Dr. Josh Schacter spent years as a high volume orthopedic surgeon, performing close to 1,000 surgeries annually and seeing 50 patients a day inside the insurance system. On this episode of Willpower, he joins Will Humphreys to talk about the internal and external transition that took him from burned out technician to integrative orthopedic physician running a cash pay practice built around deep patient connection.

Dr. Schacter walks through the mindset shifts required to leave insurance behind, the limiting beliefs providers carry from medical training, and how a trip to Ecuador with the Ashuar people reshaped his relationship to stress and presence. He shares patient stories, including a man who avoided a hip replacement through regenerative therapy and a case of reversed Type 2 diabetes discovered during a knee visit, and explains why he believes over a million joint replacements can be prevented by 2042.

Key takeaways:

• Dr. Schacter transitioned his practice to roughly 80% cash pay revenue within three months.
• He reduced his patient load from 50 per day to an average of 10, spending up to 90 minutes with new patients.
• Chronic pain has been linked to a 3 to 5 percent shorter lifespan, and 80 percent of patients report feeling rushed during medical visits.
• Dr. Schacter's integrative approach treats orthopedic issues alongside metabolic and psychological factors, including cases where diabetes was reversed through diet, nutraceuticals, and micro-dose GLP-1.
• His wife, Amber Schacter, serves as CEO of the practice and was the driving force behind the shift to a different care model.
• He references Steven Pressfield's The War of Art and its concept of "resistance" as a framework for understanding the internal beliefs that keep providers stuck in traditional systems.
• Dr. Schacter's long-term goal is to prevent over one million joint replacements by 2042 through earlier, deeper intervention.

If you're a provider who feels stuck inside a system that wasn't built for deep care, this conversation is for you. 

Connect with Dr. Joshua Schacter

• Website: www.pinnacleorthowf.com 
• FB and IG: @pinnacleintegrativeorthopedics, @drjoshuaschacter 
• Tiktok: @drjoshuaschacter 
• Youtube @DrJoshuaSchacter 

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
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In this episode of the Will Power Podcast, recorded live at APTA CSM, Will Humphreys sits down with Michael Viscuso, CEO of Metro Physical Therapy, and Samantha DiRosa, Clinical Director at Metro, to talk about how intentional leadership development shapes culture, retention, and patient care in private practice.

Michael and Samantha break down how Metro built a leadership pipeline that starts with new grads and continues through clinical directors and regional leaders. They cover Metro's NextGen and Ascend leadership programs, the books that shape their culture (including Start With Why and The Energy Bus), and how giving staff a real choice between clinical and leadership paths keeps people engaged instead of burned out.

Key takeaways:

• Leadership is built through extra effort. Students and new grads who ask questions, attend outside events, and invest in relationships stand out early.
• Metro runs two named leadership programs, NextGen for emerging leaders and Ascend for staff moving toward clinical director roles, and both are led directly by the CEO and VP of Operations.
• Burnout often signals disconnection from purpose, not a lack of skill. Reconnecting to the reason someone got into the field restores motivation.
• Empowerment means setting clear expectations and trusting the process, not controlling the outcome.
• Metro has grown to 62 locations while keeping its CEO personally involved in leadership days and clinic visits.
• Practice owners who are overwhelmed should focus on finding the right people for the right seats, then genuinely empowering them to make decisions.

If you're a PT student trying to figure out where to start, a clinician feeling burned out, or a practice owner who doesn't know how to build leadership into your business, this episode gives you a real roadmap. 

Connect with Metro Physical Therapy

Website: https://www.metrophysicaltherapy.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroPhysicalandAquaticTherapy/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/metro-physical-&-aquatic-therapy/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metroptny

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
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Dr. Milica McDowell, Associate Vice President of Education at US Physical Therapy, joins the Will Power Podcast live from APTA CSM to break down the science behind walking, one of the most overlooked tools in physical therapy. Guest host Mitch Johnson sits down with McDowell to unpack her new book, "Walk," co-written with foot and gait specialist Dr. Courtney Conley, and backed by over 300 research studies.

McDowell explains where the 10,000-steps myth actually came from (it was never based on science), what step count actually reduces mortality risk, and why walking belongs in the same category as sleep and breathing for the human body. She also covers footwear myths that are hurting patients, why most adults are wearing the wrong shoe size, and how simple "movement snacks" can shift a patient's mood, cognition, and recovery in minutes.

Key takeaways:

• The 10,000-step benchmark came from a 1960s Japanese pedometer marketing campaign, not research.
• A baseline of 3,500 steps per day is linked to a 15% reduction in all-cause mortality compared to 2,500 steps.
• Five-minute "MicroWalks" improve mood and cognitive clarity, especially for patients recovering from surgery.
• Patients on GLP-1 medications are losing muscle along with fat, making weight-bearing activity like walking essential.
• McDowell's stack, switch, and swap framework gives patients a realistic way to add walking without finding extra time.
• Over 60% of adults wear the wrong shoe size, and foot length changes with weight, hormones, and age.
• Heavily cushioned, rigid footwear blunts the sensory feedback the foot sends to the brain, which affects balance and movement patterns.
• Babies are not born with bunions. Bunions develop over time as a footwear and stress-related adaptation.
• Relationship walks (partner walks, "Grandma Walks," and walks with teenage kids) show measurable benefits for communication and mood, especially outdoors.

If you work with patients, coach athletes, or just want a simple way to move more without overhauling your schedule, this one is worth your full attention. 

Grab the book "Walk" by Dr. Milica McDowell and Dr. Courtney Conley, available on Amazon. 

https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Rediscover-Natural-Health-Longevity-One-ebook/dp/B0FPC9X2FG

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Will sat down with Minal and Brijraj from Spry live at APTA CSM to talk about the part of the physical therapy industry most clinicians never see: the technology quietly reshaping how clinics run.

Brijraj was the CTO of Ola, the ride-share company often called the Uber of India, at its $6 billion peak. He left that world to build Spry because the same problem kept showing up: people need to move, and mobility gives them purpose. Minal treated patients for 15 years in outpatient ortho before she and her husband moved to Portugal. She wasn't looking for a new job. Spry found her on LinkedIn, and three years later she's the clinical voice inside a tech company, pushing back when the product team drifts too far from what actually happens on a clinic floor.

The conversation gets into the real tension of building healthcare technology: a founder who thinks in outcomes and a clinician who thinks in patients, and what happens when those two things pull in different directions. They talk through Spry's insurance verification engine (95% accurate, down to the NPI level), the AI agent that now handles prior authorization and removes 80% of the manual work behind it, and why EMRs were never supposed to become billing tools in the first place.

In this episode:

• Why Brijraj left a $6 billion ride-share company to build an EMR for physical therapists
• The difference between "work" and "toil," and why toil is what's driving burnout in PT
• How Spry's insurance verification hits 95% accuracy at the NPI level
• Inside the AI agent that cuts prior authorization work by 80%
• Why most EMRs turned into billing tools when they were built for interoperability
• What's next for Spry: multi-specialty workflows, waitlist agents, and clinical decision support

Minal and Brijraj also get into what's next: a shared workflow for multi-specialty clinics where PT, OT, speech, and MD care actually talk to each other, an agent for canceling and waitlist management, and a clinical decision support tool built specifically for physical therapy.

Follow the Will Power Podcast for more conversations with the people building the future of physical therapy. 

Connect with Spry: www.sprypt.com 

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In this episode, Neil breaks down a distinction most practice owners have never heard: PR, marketing, and sales are three different things, and they work like a pyramid. PR is the foundation, your reviews, your reputation, what people say about you when you're not in the room. Marketing sits in the middle, your ads, your website, your direct mail. Sales is the tip, and it starts at your front desk, not just with your therapists.

In this episode:

• Why marketing is the first step in financial planning, not an afterthought. 
• The three-part pyramid: PR, marketing, and sales, and why most owners only focus on the top. 
• Why is the front desk one of the most critical hires in your practice? 
• What separates a marketing coordinator from a marketing director, and when to hire one. 
• Why does your website need a full rebuild every three years? 
• How Google Jobs is quietly becoming a recruiting tool most owners don't know exists. 
• The Grow, Hire, Profit framework for scaling past $1M, $3M, and $10M. 
• Where AI fits into modern practice marketing, and where it doesn't.

Will calls this one of the most transformative conversations of the entire CSM. By the end, you'll understand why.

About Neil Trickett: 

Founder of Practice Promotions, working with PT, OT, and speech practices ranging from solo clinics to 200+ location organizations. Author of Market to Grow. 

Website: The Premier Marketing Agency for Physical Therapy Clinics 

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Will sits down with Paul Cords, physical therapist, adjunct professor, and PRN clinical excellence rep, live at APTA CSM. The conversation centers on primary care physical therapy: the idea that PTs aren't just a referral stop after a doctor's visit. In states like Arizona, they can be the first call for a musculoskeletal emergency, ahead of the ER.

Paul and Will get into what's actually possible under current PT licensure (imaging referrals, differential diagnosis, same-day triage), why regulations differ so much state to state, and why PTs still don't own this authority in practice. They talk about the "seat at the table" problem: PTs are often left out of the referral and care-team conversations that happen naturally between physicians, and that has to change through both confidence and relationships, not just legislation.

In this episode, they cover:

• What primary care PT actually means, and why it's more than "skip the family doctor"
• How PTs in states like Arizona can already send patients for same-day imaging
• Why musculoskeletal cases might be triaged better by a PT than an ER
• The "seat at the table" problem, and why it's personal before it's professional
• A patient story: going from 100mg of daily Oxy to opioid-free in one month
• Why academia is starting to teach case ownership, not just documentation
• What it looks like when a PT is paid for wellness visits, not just injury visits
• Where Paul sees the profession heading, and what has to change to get there

Paul Cords is a physical therapist, adjunct professor at NAU, and clinical excellence rep with PRN. He also does nonprofit and leadership development work in Tanzania through Zoe Hope International.

Thanks to PRN for supporting this episode.

Lead with love. Never give up.

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Servant leadership gets dismissed as a soft skill. Vanessa Labadie and Christina Pagel run operations for Metro, a pediatric therapy company with 500 employees across 18 locations, and they treat it as a process, not a feeling.

In this episode:

• What servant leadership actually means, and what it isn't
• Vanessa's "5% rule" for leading people through stress
• Why letting your team make decisions builds trust faster than any policy
• The real difference between firing someone and "coaching them out"
• How Metro's team holds each other accountable, in both directions on the org chart
• Will's story of solving a coverage problem by handing it to the team instead of solving it alone

They also get into what changes when the team, not just the owner, gets to solve the company's hardest problems, and why Will believes the biggest surprise after selling his own practice wasn't the money. It was the team.

If you're a private practice owner trying to build a team that doesn't dread Sunday nights, this one is for you. Subscribe for more conversations on building practices that run on more than clinical excellence.

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
Learn how a Rockstar can help scale your physical therapy practice.

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This episode is not a straight line success story. Lori built a business, sold it to a competitor who lied about their culture, walked away, lost her company during COVID, and started over with 89 employees in 2020. Five years later she has close to 500.

Will and Lori get into what actually holds a culture together at scale. Weekly virtual training with clinic directors. A mentor role built specifically to protect new grads from burnout, including covering caseloads so a stressed therapist can catch up. Massage therapists brought into the clinics. A theme every year, from servant leadership to teamwork, that shapes training all the way down.

Topics covered:

• Building a mentor layer that protects new clinicians instead of just supervising them
• Why Lori invested in leadership development instead of training all 500 employees the same way
• The decision to close her original private pay clinic during the 2008 recession
• What changed when she sold her business and saw a culture that only claimed to follow the golden rule
• Starting over in 2020 with under 100 employees and reaching 500 in five years
• Why she waited over a decade before doing formal strategic planning
• Reading body language as a core leadership skill

If you are trying to figure out how to scale a clinic without losing what made it feel human in the first place, this conversation gives you a real blueprint.

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
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Recorded live at APTA CSM, this episode features JR Bonhomme, a recruiting leader at PRN Physical Therapy, a company operating across 275 locations in 17 states. JR pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to attract and keep great PTs in today's landscape, whether you are a student searching for your first job or an owner building a team that lasts.

Will and JR cover what students get wrong when researching employers, why most practice owners are losing great hires before they even respond, and what PRN does differently to stand out in a crowded market.

What you will hear in this episode:

• Why students need to look past the base salary number and what they should be evaluating instead. 
• How to research a company's culture using Glassdoor, Indeed, and even Google patient reviews. 
• Why speed is the single most important variable in modern recruiting and what 24 hours really means. 
• The daily sourcing habit JR uses before he opens a single email. 
• How being present at university career fairs gives smaller clinics a real recruiting edge.
• What PRN's Transition to Practice program does for new grad retention. 
• Why offering schedule flexibility keeps clinicians longer than raises alone. 
• What the book Mutiny on the Bounty taught JR about leadership and team management.
• The story of an eighth grade music teacher who changed the direction of JR's life.

This one is practical, honest, and full of specific moves you can use right now.

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
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In this episode, Will sits down with Dan, Vice President of clinical services, live at APTA CSM to talk about the leadership philosophy that built something rare in private practice, a company where people actually want to stay, grow, and build a future.

Dan shares how losing his father at 26 shaped everything about how he leads. How a second grade teacher taught him the power of memorization and names. Why he gives the book "I Love It Here" by Clint Pulver to every new clinic director. And how knowing the names of his employees' kids is not a nice extra. It is the whole strategy.

This is an episode about what happens when you build around people instead of process. And what it looks like when retention is not a metric but a reflection of a culture where every person feels genuinely seen.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why knowing your team's why is the starting point for everything
• How JAG built programs like their 8 week new grad ramp by listening to what people actually needed
• The LinkedIn stat that says 88% of people leave a job because they could not see a future there, and how Dan flips that script from day one
• Why Dan still treats patients after all these years
• What it really means to build a company where people want to take your job

If you are a practice owner who is burned out or feeling like growth is just more weight on your shoulders, this one is for you.

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Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
Learn how a Rockstar can help scale your physical therapy practice.

Subscribe here to our completely free Stress-Free PT Newsletter for your weekly dose of joy.