Andrew Vertson's guest appearances

Andrew Vertson

PT TechTalk - Physical Therapy Marketing, Business, & Technology (Physio)

Healthcare Disruption Podcast

The Private Practice Business Academy

Confident ROi with Alex Vorobieff

Ned Hallowell

Joshua Cohen

Karen Litzy

Edwin Dearborn

David Taylor

David Green

Julie Tupler

Jessica Drummond

Lisa Holland

Heidi Jannenga

Brad Cooper

Tom Burton

Alex Engar

Neel Shah

Evelyn Hecht

OwlTail

Welcome to episode 20…. It’s time for Jerry to get uncomfortable! Jerry talks to AndrewVertson, The Numbers Guy. I am NOT a numbers guy and that is why it was key that I got Andrew on the show. What I have learned is that if YOU want business success then Step 1 is to Measure! It’s NO different than treating patients…..“If You Measure It, Then You Can Change It”. Again, YOU must measure it FIRST! After that, then you get to dig for the CAUSE of the changes in those numbers, or as Jerry and Andrew simply like to call it, Cause and Effect. Take a listen and realize how truly Step 1 to business success is measuring!Cheers and enjoy!Here are the links to the people and the places from this show:jerrydurhamPT.comAndrew’s Website: PTclinicMetrics.comSubscribe on iTunes:itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/healt…d1261571234?mt=2

Welcome to episode 20…. It’s time for Jerry to get uncomfortable! Jerry talks to AndrewVertson, The Numbers Guy. I am NOT a numbers guy and that is why it was key that I got Andrew on the show. What I have learned is that if YOU want business success then Step 1 is to Measure! It’s NO different than treating patients…..“If You Measure It, Then You Can Change It”. Again, YOU must measure it FIRST! After that, then you get to dig for the CAUSE of the changes in those numbers, or as Jerry and Andrew simply like to call it, Cause and Effect. Take a listen and realize how truly Step 1 to business success is measuring! Cheers and enjoy! Here are the links to the people and the places from this show: <a href="http://jerrydurhamPT.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">jerrydurhamPT.com</a> Andrew’s Website: <a href="http://PTclinicMetrics.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PTclinicMetrics.com</a> Subscribe on iTunes: <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/healt…d1261571234?mt=2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/healt…d1261571234?mt=2</a>

[EP 20] It’s The Numbers Guy – Andrew Vertson... Owner Of PT Clinic Metrics

Listen to learn how Andrew learn how to close the gaps that were stalling growth in his business, and what advice he has for PTs who want to work smarter not harder. Show Notes  00:19 – Dr. Joe introduces Andrew Vertson 00:49 – Andrew is a physical therapist in California 00:57 – He has been in private practice ownership for 18 years 01:11 – He currently has 3 offices 01:30 – Over the years, Andrew found out that he can never get over the proverbial “hump”  01:42 – He realized that he was missing management skills of running the practice objectively in terms of looking at the “health” of it 01:55 – That was what drove him to looking deeper into his clinic metrics 02:19 – Andrew’s post on LinkedIn led Dr. Joe to finding him   03:38 – Andrew’s metrics for his practice  03:44 – Andrew had to track the number of new patients and the number of new visits 03:56 – Back then, reimbursements were great and employees’ salaries were low 04:13 – Andrew shares his conversation with a client  04:16 – Andrew’s first job, in 1996, paid $20/hour as a Staff PT 04:30 – He worked for a large corporation for a couple of years 04:40 – One day, one of his co-workers was sick and led him to treat 48 patients that single day 04:51 – He did the math of what he was getting paid and what the company was getting from the patients 05:09 – He didn’t care then   05:21 – 7 years ago, Anthem Blue Cross decided to cut 50% reimbursement 05:33 – 25% of his revenue is from Anthem and he was going to lose about $100K 05:42 – He reached out and consulted 05:54 – He thought of referrals 06:09 – Andrew realized there was so much that he wasn’t tracking   08:18 – A good business keeps 20-30% profit 08:29 – In Andrew’s situation, he’s lucky to squeeze out 10% profit from salaries and costs 10:00 – Overhead costs are high in some states 10:52 – Andrew had to learn to be resourceful 11:05 – He was fortunate to be able to present nationally about metrics over the last 5 years 11:09 – He is shocked at how successful therapist practices can be without background or knowledge in business 11:31 – That drove Andrew to starting PTClinicMetrics 12:54 – When going into a practice, Andrew first discusses the metrics  13:13 – He asks them to put physical metrics on a spreadsheet on a weekly basis 13:25 – “Weekly is the perfect amount of time” 13:53 – First thing he shows them are referrals vs avails 14:19 – Andrew tells us about his client in Virginia who’s losing 10% of his referrals   15:40 – Referrals are people who called, walked-in, or faxed-in a prescription to start care 16:17 – For every 10 referrals from doctors, only 4 get in touch with therapists 17:33 – The next large number to look at is cancellation rate 18:17 – On average, 92% of your patients should show up every week 18:30 – A missed visit is a visit you can never reclaim 19:04 – Your costs still run with or without patients 19:29 – Look at your cancellations in a given period of time 20:27 – The owner should be concerned about the cancellation rate 20:58 – The staff should be able to monitor this rate 21:57 – Everything comes back to the plan of care 22:10 – You want your clients to know the value PT provides in their lives 22:37 – The next metric to look at is your retention rate 23:28 – National average is 11.1 visits per evaluation 24:43 – A good practice is to use performance pay for your therapists 25:30 – Your therapists need to be 85% productive 25:53 – “If you’re not getting that 11.1 or 12 visits every evaluation, you’re going to see these little holes in the therapist’s schedule” 27:02 – When therapists are busy with new patients, you’re not only decreasing the number of visits but you also start to underbill 28:22 – Every clinic is different 29:58 – Therapists, today, don’t fully understand time-management 30:39 – Conditioning your “lazy” therapists  31:35 – “Did I create a culture of not working so hard?” 32:12 – An 8-hour person should be seeing 12 patients   32:26 – Andrew has some high-paying HMOs cut their reimbursements which affects ⅓ of his clients 33:10 – Andrew thought of squeezing more patients in, but dropped the idea 33:28 – They had to look at other measures to cut costs 33:47 – Dr. Joe’s advice 34:31 – Results depend on therapists 35:18 – Be on board with your metrics 35:46 – Metrics that Andrew teaches at PTClinicMetrics are the ones he uses every day and are solidified into his practice 36:47 – “We became physical therapists to help people” 37:38 – Andrew talks about discharges and dropouts  38:02 – Dropouts are significant issues 38:28 – Show your patient the value of what they are paying for  38:38 – People have no problem spending money if they see the value     39:00 – Dr. Joe shares his conversation with a receptionist 39:25 – If the value is not there, why would patients pay you the amount? 41:03 – Value and priority 41:12 – Andrew calls the staff members “the 6-year olds” and the parents are the practice owners; the staff want structure in their day 41:51 – Patients are 5-year olds who also want “structure” 42:07 – We therapists struggle with telling patients the truth, we leave that to the doctors 43:05 – A therapist is a salesperson 43:31 – Andrew requires his therapists to sell the value of the care they provide and the skill set they provide as a practice 43:48 – If you have a lot of dropouts, therapists might not be doing their job well 44:35 – Dr. Joe says that, in Manhattan, everybody shows up when there’s snow because people don’t have anything to do 45:07 – Andrew’s company goal is 94% 45:30 – Key Performance Indicators: Referrals, New Patients, Visits, Charges Per Visit, and Collections 46:15 – Every week, Andrew does a KPI sheet that he sends out to his managers 47:22 – With 1 therapist, ideally, you should have no dropouts 48:28 – In 2017, Andrew is seeing continued cuts in reimbursement 50:24 – 2017 will be the buffer year where the changes will come into place 51:14 – You have to know your numbers 52:00 – “You don’t know what you don’t measure” 53:00 – “Work smarter, not harder!” 53:18 – Check out PTClinicMetrics – a PT Practice Management and Practice Solution 56:04 – Get the FREE download of your Stat Sheet here  3 Key Points  Therapists and practice owners should know and use metrics as a basis for making decisions. Your metrics are a great assessment tool that can help you find the problem areas in your business. Know your numbers because you don’t know what you don’t measure! 

Listen to learn how Andrew learn how to close the gaps that were stalling growth in his business, and what advice he has for PTs who want to work smarter not harder. Show Notes <ul> <li>00:19 – Dr. Joe introduces <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-vertson-pt-dpt-atc-66045b6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Andrew Vertson</a></li> <li>00:49 – Andrew is a physical therapist in California</li> <li>00:57 – He has been in private practice ownership for 18 years</li> <li>01:11 – He currently has 3 offices</li> <li>01:30 – Over the years, Andrew found out that he can never get over the proverbial “hump” <ul> <li>01:42 – He realized that he was missing management skills of running the practice objectively in terms of looking at the “health” of it</li> <li>01:55 – That was what drove him to looking deeper into his clinic metrics</li> <li>02:19 – Andrew’s post on LinkedIn led Dr. Joe to finding him</li> </ul> </li> <li>03:38 – Andrew’s metrics for his practice <ul> <li>03:44 – Andrew had to track the number of new patients and the number of new visits</li> <li>03:56 – Back then, reimbursements were great and employees’ salaries were low</li> <li>04:13 – Andrew shares his conversation with a client <ul> <li>04:16 – Andrew’s first job, in 1996, paid $20/hour as a Staff PT</li> <li>04:30 – He worked for a large corporation for a couple of years</li> <li>04:40 – One day, one of his co-workers was sick and led him to treat 48 patients that single day</li> <li>04:51 – He did the math of what he was getting paid and what the company was getting from the patients</li> <li>05:09 – He didn’t care then</li> </ul> </li> <li>05:21 – 7 years ago, Anthem Blue Cross decided to cut 50% reimbursement</li> <li>05:33 – 25% of his revenue is from Anthem and he was going to lose about $100K</li> <li>05:42 – He reached out and consulted</li> <li>05:54 – He thought of referrals</li> <li>06:09 – Andrew realized there was so much that he wasn’t tracking</li> </ul> </li> <li>08:18 – A good business keeps 20-30% profit</li> <li>08:29 – In Andrew’s situation, he’s lucky to squeeze out 10% profit from salaries and costs</li> <li>10:00 – Overhead costs are high in some states</li> <li>10:52 – Andrew had to learn to be resourceful</li> <li>11:05 – He was fortunate to be able to present nationally about metrics over the last 5 years</li> <li>11:09 – He is shocked at how successful therapist practices can be without background or knowledge in business</li> <li>11:31 – That drove Andrew to starting <a href="http://www.ptclinicmetrics.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PTClinicMetrics</a></li> <li>12:54 – When going into a practice, Andrew first discusses the metrics <ul> <li>13:13 – He asks them to put physical metrics on a spreadsheet on a weekly basis</li> <li>13:25 – “Weekly is the perfect amount of time”</li> <li>13:53 – First thing he shows them are referrals vs avails</li> <li>14:19 – Andrew tells us about his client in Virginia who’s losing 10% of his referrals</li> </ul> </li> <li>15:40 – Referrals are people who called, walked-in, or faxed-in a prescription to start care</li> <li>16:17 – For every 10 referrals from doctors, only 4 get in touch with therapists</li> <li>17:33 – The next large number to look at is cancellation rate</li> <li>18:17 – On average, 92% of your patients should show up every week</li> <li>18:30 – A missed visit is a visit you can never reclaim</li> <li>19:04 – Your costs still run with or without patients</li> <li>19:29 – Look at your cancellations in a given period of time</li> <li>20:27 – The owner should be concerned about the cancellation rate</li> <li>20:58 – The staff should be able to monitor this rate</li> <li>21:57 – Everything comes back to the plan of care</li> <li>22:10 – You want your clients to know the value PT provides in their lives</li> <li>22:37 – The next metric to look at is your retention rate</li> <li>23:28 – National average is 11.1 visits per evaluation</li> <li>24:43 – A good practice is to use performance pay for your therapists</li> <li>25:30 – Your therapists need to be 85% productive</li> <li>25:53 – “If you’re not getting that 11.1 or 12 visits every evaluation, you’re going to see these little holes in the therapist’s schedule”</li> <li>27:02 – When therapists are busy with new patients, you’re not only decreasing the number of visits but you also start to underbill</li> <li>28:22 – Every clinic is different</li> <li>29:58 – Therapists, today, don’t fully understand time-management</li> <li>30:39 – Conditioning your “lazy” therapists <ul> <li>31:35 – “Did I create a culture of not working so hard?”</li> <li>32:12 – An 8-hour person should be seeing 12 patients</li> </ul> </li> <li>32:26 – Andrew has some high-paying HMOs cut their reimbursements which affects ⅓ of his clients</li> <li>33:10 – Andrew thought of squeezing more patients in, but dropped the idea</li> <li>33:28 – They had to look at other measures to cut costs</li> <li>33:47 – Dr. Joe’s advice</li> <li>34:31 – Results depend on therapists</li> <li>35:18 – Be on board with your metrics</li> <li>35:46 – Metrics that Andrew teaches at <a href="http://www.ptclinicmetrics.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PTClinicMetrics</a> are the ones he uses every day and are solidified into his practice</li> <li>36:47 – “We became physical therapists to help people”</li> <li>37:38 – Andrew talks about discharges and dropouts <ul> <li>38:02 – Dropouts are significant issues</li> <li>38:28 – Show your patient the value of what they are paying for <ul> <li>38:38 – People have no problem spending money if they see the value</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li>39:00 – Dr. Joe shares his conversation with a receptionist</li> <li>39:25 – If the value is not there, why would patients pay you the amount?</li> <li>41:03 – Value and priority</li> <li>41:12 – Andrew calls the staff members “the 6-year olds” and the parents are the practice owners; the staff want structure in their day</li> <li>41:51 – Patients are 5-year olds who also want “structure”</li> <li>42:07 – We therapists struggle with telling patients the truth, we leave that to the doctors</li> <li>43:05 – A therapist is a salesperson</li> <li>43:31 – Andrew requires his therapists to sell the value of the care they provide and the skill set they provide as a practice</li> <li>43:48 – If you have a lot of dropouts, therapists might not be doing their job well</li> <li>44:35 – Dr. Joe says that, in Manhattan, everybody shows up when there’s snow because people don’t have anything to do</li> <li>45:07 – Andrew’s company goal is 94%</li> <li>45:30 – Key Performance Indicators: Referrals, New Patients, Visits, Charges Per Visit, and Collections</li> <li>46:15 – Every week, Andrew does a KPI sheet that he sends out to his managers</li> <li>47:22 – With 1 therapist, ideally, you should have no dropouts</li> <li>48:28 – In 2017, Andrew is seeing continued cuts in reimbursement</li> <li>50:24 – 2017 will be the buffer year where the changes will come into place</li> <li>51:14 – You have to know your numbers</li> <li>52:00 – “You don’t know what you don’t measure”</li> <li>53:00 – “Work smarter, not harder!”</li> <li>53:18 – Check out <a href="http://www.ptclinicmetrics.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PTClinicMetrics</a> – a PT Practice Management and Practice Solution</li> <li>56:04 – Get the FREE download of your Stat Sheet <a href="https://ptclinicmetrics.leadpages.co/statsheet/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a></li> </ul> 3 Key Points <ol> <li>Therapists and practice owners should know and use metrics as a basis for making decisions.</li> <li>Your metrics are a great assessment tool that can help you find the problem areas in your business.</li> <li>Know your numbers because you don’t know what you don’t measure!</li> </ol>

Clinic Metrics with Andrew Vertson