PPS Is Listening

By Laurie Kendall-Ellis, PT, CAE

• Dealing with rising operating expenses
• Preparing for alternative payment methodology (Physical Therapy Classification and Payment System)
• Navigating payer’s criteria, such as Physicians Quality Report- ing System
• Collecting balances due (high copayments, high deductibles)
• Negotiating financially viable agreements with payers
• Managing the uncertainty of payment rates

As entrepreneurs, you have a high tolerance for risk; and as leaders of your businesses, the key to your future success lies in the ability to implement changes quickly. You plan for the future utilizing trusted resources that keep you abreast of these issues.

PPS is here. We watch the health care and business trends and provide dependable resources through our website (www.ppsapta. org), monthly educational webinars, weekly eNews emails, monthly Impact magazine, 24/7 Impact magazine’s microsite (www.ppsimpact.org), an annual conference, an extensive exhibit hall, face-to-face events, administrators partner program, indus- try partner program, engaging social media (www.linkedin.com/ groups/Private-Practice-Section-APTA-2868070/about), (www. facebook.com/PrivatePracticeSection), (twitter.com/PPS_APTA), Member Only website message board), advocacy e-ALERTS and Call-to-Action emails. Additionally, without members like you, we would not have the community of colleagues who gener- ously share their knowledge and time. And, not to be forgotten, the section’s knowledgeable staff is personally answering your phone calls and emails, as well as locating the best information to support your practice and management questions.

As we monitor health care and business trends for you, the following thoughts are offered due to their potential impact on your business:

• Accountable Care Act (ACA). Analyze what happened in the early ACA enrollment period and make market adjustments to your customer base. Understand customer retention: What is working well, what is not, and what needs to happen next?
• Risk Management. What is your capacity for risk? Collect data that defines key performance indicators in your business. Can you measure it so you can manage it?
• Quality. It matters, but what is it? Measuring outcomes means you have the ability to control patient mix, business oper- ations, clinical standards, and more. Innovation and new delivery models of care and customer engagement will help you define quality of care.
• An Aging Population. The Baby Boomers began turning 65 in 2011, and the population between ages 65 and 74 will grow 74 percent! Those under the age of 65 will increase only 24 percent. What is your medical marketing approach to this population? What is the physical therapist’s role in your customers’ quality of life, and do they know your ability to help them keep it?
• Data. Is it organized, managed, analyzed, and interpreted? Use data to build your success.
• Relationships. How deep are your relationships with your current customers (patients, referral sources, and the community)? Increase the frequency of direct marketing. Do you have a com- munication plan that includes marketing, public relations, and advertising strategies? Is your message clear and consistent?
• Branding. Track your business’s performance in social net- works. Watch other industries and utilize their innovations.
• Customer Centric. How many touchpoints occur in your office with your customers? Have you ever thought about mapping them? Do you have too many or too few touch points?

As the only business and practice management section of the APTA, PPS provides you with access to resources every day. Con- sider pausing and floating above the conversations at the annual conference for a moment to take a 10,000-foot high helicopter view of your business and think about its future. We are here to support your implementation of the information you receive at the annual conference, in the exhibit hall, and through sharing strategic conversations with a PPS colleague. We have gathered the trusted resources, and we encourage you to use them. Remember as Peter Drucker stated at a previous conference: The best way to predict the future is to create it!

Respectfully,

Laurie Kendall-Ellis, PT, CAE
Executive Director, PPS