that does not make you happy. View your services as extremely valuable and prove that value to all who come into contact with you. Do not waste energy trying to convince physicians or prospective patients who do not view physical therapy as the value that it is. Your time is better spent elsewhere.
Describe your best, worst, or toughest decisions: My best—and toughest—decision was to start my own practice and be completely out-of-network from the beginning.
How did you get your start in private practice? In my first four years out of physical therapy school, I worked for both insurance-based and cash-based practices, but I always had a feeling that working for someone else was going to be temporary. When my last employer suggested a change in my compensation arrangement that I had to refuse, I made the leap and went into private practice.
How do you stay ahead of the competition? I offer something that 95 percent of practices do not: full hour treatment sessions, one-on-one with the physical therapist. The majority of that time is spent providing manual therapy. Between the extended time and the effective manual techniques, most patients need far fewer visits than if they went elsewhere.
What are the benefits of PPS membership to your practice? The hefty discount to a fantastic annual conference is a great benefit. I also really value the helpful content in Impact, as well as the PPS website forums.
What worries you about the future of private practice and what are you optimistic about? I am optimistic about the future of my practice because declining third party payment will not affect me. Also, the steady climb of the average physical therapy copayment will make it easier for patients to go out-of-network for unique treatment services. For the same reasons, I am not optimistic about the future of the traditional private practice. However, I do think that the coming changes will force innovation and value-centered treatment approaches, elevating what we offer the public, as well as the general perception of how truly valuable physical therapy is.
What are some new opportunities you plan to pursue in the next year? I plan to start a podcast on the cash-based practice model.