Jeff Moore, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT, Cert-SMT, MTC
Jeff Moore, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT, Cert-SMT, MTC, is owner of The Institute of Clinical Excellence and clinic director at Back In Motion Physical Therapy in Kingsford, Michigan. He can be reached at jeffmooredpt@gmail.com
Locations: We presently have a multidisciplinary staff of eight clinicians: three physical therapists, three physical therapy assistants, and two athletic trainers. I have worked exclusively in outpatient orthopedics since graduation and am currently in my eighth year of clinical practice.
What or who is the most influential book/person/event that enhanced your professional career and brief description of why? Dr. David Coletta, owner of Excel Physical Therapy in Bozeman, Montana, took a chance and hired me straight out of school. For three years he set an incredible example by focusing on offering the highest possible quality of care and constantly fanning the flames of my desire to learn and grow. Perhaps more importantly, he was an exceptional role model outside of the clinic. Striving for excellence in his role as a husband and father, David was always there to remind me that family comes first and that how we perform in our role at home is ultimately more important than our clinical success. David remains my primary model in how to bring new grads on board and maximize their potential.
What have been your best/worst/toughest decisions? In the midst of a great many mistakes, I have made two excellent decisions that have been central to shaping my career. First, I signed up for the Evidence In Motion Fellowship program. The three-year program completely restructured my clinical reasoning process giving me an ability to consistently obtain clinical outcomes with an efficiency that is light years beyond where I was before fellowship training. The second decision was launching my continuing education company, The Institute of Clinical Excellence, in 2012. This company has allowed me to travel all over the country teaching motivated and talented clinicians who are going to become our profession’s future. Teaching has pushed me to a deeper level of expertise because the clinicians at weekend courses ask great questions that force me to examine in detail the current state of evidence on different topics.
How do you motivate your employees? I do not spend a lot of time motivating employees. We tell prospective employees that working with us will likely be more demanding than just about anywhere else. We are going to require a lot of unpaid time after hours volunteering in the community to carry out our cause, which is essentially to raise the movement quality of life for our entire community. Additionally, while the pay is decent, it is not excellent. What the employees get in return is a great deal of one-on-one mentoring and the opportunity to work with a group of clinicians that want to be a central part of the modern physical therapy movement. Unmotivated employees do not tend to seek out this type of gig; it just is not a very comfortable environment for them.
What are your best learning experience/s (mistakes) since inception of your practice? Management needs to insist that highly motivated employees take a reasonable amount of time off. Our employees are quick to do extra work and not quick to step away and recharge. There have been several occasions where I have allowed one or two employees to get burned out because I was not monitoring their time off and encouraging them to step away from the clinic and decompress. Letting someone overwork themselves is great for short-term profits but is ultimately a misguided long-term vision.
What are the benefits of the Private Practice Section (PPS) membership to your practice? Having just joined this year, I have not had a chance to explore everything PPS has to offer. Yet, I have already enjoyed Impact magazine and am looking forward to attending the PPS annual conference—the tweets coming from Orlando had me wishing I could have been there this year.
What new opportunities do you plan to pursue in the next year? Next year will be less about “new” and more about growth. I want to further develop the virtual mentorship program that Gene Shirokobrod and I have developed for new grads and doctor of physical therapy students while expanding my continuing education offerings to include all regions of the United States. I will also be teaching a number of courses with Evidence In Motion, including my favorite conference of the year “Manipalooza” where I get to teach alongside Dr. Tim Flynn—always an amazing learning opportunity for me.