Private Practice Owners Club

It’s not something you hear of every day, but many physical therapists collaborate with certified athletic trainers (ATCs) inside their clinics. Jim Stoker, PT  is back on the show with Nathan Shields to share with us his secret for a more effective utilization of ATCs. From his 25+ years of experience working with ATCs in the past, he has found a way to use them in a way that is collabo...

Steve Line, PT  has spent plenty of time and $$ on all of the different marketing tactics over the years, and has made his share of mistakes along the way. Based on his experiences he shares his insight on the basics of marketing and the need to understand the different audiences and messages that are needed for a successful marketing strategy. What worked five years ago doesn't work now.&nbs...

Business goals usually look and sound good when written on a piece of paper or hung in the office, but most of the time, they are easier said than done. By putting an effective workplace culture in place, these goals can be brought nearer to reality. Nathan Shields talks to Jim Stoker, PT, advisor for 8150 Advisors , about the importance of nurturing employee relationships, frequent company meetin...

Over the past three months,  Dr. Avi Zinn, PT , the owner of  Druid Hills Physical Therapy , has made some big moves. He’s hired a new PT, signed on for another year of consulting, and switched his coach. He also continued to refine his processes with a new Prompt EMR and a new billing company. Thus, he has continued to grow his practice and has not had to step back into treating or be p...

Brandon Buehler, PT  is routinely asked, "What is the secret to your success, especially in a difficult PT market like California?” To that question, he responds that he keeps his focus on truly living their practice’s purpose and values, and infuses those into discussions and staff meetings. He joins Nathan Shields to explain how this enabled them to establish a team culture that has grown f...

Our job as leaders is to provide a foundation upon which our employees can be successful. Sitting down with Nathan Shields for this interview,  Dee Bills, PT  shares how we can create that foundation, as well as the benefits of doing it. It takes some time, but clinics can see a significant increase in profits by taking the extra time our teams need to train them to be successful. Now, w...

No matter how good you are at physical therapy, there is one thing that will turn your patients into raving fans or active detractors, and that is the service they receive from your team. Customer service is probably something most owners would consider an inherent plus in their clinics, but how often do they take the time to train, role-play, and focus on improving the customer experience? If it’...

There are many statistics that an owner COULD track, but which are more important than others? In this episode, Nathan Shields’ guest,  Craig Ferreira  of  Survival Strategies, Inc ., answers that question based on his greater than 35 years in the physical therapy industry. Not only does he share the key stats to track, but he has also developed software to track, graph, and project...

What are you willing to tolerate in your business? Substandard performance, misaligned team members, limited time to focus on your business, sacrificing family time for work, unprofitable company structure – these are all barriers to our goals. But they can only limit us and continue to do so for as long as we tolerate them. Inspired by Jocko Willink’s quote in the book, Extreme Ownership: “….ther...

Angie McGilvrey, PT of Apex PT had the opportunity, after a hurricane shut down her clinic in Florida for a prolonged period (sound familiar?), to revamp her clinic and create her ideal scene. One of the things she committed to when she opened back up was greater usage of social media to market her clinic and attract her ideal clientele – female athletes between 30-40 years of age. By focusing tar...

There is no perfect formula for growing and expanding your PT business, but as with most other industries, the way to learn is to look at those who have been there and succeeded. Jeff Ostrowski, PT is an owner/partner of 35 clinics across SE Pennsylvania, starting from a single clinic 30+ years ago. Over the years he has taken on partners, added more clinics, expanded existing clinics, and merged...

After doing 100+ episodes and interviews with successful PT owners and industry leaders, Nathan Shields has recognized some commonalities between their actions which have led to their success. On this episode, he decides to share those secret actions they take (which aren’t so secret) which, if all owners did regularly, would make them successful as well. As a bonus, he brings back Will Humphreys,...

Steve Anderson, PT has owned clinics and managed a large PT organization in his past. Thus, he’s primed to expound on the challenges that owners face when they own and manage multiple clinics. Although the thought of expansion is exciting, it takes a different level of leadership and management from the owner(s). In this episode, Steve joins Nathan Shields as they cover some of the key aspects to...

Are you 100% confident that you are collecting every dollar your clinic has worked for? Frequent flyer and CEO of In The Black, Will Humphreys , joins Nathan Shields to challenge owners that any answer other than “yes” is a fatal flaw in your business. He then gives out two more fatal flaws often made in billing and collections that keep you from maximizing your profit. Furthermore, Will shares a...

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down, forcing many of us to leave behind our old ways and adapt to the new norm. Speaking for those in the PT industry as we are in the thick of it, Nathan Shields takes us into his follow-up episode with  Avi Zinn, PT, DPT, OCS , the owner of  Druid Hills PT . Here, we get the chance to see how Avi worked through the COVID-19 pandemic, h...

Joining Nathan Shields, James Savas is back in this episode to share what PT owners need to do to filter out those team members that are bringing down the culture, morale, and productivity of the team – from communication protocols to exit interviews and everything in-between. Communication is the key, followed by value-centered action. No one likes this part of the business, but putting a little...

James Savas  is a Senior HR Professional who has worked in the healthcare (and PT-specific) industries for decades, and there is one common issue that he sees PT owners make. It usually looks something like this: the owner hires someone to fill a position, turns around to work on patients and put out other fires, cross their fingers hoping they’ve made the right hire, leave the new hire to th...

Vinod Somareddy , PT of Reddy Care Physical & Occupational Therapy in NYC, is a hugely successful PT owner of many years and has seen many challenges, but it took the COVID pandemic for him to reconsider how he marketed his clinic and serve his patients better. On today’s podcast, he joins Nathan Shields to share how he has since made some strategic changes and investments that have turned his...

In these challenging times, one of the questions that go over the mind of every business owner is how to thrive in the post-COVID market.  Blaine Stimac , PT of  Health Rehab Solutions  was one of Nathan Shields’ first guests on the podcast two years ago. Now he’s back to share more wisdom! At the time of their first interview, he had just over 20 clinics but has since expanded to o...

As a PT patient,  Vikram Sethuraman  was surprised to receive his HEP written on a single sheet of paper, handwritten by his PT. He thought to himself, “Wow, is this the best you’ve got?” and decided he was going to use his entrepreneur course to help the PT industry move into the digital age when it comes to patient engagement. He founded and developed  PT Wired  as a tool to...

Roland Cochrun, PT  set out from an early age to be a PT owner and had a ton of immediate success. Over time, he still fell into the trap of full-time treatment which limited his ability to run his business and pursue his goals for a year. Finally, on a day off, he decided that he was going to focus on what was important to him, and he hasn’t looked back. He stepped out of patient care, focus...

Eric Miller of Econologics is back on the show with Nathan Shields to talk about money. His episode , released a couple months ago, is the most listened-to episode in the two-year history of the podcast, discussing what PT owners needed to do financially as they slowed down during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, as clinics begin ramping up, he’s back to discuss what owners need to do to re-establish t...

It’s been two years since the start of the Physical Therapy Owners Club! Hard to believe the podcast has been around over two years and 100 plus episodes. The PTO Club has generated some great content for and from PT’s across the globe and is a dream come true. In this episode, Nathan Shields and  Will Humphreys , Nathan’s business partner, spend some time reflecting on the beginnings of thei...

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided many of us a little more time on our hands to assess how our clinics are doing in general. Whether you’re reopening, slowly increasing production, or stuck in a holding pattern, it helps to make use of this down time to really consider and reconsider some fundamentals of your business. Host, Nathan Shields, breaks down five of the things that you need to look int...

Getting patients to enter the door may seem simple but is actually one of the hardest steps PT clinics tackle. Today, Nathan Shields talks to Peter Decoteau, the marketing director at Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Centers (PTSMC ), the largest privately-owned PT group in Connecticut. Focusing on breaking down any barriers that keep new patients from coming in the door, Peter recognizes th...