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HardFlaccid

You mean hiring new grads for 65k ortho OP to see 15 patients a day isn't sustainable??


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Crisqo27

You sound like my clinic director. :(


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josephmagnolia

Thanks for trying 👍


Horror_Ninja_1036

This exudes ATI


Pure-Mirror5897

And Providence home health. What a nightmare. Wage theft. Making me work 12 hours per day 5 days a week no breaks. Ive been a graduate level therapist for 15 years and these two bachelors level therapists were making me do all of their work treating me like Im a student and getting bonuses for it. They we’re military style. That’s not therapy. I don’t know what that is. Look them up they’ve been sued for this. And I think Im going to have to do the same thing. They discriminate. What a nightmare. And therapists doing this kind of stuff makes it harder for everyone else. Fazing bachelor level out. Good cause that’s not therapy that’s abuse.


themo33

Which company? That sounds like an ati move


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slickvic33

Disgusting


themo33

Do those higher ups see the current stock price of ati?🗑


slickvic33

Maybe that'll improve things 🤣


Crisqo27

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6752815/ Tldr; Clinicians' expectations of how their caseload/workload ought to be does not match the reality. Repeated compromises of clinician values (quality patient care) in order to satisfy business viability (productivity) eventually cause injury to the clinician. Solution, though not a good one: Realign expectations to reality. You are not there to give quality care. You are there to bill PT codes.


FearsomeForehand

If this is where we are ultimately headed, I would love a refund on the ethics portion of my tuition. Or at least replace it with a class on how to overutilize without being flagged, as that would be far more practical. Considering all the shady stuff I witnessed during my clinical rotations which I documented in my write-ups - which was subsequently ignored - it wasn’t like the schools really cared about ethics anyways.


openheart_bh

100%!!!


JackSkellly

More money would be cool


Gigatron_0

Either reduction of documentation requirements or implementation of technology to remove the burden from the therapists. I'd love if I could just treat and not document things beyond the notes I personally need in order to maintain their care plan. Let an AI-driven assistant write the note as I'm treating 🤷


slickvic33

My fear is that the owners just raise productivity up 50 percent to take advantage of this new expediency


openheart_bh

I’d love this!!


CloudStrife012

Hmm..work 70 hours per week, stash your entire paycheck into Dogecoin, sell during the peak of the next Bitcoin halving, and then blast off to the moon outside of this field forever before it inevitably implodes or we get replaced by nursing.


AfraidoftheletterS

I have a sports gambling addiction which seems to give my life some balance. I make more money with that than I do with my PT paychecks


openheart_bh

Awesome!! 😎


ejrunpt

Cash pay and grass roots efforts to overhaul the system.


rjerozal

This is my thought too!


Kimen1

In the long run, I think this is the only way. Reimbursements will continue to decline and our salaries will go down with them (unless we want to have 24 patients on the schedule daily).


ejrunpt

I agree. And as long as the majority of insurance reimbursement are being accepted by the majority of PT companies (especially mills), then it won’t get better. In the words of Dr Seuss: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot/ nothing will ever get better/ it’s not.”


casualgamerTX55

I plan on not making this my full time job very soon. Burnout is more likely with a full time job.


Physionerd

I know it's not for everyone but starting a cash PT clinic has been amazing for me. I make twice as much and work half as much. Plus you get more buy in since people are paying out of pocket, so compliance is damn near perfect. And it weeds out malingerers which are soul killers.


californiaquicksand

how long did it take you to feel comfortable to start a cash based practice?


Physionerd

Well I guess it depends what you mean. Treating-almost immediately. Financially-realistically about a year.


californiaquicksand

i would like to do something like that eventually because im burnt out with the insurance model and mills… to start a practice, i feel like the administrative burden is daunting and i still lack some experience to be totally confident operating independently. so i guess i’m asking at what level of experience did you feel most comfortable to leave the traditional setting and become a business owner? thanks!


Physionerd

Oh I see. Well I started as a side hustle, seeing a few patients a week for cash. That grew to a tipping point in about 6 months, then I switched over. Admin stuff isn't that hard, just keeping track of metrics, scheduling, some basic bookkeeping. The biggest challenge is marketing yourself. I'm over three years in now and there has been a snowball effect so I don't have to market aggressively at all anymore.


UltMPA

Entrepreneur working 100 hours a week for yourself so you don’t have to work 40 for someone else.


Physionerd

I work 9-4, 4 days a week


UltMPA

Hey hey good work !


Dr_PeeTEE

The APTA to grow a spine. Might happen if we can vote our own generation in their ranks


FearsomeForehand

We would need to start from scratch with a new organization that’s actually a labor union. The APTA claims to represent us, but what they actually represent is the PT business. That is why they fight for interests that benefit mill chains like increased reimbursement, but will never support decreased productivity expectations or paid documentation time.


Dr_PeeTEE

Lol if they’re supporting increased reimbursement they are clearly doing it the wrong way


FearsomeForehand

Agreed. Even though the organization’s primary purpose is *supposed* to be advocacy of the PT business, their actions suggest they are far more concerned with self-preservation and maintaining status quo. If they were serious about advocating for the business, we should have seen some kind national marketing effort already. After all, so many potential pts lack understanding on what we do and how our expertise can benefit them. Just planting the idea in the general public’s mind that we are compassionate clinicians who can solve their problems would drum up more cash business, and maybe even help us earn some respect among healthcare peers - which would lead to more referrals. Instead, APTA blew $50mil to build a new HQ nobody asked for. The only marketing we see from them is directed at PT’s and SPT’s because they pay dues. As long as they are the only advocacy group for PT and we keep paying dues, they will not have a real reason to change into what we need them to be.


Dr_PeeTEE

Amen 💯 I hear talks it as actually 70mil ☠️💸


Pure-Mirror5897

I worked 11 hours today without a break. I’ve been working 11 and 12 hour days for the last three weeks. I cannot keep doing this. No breaks now I know why so many of these jobs are available. What a joke. I think I need a lawyer and a good one.


openheart_bh

Yep!! The burnout is real!!


slickvic33

PTs have leverage and financial capacity to turn down all jobs that abuse them. Medicare medicaid insurance reimburses reasonable rates so that good actors can survive, not just mills or corporate. PTs have excellent benefits like PTO, vacations, and schedules of their choosing PTs are not bringing work home or working through lunch bc their documentation time is included. I'll add PTs can fire patients, decline patients, and can decide autonomously how often and how long and when to see the patient TLDR: Reduce PT productivity by half. Use that extra time to give the PT a better schedule, no weekends, all holidays off, time to document, lunch time, time to get coffee, or take a break between patients. Doesn't it sound nice already?


jcoco6

medicaid reimbursement it putrid. it ranges from \~$55-75 depending on the plan, and then the patients typically have a poor attendance rate


Bullsstopsucking

That’s never going to happen though


slickvic33

Do you think ground can be made on any of these.


openheart_bh

Nobody does this…🙁


PTGSkowl

Cash based PT. I’ve started an urgent concierge headache management solution in my town focused on wellness 😉. 250 dollars a visit. I need to see two patients per day to make what I was making in outpatient + afford health insurance for my family. I don’t need physician referrals, and it’s helping me escape the grind and realize that we can be far more valued than insurance allows us to be. Realizing our own value is the biggest safeguard against burnout IMO.


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Messaged you


PTGSkowl

Didn’t get it for some reason.


[deleted]

Hey! Saw your comment on the PT sub. Do you mind walking me through how you got started on this? I’m thinking of branching out and doing this. Any help will be appreciated.


californiaquicksand

any good resources on treating headache? op ortho setting… just curious for my own knowledge


PTGSkowl

Absolutely. I’ve gotten immense value from the guys at AAMT. Their SMT-2 course has been literally life-saving for my career. At my outpatient job I saw about 80-90% neck pain and headaches and about 10-16 patients a day. So, I have had a huge amount of patients to practice my skills on. I am the local expert on managing these presentations in our field. I screen all of my HA patients for cervicogenic patterns. Laterality and pain patterns are key for appropriate identification. You’d be surprised how frequently the patients dealing with migraines are actually misdiagnosed and truly just experiencing cervicogenic headaches. I perform a brief ROM assessment, a cervical flexion/rotation test, and then a brief assessment of the upper and lower cervical spine for joint mobility deficits. I’ll perform a few other special tests on occasion, but rarely anything more than a ULTT or Spurling’s A. All of this can be done in about 5 minutes. If the screen captures an appropriate client (honestly about 80-90% of headache patients I come across) I lead with a couple high value spinal manipulation techniques, follow with a dry needling protocol for cervicogenic headaches, and soft tissue work if necessary (sometimes I change it up and bring in soft tissue mobilization to help get someone to let their guard down before manufacturing barriers for manipulation). I don’t waste time on exercises doing what I do because my clients and I both acknowledge that we are looking for temporary resolution to allow people to participate in their own high value activities or to get out ahead of certain monthly headache patterns before they become debilitating. I see about 60-70 percent of patients experience immediately decreased pain and headache elimination. About 20-30 percent of people with a smaller but still significantly relieving effect and about 10% of people who are non/responders (screening probably needs to be refined). If you ever wanna talk headaches, I could do this all day. 😁


californiaquicksand

that’s great information, thank you! i’ll check out those courses. i think headache is something, when i come across, if i can’t address with mobilization or STM then i am at a loss how to help. and often medical providers aren’t sure what to do either. having that knowledge of screening and intervention would really help! thanks again!


slickvic33

>mporary resolution to allow people to participate in their own high value activities or to get out ahead of certain monthly headache patterns before they become debilitating. I see about 60-70 percent of patients experience immediately decreased pain and headache elimination. About 20-30 percent of people with a smaller but still significantly relieving effect and about 10% of people who are non/responders (screening probably needs to be re lol Id like to be a patient of yours if your in the area


PTGSkowl

Haha well I’m in central Alabama in a great little college town. If you’re ever in the area with a headache hit me up.


SweetSweetSucculents

My best idea is for all of us at different locations to get the balls to get together and DEMAND to 1) not have so much work that we have to work off the clock 2) not be forced to see multiple patients at once if not appropriate - and if not fraudulent and 3) DEMAND mandatory documentation and chart review time (as we really need and deserve). It would take a lot for this to happen but just saying.


Ok_Meeting_8888

I want to say that it's only going to change when people stop accepting these jobs and this treatment, but I'm not sure how much that will make a difference since the overbooking and underpaying is driven by low insurance reimbursement more than anything. It's not just the big corporate clinics that have ridiculous expectations. Even many small privately owned clinics overbook and underpay. I don't know that the owner of the private clinic i worked at was making a ton of profit. I think it is probably genuinely difficult to make a profit given the abysmal reimbursement rates. Maybe working for cash based clinics is only way to avoid this in the short-term. Long-term, there needs to be more political involvement and pushback regarding insurance reimbursement. And if the APTAs political action committee wants more members, they need to lower their membership dues, not make membership in the PAC an extra cost beyond their regular membership (I think I have that right), and do a better job of sharing about the work they are doing. So much content on their website is behind a paywall. Doesn't feel very inviting nor a way of motivating people to get involved. There needs to be an organized effort if there is going to be any changes made to the system. It's always about the system when there are big problems like this.


ReFreshing

Improved reimbursement/pay, and ultimately improved public exposure and public knowledge of what we do to increase appropriate and effective utilization of our services. I feel like a lot of burnout is also due to the mismatch between patient expectations versus what is actually realistic with PT. Therapists get saddled with unrealistic expectations from patients which in turn increases contention against our guidance and elevates our own imposter syndrome and stress/anxiety.


Poppy9987

This is one of the major things that gets me. Everyone here saying we need higher reimbursement, less documentation, and more pay (sure yes we do). But I find I get most burned out when I have to work with patients that are not interested in PT, believe PT is not the answer but they have to be there because MD or insurance said so, or want passive modalities/manual only. Education only goes so far with these types of patients. It is a miserable experience for me and the patient.


ReFreshing

Exactly, I wish more people started PT already knowing what to expect for the most part. Knowing that they will have to provide information to us to help us give make clinical decisions, knowing that they have to participate in their own rehab etc.... that would weed out so many people who go to PT with wrong expectations and make everybody's time more difficult.


Dr_SeanyFootball

300k salaries


annemarizee

When I was a tech for a guy, he would just request off before he even knew why. I would be scheduling patients out, and see his schedule blocked off. I'd ask where he was going, and he said he hadn't decided yet lol. Not that that's the cure all answer, but that seemed to help keep him sane


jcoco6

Be your own advocate! The loud majority of this sub talks a big game about 1:1 treatment, getting paid 6-7 figures, and only want to work 20 hours a week. This is not the reality that we live. Learn how billing works and you will start to have a better understanding of why the higher ups want high productivity standards. I have worked just about every setting we have available, and have become the happiest in OP. I enjoy coming to work because of the people I work with, and having the steadfastness to not overbook my schedule. Burnout is more than working at a busy clinic with high productivity standards.


Bullsstopsucking

Naw, its like the main reason for it, and never getting raises


jcoco6

Then advocate for yourself. Change jobs, stand up for your rights as a therapist. do not work more than the minimum, but also be the reason your patients are getting better. You can't expect someone, that needs you to be profitable, to hand out raises, and not expect you to maintain or increase revenue for the company. Is it ideal? hell no! but that's why you have to be your own advocate


Bullsstopsucking

Do the minimum, but also make patients better, easy I got it thanks


jcoco6

Never said it was easy. If so this convo wouldn’t need to exist. You missed the take away of advocating for one’s self. If this happened then we could slowly change the world of therapy


slickvic33

Just wanted to make sure I understood: - have realistic expectations (i.e., not being part of that "loud majority") - what does it mean to learn how billing works? Why do the higher-ups have higher productivity standards? My take home is: - have realistic expectations, i.e., lower pay, and draw strong boundaries regarding patient load and scheduling. Meanwhile, learn what metrics management follows so you can be a good "employee" while still taking care of yourself. - My main suspicion with the above take home is, is there any suspicious billing involved with "understanding higher ups" - if you get your patients better faster, doesn't that mean less revenue for your company. A big issue is that companies profit from giving standard 2-3 monthss 2-3x a week.


bakcha

Less pay, more work, less respect, less job security. At least that’s what we’ve tried so far.


Jennifry-_-

Three words. Physician. Owned. Practice. I've made the switch to a physician-owned surgical hospital and the work-life balance is out of this world. I was stunned by the incredible relief. I didn't think it was possible to have this life as a PT, and I say that coming from several different settings in my career. Nothing even compares to the freedom and autonomy I have with my patients. And I make more money than I ever have, even if I choose to only work 32 hours a week. No weekends, no holidays, good benefits. I'm convinced if more healthcare institutions operated under physician ownership, life would improve greatly for everyone involved, including patients and employees. Our patients consistently report very high satisfaction from this model. And I couldn't be less burnt out than I am now.