Start A Therapy Practice Podcast

Barbara Kornlau has many irons in the fire. She is currently a professor at Florida A&M college, an experienced attorney, the founder and CEO of the Coalition for Disability Health Equity, and a consultant. Here is just a sampling of her certifications and accomplishments:

Certified Case Manager

Member of U.S. Supreme Court Bar

Certified Disability Managment Specialist

Certified Paid Educator

Author of chapter in Legal Dimensions of Occupational Therapy Practice -  from AOTA Press 

 

Be sure to check out her Linkedin page to see all of her accomplishments.

Why she studied law and became a lawyer after receiving her OT degree

How she got into private practice

How she aquired contracts to provide therapy for new nursing homes

Her private practice experience and what she would do differently given the chance

Her advice for private practice partnerships

Her advice on what to do before you begin your private practice

How to find a good attorney - What questions to ask them to see if they are right for you

What to have that lawyer look at

Her thoughts on Direct Access

When you need a prescription and when you don't

A BIG marketing idea to get self pay clients

Her thoughts on keeping your on-line records and email safe

Her thoughts on the future of the Affordable Healthcare Act

 

Occupationaltherapy.com Barbara is a CEU course presenter there

Office of Nation Coordinator - HIPAA - Get on their mailing list HERE

PCORI research

Barbara's email

Linkedin

Is Centralized Medicine Good?

Dr. Frederick B. Covington, OTD, is an Occupational Therapist, award winning inventor, lecturer and author. Following his graduation from Howard University, he began his career as an Occupational Therapist. His areas of expertise include pediatrics, school based intervention, autism, developmental disabilities, physical disability and dysfunction, technology and geriatrics. Holistic patient care is at the center of his practice.  His mantra is "treat the individual, not the diagnosis."

 Dr. Covington has grown his practice by marketing his expertise. He has appeared on radio shows speaking about childcare and development which gives him the opportunity to mention his private practice. His days spent as a professional musician has taught him how to promote himself and his practice.

How he works being a private pay cash based therapy provider

How he deals with insurance companies

How he researches the competition

The Youtube videos that have propelled his practice

Why he researches current events, studies and technology more than reading business books to help his practice

His IOT Session App which helps work on FM, Visual skills and handwriting.

How he developed his iOT app

How he marketed his app

His therapeutic music program - Therakey

His special project for the AOTA conference that will be shown there

What he did to get publishers to ask him to write a book

His positive influence on inner city youth and fathers

 

For the past decade Dr. Covington has honed his skills in the Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland areas by providing private/residential occupational therapy evaluations, school occupational therapy services, adaptive equipment assessments and safety/ergonomic home modifications. In addition, Dr. Covington has been recognized for his pediatric treatment methods for individuals with intellectual impairments, behavioral problems, ADHD, OCD, sensory integration deficits, learning disabilities and executive functional disorders. Having a passion for technology, Dr. Covington has developed multiple iPad, Kindle and Windows Mobile applications.

Julie Entwistle is an Occupational Therapist who is a partner at EntwistlePower Occupational Therapy. She has grown her practice rather organically which has made it strong and successful. Julie's practice sees somewhere around 500 clients currently.

 

Julie, like most private practice owners, felt a disconnect when she was "working for the man" in big industry therapy. She says the company she as working for seemed to be working for the insurance companies and not those clients they were treating. 

 

After maternity leave (Julie has 4 children) friends began to ask her when she was going to go into business for herself. They told her "What do you have to lose." It was a question she took seriously.

 

Julie realized she had nothing to lose and much to gain by going into private practice. She didn't even have to let some of her referral sources know about her thoughts, they asked her when they could refer clients. 

 

Her solid reputation and hard "get it done" work ethic preceded her to the point that referral sources sought her out to treat their clients. 

 

How she manages her practice

Why it is important to pay attention to government legislation

Why it pays to be ethical and responsible

Why she is trying to diversify her practice

Where she treats clients

Who her referral sources are

How she markets her practice

How she uses her website to generate referrals

How she uses videos that she creates to market her practice

What types of equipment she uses

What software she uses for paperwork

What she uses to invoice her clients

In this podcast I give 5 actionable tips that you can implement right now to help your private practice.

I have taken a short break from producing a podcast due to a new addition to my family. My wife and I had a baby a couple of weeks ago and the little bundle of joy has taken all of my extra time, but that is ok. I enjoy each of my children and they are a great motivation for me as an entrepreneur and to help other entrepreneurs. My actions in this realm do not go unnoticed by my children and my efforts are a great lesson for them. So, with that said, I appreciate your patience with my hiatus but let's get back to the task at hand.

 

Any time I put out information about marketing a private practice it gets a lot of attention. I am not deluded to think that you and everyone else is waiting with baited breath for my marketing tips. I think small business owners will read and should read all they can on marketing. I know I do.

 

 

Website - Yes more website tips because your website is important

Video - Simple how to tips on creating a marketing video for your practice

Facebook - How to be helpful and market your practice at the same time

Google Adwords - How I use my Google marketing dollar

Postcards - Sometimes old school is the best school. I tell you how to use a postcard for marketing

What are your competitors or other similar businesses doing?

Are you capturing your great ideas?

 

I continue to develop my attention to detail when it comes to how my competition or similar businesses market themselves. I try and notice this in my geographical surroundings and in the on line world. In this podcast I dive a little deeper into how I do that.

 

Once you start noticing these marketing details you must be capturing them in order to re-visit them for future use. I have mentioned that I use Evernote to do this and I cannot suggest enough that you do the same.

 

I would love to know your thoughts about how to market a private practice. What is working for you? Have you tried any of the suggestions I give in this podcast?

 

Theraprenuer Wannabe:  "I really am burned out and fed up with working for the man. If I had more business skills and knowledge, I would start my own therapy practice. God just didn't bless me with a business mind. I mean, I can't even do long division. It's hopeless, so I guess I will just stay where I am."

 

Actual Theraprenuer:  "Have you thought about reading a few good books? I can recommend some that will get you started. I hear Scott Harmon has a good podcast and website that you can check out. I remember when I first started out. I didn't know much, but I have learned a ton about business since I started my clinic."

 

Theraprenuer Wannabe:  "Yeah, but that's you. You have a knack for that stuff. Not me. I'm hopeless. I can't go back to school to get a business degree."

 

Actual Therapreneur:  "You don't have to get a business degree. That would actually be a stupid thing to do. There is so much good information on the internet.  Plus, by reading a few really good books about business you could give it a go and get out of the rut you are in. You know, a lot of these big time business people never went to business school."

 

Therapreneur Wanabe:  "You really think I could give it a go? Yeah, maybe so. Imagine me...therapy practice owner. How cool would that be? No more working for the man. What did you say the name of that podcast was?"

 

OK, this was a fabricated conversation, but I am sure it has happened. Therapists who are riding the fence about starting a private practice are simply struggling with initiative. This is why I created this episode.

 

After I read a few articles about specific traits and characteristics that entrepreneurs tend to have, I wanted to expand on them and filter them through the lens of a therapy business owner. I also give a few book recommendations and a music review of therapy songs I recently came across on Youtube.

 

Dr. Karen Crilly is a physical therapist who owns and operates Casa Care Pediatric Therapy which is a brick and mortar private practice in North Carolina.

 

Karen has been a PT for 17 years.  She worked in a variety of settings before opening her private practice, the last of which was a women's and children's hospital as the lead PT.

 

 Some of what we cover:

 

How she started small and smart with no debt

How she did a business plan

How she did a market analysis

How her practice differed from the competition in her area

How she wanted to start cash only but was not able to

How she marketed her practice in the beginning

What she found worked best with marketing

The class she gives to the community that helps her marketing and revenue generation

How she does billing to insurance

What she uses to process credit cards and what Scott recommends

Paul Potter is a physical therapist who has been in private practice for over 30 years. His practice specializes in manual orthopedic rehabilitation and medical fitness programs for special populations. I spoke to Paul when he was in the process of selling his practice in order to go on a different adventure in his life: helping other PT's start and run their own therapy practice.

Paul has his own podcast called the Functional Freedom Podcast where he interviews other leaders on practice issues and strategies to facilitate the professional effectiveness of therapists.

 

 

In the world of start ups, having a mentor is essential. Paul had strong mentors early in his career, and now he is offering his services for mentor-ship.

Paul's motto is "win the day and finish strong." Listen in to this episode and learn more!

How Paul started slow and small

Why it is important to have a specific niche

How to determine your niche

Timeless principals of marketing a practice

The importance of relationships in your marketing strategy

What to do about your competition

How to pick up business skills to start and run your practice

How to get more referrals

Tracking referrals - how and why

Paul's gold star referral generating tool that has an 80% conversion and get it for free below

Paul's PT Pad App that he developed to help PT's do their job faster and better

Rebecca Cook is an occupational therapist and owner of a private therapy practice called The Right Step. She has 25 years of specialized experience in therapy and teaching horseback riding lessons. She has a slew of certifications from courses that she has taken over the years. Rebecca also provides Myofasial Release and Craniosacral Therapy. What she really enjoys though is providing therapy using a horse or "Hippotherapy".  Unlike therapeutic horseback riding which teaches the skills of riding a horse, Hippotherapy uses the movement of the horse as a means to therapy treatment and to reach specific therapy treatment goals.

 

Be sure to listen to the very end of the podcast for a little inspiration

 

 

Difference between Hippotherapy and Therapeutic Riding

How to become a certified Hippotherapist

How to become a certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor

Why Rebecca chose private practice to provide Hippotherapy

How she transitioned from her full time job to private practice

How she marketed her practice and aquired Hippotherapy clients

Her biggest source for referrals

Why Rebecca dissolved her partnership with her business partner

The part she played in Hippotherapy research at the University of Michigan

What type of documentation system she uses for her paperwork

Does private insurance cover Hippotherapy?

How she branched out and provided other types of therapy

The different types of therapy packages she offers

The automatic online scheduler she uses

Her experience billing Medicare for Hippotherapy

Her published research in AOTA on the effects of Hippotherapy on patients with Parkinson's

The books she has written about how to open a Hippotherapy private practice

Mirla Raz is a speech therapist who has been in private practice for over 30 years. Her practice is called the Communications Skills Center and is located in Arizona. She has written many books on speech skills in children and has a very informative website at HelpMeTalkRight.com.

 

Mirla has done interesting work in California, specifically at UCLA, treating hard cases of children in very tough situations. She later moved to Arizona and started working and gaining experience in her sister's private practice for about 9 years before she opened her own in 1990.

 

How she got started in private practice

Her marketing strategy to pre-schools.

An explanation on how insurance companies trap you into accepting lower and lower fees.

How she diversifys her skills and revenue streams...and more

The 4 books she has written which can be found on Amazon.

How she began to write her ebooks in order to give parents what they wanted.

How she does presentations and webinars on the subjects that her books cover.

How she consults with other speech therapists to help them in their clinic skills.

How she consults with parents to go over IEP's to see if they are the best they can be.

How she consults with parents on how to implement different treatment techniques themselves.