Will Power
Being a physical therapy entrepreneur can be unbelievably challenging at times. From patient care, to running the businesses, to balancing a family, it’s no wonder many entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed and burned out. Each Tuesday, join Will Humphreys, a retired private practice owner and medical entrepreneur, as he introduces game-changing leadership concepts and interviews other successful leaders in healthcare. If you want to start, scale, or sell your outpatient physical therapy business, this is for you. Together not only can we increase our income, impact and freedom, we can build the largest network of healthcare leaders in the world at the Will Power Podcast.
Will Power
Mastering Leadership and Analytics: Elevating Physical Therapy Team Dynamics and Efficiency - Andrew Schaffer
Unlocking the Secrets to Commanding Respect and Driving Efficiency
Unlock the secrets to commanding respect and driving efficiency in your team as we delve into the power of leadership and analytics with Andrew Schaffer from Prediction Health. Transform your leadership approach by balancing coaching and discipline, ensuring your presence resonates with genuine care for your team's success. This episode isn't just about theory; it's a hands-on guide to applying metrics and emotional intelligence to uplift your entire organization.
Key Takeaways:
- Balancing Coaching and Discipline
- Leveraging Performance Data and Documentation Compliance
- The Impact of Meticulous Treatment Note Analysis
- Introduction to Virtual Rockstar and Global Talent
- Using Performance Management Software for Team Accountability
- Strategies from a Healthcare Technology Startup
Virtual Rockstars specialize in helping support or replace all non-clinical roles.
Book a free call to learn how a Virtual Rockstar can help scale your physical therapy practice.
Subscribe here to our completely free Stress-Free PT Newsletter for your weekly dose of joy.
Rockstar. Today's episode is how measuring metrics creates movement towards a company's purpose. As a leader, our main job is to be the visionary. So, as visionaries, it's so vital to know how we are doing. We have to measure that path, and today we're talking to Andrew Schaefer, who represents Prediction Health, the software that specializes in obtaining not just metrics but data for audits as well as accountability discussions how you're doing on a billing perspective. It automates so many of the hours we spend pulling up Excel spreadsheets and sitting down with providers and being like hey, listen, john, you know you didn't really hit the mark. All that goes away when we talk about group accountability and how the right tools in our hands as leaders facilitate these things.
Speaker 1:For us, a powerful leader is more of a coach than a disciplinarian. Oftentimes, as owners, we find ourselves in positions where we're trying to correct behavior, we're trying to inspire, but the truth is, the group will always do a better job of helping people achieve their potential than we can individually. And so think about it like this an old school general, no matter how talented they were, they were limited by the number of resources. They had the weapons, the maps of resources. They had the weapons, the maps, the accurate information. Information is what wins battles and wars, and the same is true for owning a business or being a leader. The accuracy and the efficiency of our information is what sets the stage for us to make the right decisions to help us win the war. In this case, prediction. Health isn't just like a map that shows us the way. It's the canon to blow through resistance and change in a way that people will love. So please enjoy this episode. All right, andrew. So what's a defining characteristic of a leader from your perspective?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, I would say. The first thing I think of is somebody that can really command a room without trying Right, because you don't want somebody that's just going to be overbearing, that can get exhausting. I also think someone that is intelligent, but also emotionally intelligent to understand there's different personalities in the room and that each person needs to potentially be treated a little bit differently, treat a little bit differently, but potentially most importantly is somebody who can set a vision, whether it's for a group or an organization, a company, whatever it might be. It's critical because that vision is going to be what everyone follows and what sets the course of success or failure for that group or organization.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was great. It's interesting how you really painted the picture of someone who's like super balanced right, Like a leader who is very powerful and yet personal, very attention grabbing but not dominating, and it seems like in our world today, especially in politics, we don't have that kind of balance. It seems like we have a real skewed version of that and it still creates leadership. I think what you're talking about is more of like effective leadership in most groups. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think maybe different people cling to different styles, but at least for me, I've always gravitated towards not necessarily the super domineering type of personality. Like I said, I think that can just get a little bit exhausting, even when you think about sports right, like the type of coaches that are just like super fireball type coaches. They're typically only with a team for a few years and then the players get burned out. So I think you know, having obviously at times, you know, might need to crank up the fire of communication style perhaps, but I think from a longevity standpoint, having more of a calm, measured approach is going to be the path for success.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the thing that I heard once from somebody. They described that characteristic as ethics presence. When someone walks into a room, everyone sits up taller, they work a little extra harder, and I think that's generated from respect and the fact that the leader loves and cares for that individual and yet still holds this accountable line. Because I've been that leader, andrew, where I've been everyone's best friend, so they liked me, they loved me even, but when I held them accountable, they didn't really hold a lot of respect around it. I think people tend to gravitate more towards one or the other. Do you agree with that?
Speaker 2:I would, yeah, and I think striking that balance in the middle is critical, right? Because, like you said, if you're too nice, if you will, or just always friendly and not having any accountability whatsoever, then that's not going to work over the long term. Because you need to, you know, command some type of a level of accountability so that the folks that are following you, you know, have some expectations and know that if they don't meet those expectations, then there might be some challenges and conversations, tough conversations, that occur Then again at the same time. If you're just always driving, driving, driving, driving, with no human element, no laughter, no positivity, no happiness, that's not going to work out for the long term either.
Speaker 1:I love that Rockstar. A couple of things Andrew just said I want to really highlight here. First and foremost is that this idea that people don't care what you know until they know how much you care. All effective leaders, all organizations that make a difference in the world, have leaders who truly care about their people. And yet and this is the other balancing comment to that for me, in my world any success I've had is a direct relationship to how many difficult conversations I'm willing to have. So when someone's taking too much slack or they're taking advantage of the fact that there is someone who cares for them, if there isn't that accountability conversation, when people extend, boom, we get into ourselves of an employee-centric culture in a negative way. We always want the culture to be about what's for everyone to win. So, Andrew, who is someone that can command a presence in a calm and like caring way?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were chatting a little bit earlier. I think that someone that came to mind immediately was General Petraeus and he was doing a presentation here in Nashville, tennessee, for the Boy Scouts group at a big fundraiser and the guy has been in rooms with all kinds of presidents. You know different foreign leaders and you know very much. You very much could be the most arrogant person imaginable, but the calmness that he had and the humility that he had, while clearly showcasing his intelligence and his ability to just be likable, I think is honestly a big thing Be likable and just be able to communicate with the person who was interviewing him and kind of describe different situations he's been in. You could easily tell by watching this guy for five minutes that he can absolutely command a room, like I said earlier, without requesting it right, and somebody that people would follow, obviously in a war situation, which is absolutely critical, high stress as it can possibly be a guy that you would feel comfortable being under the direction of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a book I love called how to Win Friends and Influence People. It's a very famous book. Most people have read it, but I recently read it for the first time. I'm embarrassed to say I've read dozens of other books before I got to this book and, honestly, andrew, it's because I thought I was a master. I'm like come on, I don't need these introductory concepts. Turns out that book was written in 1932 and it goes back and is the quintessential leadership book for beginners. I read through it and realized how little I was living.
Speaker 1:Those principles and a lot of what you're talking about with these leadership qualities are defined in that book. Because, again, I think, if someone who hasn't been trained as a leader thinks of a leader, they think oftentimes of your Napoleons, your real aggressive, assertive dudes who are just going to come in and, like a bull in a China shop, run things around, and we've got some real examples of that today. Right, but the real impactful leader is someone who is able to connect, encourage, still take a stand and still be able to singe the hairs on the eyebrows of a coach on the sidelines when everything matters and that game is the championship. You still need that quality, but it's selectively being utilized and only from a place of when people know, love and trust you. So I love that you bring up that guide, because that is such a cool example of someone who leads in a powerful way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think the point you just made about selectivity is critical as well. Right, because if every word out of your mouth as a leader is you know, do this, do that, you're not fast enough, you're not strong enough, then those words begin to lose weight. I would say, right. But if you are like more of a measured person and like generally positive, okay, then something actually you do need to really, you know, kind of put your weight on. That's going to have a lot more of an impact than like, oh gosh, you know, andrew or Will or whoever is just on my back all the time for every single thing, right? So, like when you are more selective with it, they're like, oh man, this guy's usually pretty level-headed and pretty nice, so this must be something very important. And I'm going to listen. I'm sure even in friend situations there's the one guy who's always just getting along and then all of a sudden you're like, oh man, what's up with Tom today? So I think that that's important, yeah, so I think that, uh, yeah, that that, uh, that's important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, whenever I swear which is rare people are always like whoa, because it's such a rare thing, but, as my friend who swears all the time, it's like, oh, he's just, he's just being himself.
Speaker 1:So it's really true that when we are selective in our power as leaders, it makes an impact. The other thing that I find is really useful is that leaders who focus on results tend to be able to get to that place of like singeing the eyebrows or, even more caringly, like hey, I really want you to be successful here. When they're focused on the results. Right, because when a leader has like just, they're just angry, it's like, okay, they want things to look a certain way, but they don't. The people don't know why, they don't see the connection necessarily. But when the leader's always pointing at, like you said earlier, visionary and they're like, hey, look, the result that we're producing isn't getting us where we're going, or it is getting us where we're going, let's celebrate that. Whatever they're doing, when they're results-oriented, that really does seem to be one of the most powerful ways a leader can command a group of people by being result-centric.
Speaker 2:Different people within that group are going to have different pathways to get to that same result, right. So I think one of the most important pieces is as a leader, you need to have the guardrails right, but let the people bounce in between to figure out where they want to go, because different folks in a group again, whether it be a company or a sports team or or I was thinking like rec league hockey, where I've captained those types of things People want to be themselves and operate how they see fit and how they get enjoyment and fulfillment from professional settings as well, and so if you're directing too much, then it's just not going to be an enjoyable situation for them and they're not going to get to that result you want and they're not even going to probably give enough effort to get there, because if that effort is being directed so precisely, then it's going to take all the joy out of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so that's where it kind of boils down to numbers, kind of tying this down to metrics and numbers. Looking at it from a perspective of like. When I was a PT owner, andrew, it was really rough when I wasn't understanding the power of numbers as a measurement of result. And that's it Like. Where this new generation of healthcare providers gets off track is that they were trained that money is bad and numbers are about money, and if you're pushing numbers then you're being bad, when the truth of the matter is the money and the metrics are only a measurement of the movement of the company towards its purpose.
Speaker 1:I'm going to like coin that phrase the money and the metrics are measurements of the movement of the company towards its purpose, like this idea of like A leader. So I had metrics. I knew what metrics were as an early PT owner with my one practice. But once I started having my people measure their own product and they were reporting to me, things changed. So that phrase of what measured gets improved is true, and I love the follow-up phrase of what gets measured and reported improves exponentially. And that, as a leader, is what gives us our power when we have people who understand how their numbers actually drive a greater purpose beyond money. It changes the phrasing from like we're doing healthcare to make money to we're making money to provide better healthcare. And so let's talk about your company Prediction Health, prediction Health is a metric-driven solution. Could you describe the company and let's make that connection between what your company does and how that could be used as a tool for a leader to generate power so that they can push forward a vision.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah. A lot of times I like to refer to it as like a COO's best friend. So what we're doing is we are pulling in 100% of the documentation information from the EMR, so all the note data, the minutes, the units, the CPT codes, all of that, running it through our systems, and then the output is a series of dashboards, many of which are unprecedented. So the critical areas we're helping folks with is CPT coding optimization. That's both from a standpoint of helping people to select the appropriate CPT codes, but also where they might be leaving entire units on the table in terms of them not understanding the AMA rule versus the total minute rule, etc. And then another big, big piece of it is documentation compliance. Piece of it is documentation compliance.
Speaker 2:So we again are analyzing 100% of every note, running it through our system and giving you back a detailed report on what folks are doing well, what they're doing poorly with. Are they over-documenting, are they copy-forwarding information and all that kind of generates to a score about how well or poorly they would do in the event of an audit. So, thinking about that from like a leadership standpoint, we are delivering unprecedented analysis and insights to the leaders of physical therapy practices so that they then can take that information and pull all the appropriate levers to optimize the practice as best they can. We like to talk about we help you to optimize revenue compliantly because, like you mentioned a minute ago, well, if the group isn't making money, then you're not taking care of any patients because you're going to be shut down, right. So it all gets back to the patients, all gets back to being able to provide the best care possible.
Speaker 1:Hey there, rock stars. Are you sick and tired of hiring expensive front office staff to spend months training them, only to find out that they don't meet expectation or, worse, to have them quit on you, leave you in the lurches, only to repeat the cycle? Then welcome to Virtual Rockstar, the only service created by a private practice owner for private practice owners and leaders to help them build their dream teams. Let us hire your next virtual rock star for you overseas. These virtual assistants will blow your mind. Not only are they more talented and committed, but they're a lot more affordable and they can do all sorts of tasks, from phone receptions, medical billing, patient scheduling, insurance verification, marketing, payroll and more. And the best part is Rockstars. Not only are you going to save between $15,000 and $20,000 of profit per hire per year, you're going to bring a family out of poverty. So stop tolerating less than you deserve and start building your dream team with Virtual Rockstar. To learn more, email info at virtualrockstarcom. Again, that's info at virtualrockstarcom. Again, that's info at virtualrockstarcom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, predictions house ability to empower leaders to be powerful. It's going back to results-driven. It's helping them create the measurements that define the movement, so that we can be with people in a way to where we command their respect and Rockstar. What I want you to really understand about this part of the dialogue here with Andrew that define the movement so that we can be with people in a way to where we command their respect and Rockstars. What I want you to really understand about this part of the dialogue here with Andrew is that the most impactful accountability doesn't actually even come from the leader. I want you to think about that. The most impactful difference we make as leaders is to develop a team that creates group accountability. That is like the biggest mindset shift as leaders. That it's not about us. It's about what we build through and with other people. And if we can have the tools like prediction health and we can find rock stars to help us develop that team, then we can put like a clinic director in charge whose job isn't to sit down with the lowest performing physical therapist in a physical therapy business and go hey, look, here's what you did last week and here's what you should have done. What are you going to do next week? And then get frustrated why the therapist never seems to care. And then again you can tell they want to care to some degree, but they don't really ever seem to get it. This is why it's because if they don't understand how their metrics measure movement in not just the company's sense, but what they want to create and they feel ownership of that, they will never care. So when you have a group environment, this is true, andrew, in my world.
Speaker 1:I got to this place with lots of coaching, where we had four locations with clinic directors who were amazing, powerful leaders, just like you described with General Petraeus, where they were very, very kind. One guy in particular who has since passed from cancer. His name is Josh Hamilton. He had this quiet dignity about him but he commanded respect because he was results-driven about him, but he commanded respect because he was results-driven and he used metrics in a group format to help everyone hold themselves accountable.
Speaker 1:It changed the dialogue from like hey guys, we need to be hitting these many visits a week to hey, john, as you can clearly see, you're the one who's below things. How can I help you be successful? And John actually feel cared for because of that. So that's what prediction health does. Prediction health, in my mind, accelerates the group accountability because, having seen your platform and I have to give a complete disclosure I get nothing financially if people sign up with you, and I don't want that. I think you guys are going to dominate the industry because when PT any healthcare company, but like, in this case, physical therapists, if they are leveraging that software, they are going to create a group experience because they see themselves in comparison with others, right? Can you share a little bit about how you're able to pull data for people so that it helps them understand, as individuals, how they're doing compared to others?
Speaker 2:Sure, sure, yeah. So, like, the main thing that mine goes to is on the CPT coding side. So a lot of folks watching this, I assume, will, you know, in the therapy space, know about the battle of therapeutic exercise versus therapeutic activity and when we can actually give a representation to the organization on a therapist by therapist level and say, hey, you know, this person has, you know, 2000 units over the last 12 months that they coded as therapeutic exercise, that by the AI's analysis is saying they could have coded as therapeutic activity. It really helps to open the eyeballs, both from, like, the ownership standpoint but also from the individuals and say like, hey, you know, we have a organizational opportunity here to really better educate about when that therapeutic activity is appropriate or when the neuro-READ is appropriate versus the TheraX or the manual, and then can really, you know, have the opportunity to right the ship and you know, you can see a, you know, quite significant financial opportunity.
Speaker 2:I also like to point out that a lot of private centers will you know, mention, oh, that you know PTs are asking for a raise or a bonus or this types of things, and when you can actually point to, hey, well, if you, you know, brought your TheraX from you know 60% down to 30% and increase your Theraac from you know 20% up to 40%. There's going to be a lot more money for that raise and for everybody to get bonuses and whatever else might come along. So it really takes the transparency and objectivity to another level where the feedback is. You know, just the numbers are what they are like to your point earlier, versus a certain person feeling like they're getting picked on by their clinic director or by their practice owner or something in that regard. So it brings a lot of objectivity and understanding into where exactly therapy practices have an opportunity to improve.
Speaker 1:It just creates this experience, like you said, where it's not like they're being picked on. And so many times as leaders and owners, we have people coming and saying, hey, I need raises, I want a raise, I deserve a raise, I've worked really hard and we haven't established the criteria for success or raises for them. So it comes back to us. It really does, and that's what this software does very easily, because it's so much extra learning for us to go figure out how to have those conversations and develop those things, whereas the software you produce it automatically shows John how he does compared to Rick and Susan and Nancy and when they can self-manage and see how they're doing. And then our job does still require us to say, hey, listen at these benchmarks. Here's a bonus that we'll put in place, but creating the right measurement is what I think drives that for you. So for your clients, what kind of successes have they seen, both in terms of ease of management of team and or increased revenue, because people are actually looking at what gets reimbursed.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure, yeah, sure, sure, yeah. So from a revenue standpoint, you know, one specific example comes to mind where we had a group that rose their dollars per visit by 15% in just the first three months on the platform, and that's actually before we have like some of the real time capabilities which I haven't mentioned yet. That's just from looking at historical data, retrospective analysis of their coding, and I think a big part of that is simply when therapists understand that they're actually being monitored to the number, they are a bit more likely to pay attention because they know, you know it's not just going to, you know, fall by the wayside and, you know, fall into darkness in their coding practices. So yeah, so I would say that that would be one marker 15% in three months.
Speaker 2:The other piece is the documentation, compliance, which you mentioned a little bit earlier, and we can see some pretty dramatic increases there. Like somebody who'd be scoring maybe a 40 out of 100. I remember one specifically increased their score up to a 75 out of 100 within just the first four months on the platform. So that can be some pretty sharp increases. A lot of times on the compliance side it's just not really understanding exactly what's required, but once that light bulb kind of switches on, they can improve their documentation compliance, which dramatically reduces the financial risk to the organization in the event of an audit.
Speaker 1:Amazing, and so it's just again. It's a tool that immediately creates awareness. I think, obviously, the financial return on investment is pretty straightforward. But, Andrew, the thing that really gets me excited is the idea that you have a team of people that are because they look at your software. They're going to self-educate on the hardest thing that our industry struggles with, which is understanding metrics and money. When they look at that and they see impact compared to what they were able to do, they can see how they compare against others. They can see how they compare and how things get reimbursed.
Speaker 1:They start. They no longer are people on the sidelines trying to find balance for their personal life. They join the movement in our industry to take a stand for what we care about, which, by the way, takes care of their family. Because the more money we increase, profitability unlocks possibility right. The more profitability they create, the more raises or bonuses they can earn, the less stress there is, because we don't have owners who are just piling on patients to make up for what they don't understand. So I love that you have that. How has developing prediction health impacted you as a leader?
Speaker 2:Wow a lot. So I came to prediction health in May of 2021, and I wanted to join a company in this mold, a smaller company in the healthcare technology sector, where I could have a larger impact on the organization versus the larger organization I was with previously, which was a great role. You know very, very all good things to say, but again I wanted to get to a place where I could have more of an impact on a wider variety of things or the strategic direction of the organization operations. I'm in addition to sales, which is my, my core function over the the period of prediction health.
Speaker 2:Anytime you're in a startup environment, I get to wear quite a lot of hats, for sure. Sometimes you know hats that I didn't even know where hats. But that's. That's all part of the part of the fun. But, yeah, I've had quite a lot of different roles you Growing out a team, getting the first even description of what the product is, putting together the pricing, outlining what's going to be most impactful for these practice leaders, along with the rest of the group. So it's been quite the experience for me personally. Very difficult again in a healthcare startup or any startup for that matter. In a startup you have, again, just a whole lot of work to do, and the work never goes away. So managing that has been an interesting challenge. But yeah, the reason I wanted to get into it is just to be able to have a hand in a whole lot of different things, and it's allowed that and then some.
Speaker 1:Man. The impact is so massive. You guys are continually growing and expanding. You guys are adding some documentation elements down the road to your software currently. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:We are, yeah, so that's super exciting. And just a quick aside like years ago, before we started getting into the practice Intel and when the company was much smaller, documentation creation was actually the core function of the program. So we have a great historical reference to move forward with as we jump back into it now. But yeah, we basically can read what is on the screen of the EMR already, where we basically can read what is on the screen of the EMR already and then utilize that information to make suggestions into different text boxes in the EMR about what should go where.
Speaker 2:Two easy examples are an assessment and an initial eval, and then also goals and an initial eval. So in the goals, for example, we're going to read what's going on with that patient, what their problem type is, any other information, what they're having trouble with, and then that exact thing that they're having trouble with can now be a goal to no longer have trouble with said thing. And that's all happening automatically, where therapists can just click one button and pop in the goals one by one. And then also we are now getting into, or getting back into, I should say audio Also, we are now getting into or getting back into, I should say, audio. So both from an ambient listening standpoint, where therapists can capture the conversation with the patient and we can generate documentation out of that In addition to smart dictation, where perhaps there's something that wasn't covered during the conversation therapists can just chat to the device and we should be able to put together some extra documentation benefit from there as well.
Speaker 2:That's amazing so we've had some early feedback. It's been pretty remarkable. The other day our COO was visiting with one of our clients and he saw somebody do a follow-up visit note in 22 seconds. So that was rather exciting. I think people be on board with that. And then also initial evals. Everybody knows it takes a long time to document Some say 10 minutes, some say 25 minutes. We've had some pretty consistent feedback that evals now take under five minutes to document. So think about that over the course of a week or a month and it can certainly add up.
Speaker 1:Unbelievable man. I love it. You know, the only thing that scares me about your company is the day that that software starts talking back to me. I mean, with AI going, you just never know what's going on, Because up until then, it's going to be wonderful to have a situation where PTs go home with their notes done at the end of the day Unbelievable. But it's not just that. That's one piece of it. If we had time for them to use your software to understand how their billing impacts each other and themselves, that's going to be huge. So, Andrew, thank you so much for being a part of today's episode. We had talked about a different topic, but this really became a powerful connecting piece how your defining characteristic of a leader really turned into something that you live and represent every day, which is a tool that helps leaders achieve that power by giving them the understanding, and I want to thank you so much for being a part of our show today. It's been phenomenal to be with you Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you, guys. Thank you for taking time to listen to today's episode. If you found today's information to be useful, could you take a minute and help me? I would love it if you could leave a podcast review in your app so that other people who are looking for this information can find it. Plus, my dream is to have the largest network of medical entrepreneurs and leaders in the world so that, together, we can change healthcare to make it better for all. So, in addition, if you can think of anyone that you can send this to, so, in addition, if you can think of anyone that you can send this to, not only would that mean a lot to me personally, but it would build this network so that we can make healthcare the way that we want it.
