The Better Outcomes Show

The Medicare Fraud Case Every Therapist Should Study A recent Medicare fraud case involving an outpatient therapy organization has resulted in prison sentences for clinic owners, convictions for multiple staff members, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution orders. While the allegations included intentional fraud and manipulation of patient schedules, the case also shines a light on o...

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What's one thing that you think was missing from your clinical education? That's the question I got asked on a recent speaking engagement. We were covering the topics of clinical education, professional development, and growth into leadership roles within healthcare. Most clinicians graduate knowing how to treat patients. Very few graduate understanding the business systems that make patient care...

The Battle for MSK Care Is Already Underway Musculoskeletal care is quietly becoming one of the most important battlegrounds in healthcare. MSK conditions affect over 120 million Americans, account for roughly $420 billion in annual healthcare spending, and remain the leading cause of disability worldwide. And because of that, nearly every major stakeholder in healthcare is moving into this space....

The Department of Education’s proposed loan cap changes have sparked strong reactions across healthcare, including within occupational therapy and physical therapy circles. Much of the conversation has focused on whether these degrees should be classified as “professional degrees” versus “graduate programs.” But that may be the wrong fight. In this episode, we zoom out and ask three deeper questio...

RTM & Virtual Service Delivery Isn’t a Billing Add-On — It’s the Future of Healthcare Delivery In this episode, I break down one of the biggest misconceptions in modern rehab: the idea that Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) and virtual service delivery is just a billing perk, a revenue booster, or a marketing gimmick. It’s not. RTM and virtual services represent the next era of healthcare de...

How do you actually get better — as a clinician, a business owner, or a leader? It’s not more school, another certification, or reading one more article. It’s reps. In this episode, I break down the single biggest piece of advice I give new clinicians (and anyone moving into leadership or entrepreneurship): your education is just your ticket to play — expertise comes from getting reps. We’ll explo...

In this episode of the Better Outcomes Show , we take a look at a recent conversation on LinkedIn about the steep decline in occupational therapy (and physical therapy) school applications. A post by Sarah Lyon raised an important question: Why are fewer students choosing OT, and what does that mean for the future of the profession? In response, Rafi shared several factors that may be contributing...

Finding the Thread – Humanizing Healthcare Across a Career Have you ever looked back on your career and tried to connect the dots? For a long time, I thought my resume looked like a series of “rabbit holes” in healthcare—clinical care, academia, management consulting, strategy work, practice ownership. At the time, each move felt like simply saying “yes” to an opportunity. But a recent conversatio...

Healthcare Disrupted: Why the Next Big Innovation Won’t Come From Healthcare In this episode of the Better Outcomes Show , we dive into a bold prediction about the future of healthcare: The next wave of real innovation — the kind that transforms how we deliver care, engage patients, and improve outcomes — won’t come from within the healthcare industry. Instead, it will come from outside. Tech gian...

Can you use Free Healthcare to build a profitable business? What if you gave away your clinical services… for free? Not as charity. Not as a one-time promo. But as an actual business model. I recently revisited Chris Anderson’s book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. I read it in 2013 and recently picked it back up — and it got me thinking: How could we apply this to healthcare? The cost of deli...

Real Healthcare Innovators Read Outside of Healthcare I covered this topic in a LinkedIn article recently, but thought the idea of reading outside of healthcare warranted its own podcast episode. Here's the main idea: if you want to be truly innovative in healthcare, you need to read outside of healthcare. Being well-informed in your field is just the baseline. Everyone should be doing that. What...

Healthcare Data Silos Cause Problems Throughout the Healthcare System If you talk to any healthcare provider, and most patients, about healthcare data sharing, you quickly discover that one of the biggest problems patients and providers face is healthcare data silos. What do I mean by that? Imagine you see your primary care physician. Your PCP determines that you need an evaluation by a specialist...

Rethinking State Licensure in Healthcare for the 21st Century State-based licensure for healthcare professionals has been the status quo for over a century. But in an era defined by digital health and telemedicine, is this 19th-century solution still fit for purpose? In this episode, I explore the historical context of state licensure, the modern-day challenges it poses to telehealth, and practica...

This episode of The Better Outcomes Show explores how artificial intelligence (AI) transforms healthcare delivery and decision-making. Drawing from a structured review of 288 peer-reviewed articles published between 1992 and 2021, we break down key themes, trends, and implications for clinicians, health systems, and patients. From diagnostics to health services management, we’ll look at where AI i...

Have You Ever Thought About Buying Cheap Lottery Tickets? I've bought a lot of cheap lottery tickets over the years. Not the kind you scratch off to see if you hit it big. I'm talking about the little bets, risks, or asks I've made over the years. They cost very little but can have a huge upside. In this episode, I’m sharing a lesson that’s shaped a lot of the opportunities I’ve had in my career —...

Many Practices & Clinics Struggle to Use Healthcare Data in Practice I did an episode in the past on healthcare data, however, that episode focused on the high-level impacts of data on healthcare business in general. After that episode, I received messages and emails asking specifically how to Use Healthcare Data in Practice, especially for smaller, independent healthcare clinics and organizat...

Why do PTs feel like they're being forced to see patients at a loss? Recently, I've seen a few articles and social media posts in the physical therapy world discussing the downward pricing pressure (declining reimbursement rates) even while some payers (UHC often is the target here) report profits in the billions of dollars per quarter. And, at first sight, you can totally appreciate where these c...

Are there times when saying goodbye to team members is the right thing to do? "I would be a bad boss if I told you to stay here. As much as we love having you on the team, you need to do what's best for you and your family." Over the last few months, I've found myself saying this a couple of different times to team members who were in a place where they felt that a change was necessary. Saying goo...

Do people really understand their healthcare bill? I talk about this all the time on the show, but healthcare is one of the only areas of the economy where the distribution of information is extremely one-sided. What do I mean? I mean that, for the most part, patients receiving care may have a general idea about how much their care will cost, but very few actually have a specific dollar figure upo...

How do you set up an RTM Program that's actually profitable in an outpatient clinic? Well, it's been 3 years since remote therapeutic monitoring, or RTM codes, were introduced by CMS to allow clinicians to monitor patients outside of the clinic. Many clinics rushed to implement RTM Programs in the months following these new codes going live. And many clinics stopped delivering RTM services almost...

Can AI Healthcare Phone Services Increase Patient Access & Improve Engagement? You know what frustrates many patients (including yours truly)? Phone trees. "Press one to select scheduling" (Presses 1) "By pressing 1 you have indicated that you would like to connect to scheduling. Is this correct? Press 1 to confirm or 2 to cancel". It drives many patients to hand up the phone, drop off the sch...

Is Value-Based Care Too Much for Independent Healthcare Practices? I've talked about the consolidation in the healthcare market before. I recently sat down with the folks at StrataPT to talk about PE firms buying up healthcare practices and how small, independent healthcare practices are beginning to feel the pressure. But one thing I haven't discussed on the show is what exactly has caused the co...

What is Healthcare Positioning? When I talk to clients about Healthcare Positioning, the first question to address is “What is positioning?” And that’s a fair question. I usually tell people that positioning involves communicating the value you/your company creates for your customers/clients in a way that differentiates you from competitors and builds perceived credibility & authority to your...

A year in review: Healthcare in 2024 It seems like only yesterday that I was planning for 2024. Scheduling out projects for the year, booking speaking engagements, and lining up interviews for the podcast were in full swing. Then, in the blink of an eye, we arrive at the end of 2024. And what a year it has been. From cyberattacks to breaking healthcare innovations, 2024 has had its share of big ne...