My most recent cash paying customers came to me by the referrals of both a successful care home owner and a PT clinic.  I am a genuinely friendly but not overly outgoing therapist and and keep in touch with both.  I have sent both of them holiday cards.  I treated the care home owner for free once when his back was really bothering him.   That was a half an hour well spent because that care home owner works hard to help me when he can.  He knows that Medicare and other insurances will only pay for so much and is considerate to call me for those clients for whom there is no other option but cash.

Next time I’ll go over word of mouth “advertising” and how to leverage it.   If you want to hear how to leverage word of mouth advertising in my interview with multi-millionaire PT Pat Croce click here to check out and then click to subscribe to our free email / internet training.

Therapeutic Wealth to you!

Lance P. Van Arsdell, PT

Cash Practice Secrets

Every “problem” can be seen as a challenge.  Every challenge is no more than a situation that may in fact need to be attended to.  If you are a physical therapist with a little extra time on your hands due to the recession it can be a great opportunity for you.  I heartily recommend our own “Cash Practice Secrets” home study course.  The intro is both excellent and free.  When you sign up for our “online training” you’ll really be glad.  Invest in our course and you’ll likely earn more than you did last year and feel better about it.  I’m trying out a free clinical home study course and will let you know how it makes MY “no longer 21 year old joints” feel.  If you’re still BUSY at work or busy studying to be a PT learn all you can to prepare you for possibly tougher times ahead.  You can only reap what you sow so…. Sow Seeds of Success!

All of us physical therapists must think of ourselves as marketers.  We should always be thinking of ways ways to boost sales. (more…)

Yesterday after telling the patient’s daughter Marie how much it they could save by buying eight visits in advance she said, “That’s a good deal!” . My fees are about 25% above the Medicare fee schedule.

After Wilbur’s first and second walk in over 6 weeks a mighty cheer went up from the family. Wilbur, my newest cash paying patient has a VERY good chance at improving his function no matter if he is on hospice. (more…)

Lance (by cell phone): “I’ll be there to see your husband in ten minutes Mrs. Smith”.

Mrs. Smith: “Sounds good”! “See you then!” .

Ten minutes later I rang their doorbell, opened the door as usual and my jaw crashed to the carpet. The eighty plus year-old Mr. Smith was sprawled out in front of, instead of IN his recliner. I gasped.

Before I could say anything Mr. Smith piped, “How are you?”. He was thinking of ME first! (more…)

One secret that is very effective not only for cash practice but for anything under the sun is to take a home study course. In physical therapy, home study courses can help physical therapists to infuse more cash in their careers. This is the cutting edge of education.

Physical therapists taking home study courses do not need to reschedule sessions with their patients just to attend special classes anymore. (more…)

Fewer support staff.

An average traditional PT practice has 2.5 support staff per physical therapist. This includes a receptionist, a biller, possibly a PTA, and an aide / back office staff. With a cash practice no medical biller is needed and many practices have no support staff at all. (more…)

Physical therapy marketing needs a lot of effort to attract, serve and retain customers. Positive feedback from previous customers is essential because it proves you, as a physical therapist has provided service with satisfaction guaranteed. Remember, the customer is always right and what they say to others matter most. (more…)

Free publicity however is nearly priceless. This can be in the form of radio interviews, TV spots, or articles you write for targeted local papers or newsletters.

Larger cities however may ask you to buy advertising in order to write an article for their paper. That has never agreed very well with me. If you’re good at writing and put the word out, your copy will eventually get picked up. See the previous post and my physical therapy practice site for proof. (more…)

This article came out when I was away from my physical therapy practice in Europe for vacation so I haven’t had a chance to see the print version yet.

You can find the article featured at Advance for Directors in Rehabilitation.

Read that article and come back here at least weekly for tips. For faster results check out our cash practice course. (more…)

People, whether they be your friends or only acquaintances, should pay for your PT services at or before the time of service because it’s in their best interest to do so.

I’ve gone into a little more detail in other posts on this blog and a lot more detail in our cash practice course but the WHY question is so important. We all should invest in the future of our health.

Paying for some skilled PT is a good way to do that. (more…)

The time schedule for our life on this earth is limited so make it good. By the end of this post you’ll have a good dose of inspiration and at least one smile!

I wrote this article on Sept 15 which was the “live” day. In a little bit I’ll re-file it but I didn’t think you’d want to miss it.

You might also want to check Sept 27’s post which was added just recently.

Have you ever jumped rope beneath a ski run? Neither had I but that’s what the weather required here in Ukynice (pseudonym) today.

There weren’t any skiers zooming overhead but they could have been as the over-road slope was the only way to stay out of the rain.

When visiting an alpine village the weather is frequently “alpine”. This was true here as we had rain and a chilly breeze for most of the day. I jumped rope under a ski run. (more…)

I’ll try to share some pictures if I can but it won’t be tonight as it’s getting late for me. You my fellow Americans, have several hours of work ahead of you likely but I’m headed to bed. I’m not doing any hands-on physical therapy for over another week!

I DO recommend getting treated yourself by another PT on a wellness basis and my family HAS been treated by a physical therapist on a wellness basis. That PT is Lori Zeltwanger of Sedona, AZ. Her practice is called “Advanced Release Therapy“. (more…)

My cash practice continues to run while I’m on vacation in Europe. I think all of us want our practices to FREE us so if you like travel I’ll tell you a little more about my day. It is hard for me to avoid drawing practical business applications from my daily vacationer’s life lately so have a read!

Today after lunch here at our hilltop retreat I took the time to watch a very pleasant family movie. When the movie ended we took a long country walk to the house where the movie had been shot filmed. The place in fact looked better now than it did then. (more…)

We left Friday and toured Cesky Krumlov which is a MUST SEE. Here’s the link to some of the photos that nowhere nearly do justice to the beauty of the place.

Saturday and Sunday we spent the day at a lakeside retreat which worked out well. We hiked around the ski hills on Saturday and I took a long electric boat ride on Sunday. (more…)

This includes taking time off for yourself and your family as well exercising for your own health. I know I’m preaching to the choir. Here’s how I lived a the 27th of September pretty well true to those principles.

This is still the 27th of September about 8:00 p.m. here on the Northern edge of a lake that is created by damming up the Vltava river. From near the shore of the 25 km long lake we can see a windmill across the border in Austria that rotates about 14 times per minutes by my timing.

The lake’s water also generates a good amount of hydro electric power.About an hour North of here we passed a nuclear power plant with four huge cooling towers. You’d think that electricity might be a good deal here but really it’s quite expensive. Almost no one has a clothes dryer. They all hang clothes up to dry. In snow ski country this can be a job so most hang it inside. (more…)

I’ve seen Canaervon, Edinborough, and a lot of other really cool castles but they all were missing one key ingredient - a moat with water in it. Today’s castle had a great moat that went all the way around it. It also had a bridge and huge doors. The bridge could have held a Mack(TM) truck so for this castle a drawbridge would not do.

The main doors were on vertical hinges but still you will enjoy the pictures of cool castles. The OUTside really was the highlight of the Castle. The bridge, entry and grounds are really a lot more impressive in person than in those photos though. (more…)

They did this because of his clinic’s superb service and follow up with clients. Sure you’ve got to put in your email to hear that message at Cash Practice Therapy but it’s a good investment. I’m going to give you one idea here that he didn’t share with me then that will increase what you learn there.

Try your hardest to get a WOW experience from EVERY customer you get at your clinic. One way Pat did this was by phone follow up. When you get a customer with a great experience ask them, “If your best friends were here right now would you introduce and recommend them for my services? Ninety percent says they’ll say yes. (more…)

The weather this time however hasn’t been better. We have seen little sun in the last 8 days we have been here. Ten years ago we didn’t have to use a jacket but the temperature has been in the fifties most days and has varied less than two degrees celsius. We didn’t bring coats. (more…)

I didn’t know his assistant was going to remove my foot from the bath to a single basin and rinse it off and then take the other foot out and give it the same treatment but I positively felt pampered.

I plan to look into this this treatment further but from how it made me feel treated in that office it was extremely positive. When we relieve aches and pains or help our patients get around better it should have the same effect. That is worth a tangible investment. Sometimes a valued therapy-provided service can be traded for a profit to both parties. Below I’ll write today’s example of that. (more…)

As I am now, I try to learn every bit of every language I can whenever I can. This month it’s Czech. When I return stateside it will be back to improving my Spanish, maintaining my Czech and I’m tempted to learn some German too. This month’s blog posts have a lot of the benefits of my cash practice listed.

Today at a very pleasant gathering in the Czech republic, I had fun talking to a Spain-born lady and her local boyfriend primarily in Spanish, but also in English and a little bit in Czech. This is fun! (more…)

We PT’s need refreshment, and relaxation in order to BE therapeutic to our patients. I myself plan to get a little physical therapy treatment over here before getting back to work and will report on it too. I am working on my wife’s uncle’s computer and getting the pictures up takes a little doing but I’ll try to get them up as soon as possible. Come back and see the pictures as soon as you can. I’m going to try to add posts daily…

Plant the seeds of a cash practice as soon as you can. At the private practice section meetings in San Diego I heard the words, “The traditional physical therapy business plan is getting a little tired.” It takes about 30 times as much energy to get a new customer as to keep an existing customer. (more…)

We started our hiking day with a “lift” on one of the 160 quad chair-ski lifts which took us about half way up the resort.

It was a good deal at about $4 USD. Had we not had that lift our three hour long outing would have been lower and probably produced grumbling from the younger set.

What you’re seeing at left is a few ski runs including one half-mowed ski run. They dont look it but many of them are STEEP!

On our way to the falls we came by an OLD truck that had fresh horse manure by its tail ramp. We guessed there might be a logging horse with its logger nearby. About 1 km down the trail I heard, “giddap”, the rattle of chains, a “gee” and then a “haw”.

Just before reaching the creek we would follow we sighted the husky draft horse pulling three sturdy logs down the steep mountain grade. The logger only used voice commands to control the horse down the steep grade. They were an amazing team. (more…)

While preparing for your cash practice it is important to keep the end in mind. You can do it if you just will get the tools to have the skills to do so! If you want more details please read posts below this one and check out our physical therapy course. If you’d like to share in my day I hope you’re not too hungry!

I am blessed to have family in Europe in a ski town. In my father-in-law’s day you hiked up the hill and got one or two runs down per day if you were lucky. Now the house he lives in can be framed by a skier’s bridge that goes over the road.

The weather has been chilly with snow on the highest mountains. I did little hiking today but enjoyed a birthday celebration for an 11 year old local family member. I most days I skip one or two meals which means I am back down to three instead of four plus “tea time”. Today tea time was augmented by the birthday celebration and I had no extra space after that. My relatives are not exactly thin but they are strong. They walk and hike a lot. They can’t help it. Almost everywhere they go is up or down a hill. (more…)

It is 6:37 p.m. and the backs of my hands are still chilly from a 10k hike over the ridge. To warm myself, I’ve had a couple of cups of hot herb tea sweetened by Uncle B’s own honey. I also enjoyed, gingerbread, tvaroch (slightly similar to cottage cheese) pasta and tomatoes since hiking over the mountain back to our families’ house / great grandma and great grandpa’s cabin.

We are here in Ukynice (say UkyNeetSay (fictional)) and hiked from the even more developed ski town of Harrahov.

While hiking up to the ridge with my father in law from Harrahov however I had to strip down to a shirt and t-shirt but coming back down the mountain I pulled one sweatshirt back on.

It is about 5-7 degrees Celsius here and must have been colder up there but due to exertion I really didn’t get cold. We took our time getting out of Harrahov on foot which is a nice town with many glass and other souvenir items for sale. (more…)

That slowed my steps as I rounded one corner of an assisted living center. “How much does this physical therapy cost?” the wheelchair-seated physical therapy-patient asked the therapist who apparently was ahead of her down the next hall.

“Medicare covers it”, the capable physical therapist who still was just around the corner to my right and just out of my sight answered”.

“No one could afford physical therapy if they had to pay for it directly,” he confirmed. I resumed my pace, rounded the corner, smiled, said “Hi Ted (not his real name), and passed the physical therapist. “Ted” did not realize that he’s never going to have patients paying him cash for his services with a belief like that. Worse than that he’s also selling both the patient and himself short.

We all know that when we discontinue care with the elderly, continued progress - regardless of the quality of the home exercise program - is the exception rather than the rule. (more…)

I don’t know why she doesn’t roll rather than walk by now. I guess it’s because they are always walking up or down a hill from here.

Back home in AZ my associate is doing my cash visits by the way. All PT’s need breaks from our work. We know how to work and also must know how to rest.

My second hike which was with the family started with a lift from teh “vlek” which previously only worked in winter before downhill mountain biking came into popularity.

The “vlek”, or ski lift, did a good job taking us up several vertical meters where we were able to circle the valley and come down the families’ private ski hill behind their house. I have heard the kids use their private tow which is a disk at the end of a spring loaded pole that either goes between the skier’s legs or under their arm. We went by a gurgling spring and by some new condos available but that would only be accessible by snow machine or ski lift in the winter. (more…)

If a therapist doesn’t have an answer for “Why should I pay cash for my physical therapy?” and feel good about receiving cash for that therapy, he or she will never receive cash for that physical therapy.

There are many many good reasons and benefits to the patient who agrees to pay cash for PT services at or before the time of service. The benefits have to be those important to the PATIENT though and here are a few and how you might share them with your prospective clients:

1. “You’ll get better faster. Research shows (all the physical therapy course contributors agreed) that patients who invest in their health directly get better faster. This is due to many reasons but really I can do better therapy and you’ll like it better as well”. (more…)

The author below somewhat answers it for her patient population. In an upcoming post I’ll give a few important reasons. For now enjoy this post. - Lance P. Van Arsdell, PT, MSPT

Why Physical Therapy?
by Patricia C. Winders, PT

The purpose of this article is to answer that very question. Why indeed should you invest your time and money in physical therapy? After all, you are quite right; children with Down syndrome will learn to walk, run and jump. It will take a little longer than it does a typical child, but the goals will be achieved.

Typical children walk at around 12 months of age, and the average child with Down syndrome walks at about 24 months of age. And on top of that, physical therapy is not going to accelerate your child’s rate of gross motor development. (more…)

You can do cash physical therapy. Even if you haven’t started building a cash practice you’re closer than you think to having one. Since expenses with a cash practice can be kept so low, here’s how easy it can be.

If for example you need to gross at least $100,000 to feel satisfied as a PT how easy is it to get there?

I charge $150 for one 45-minute house call and can feasibly do six of these per day. This has never happened because most of my customers opt for the $800/8-session package. A better package would be labeled “buy six sessions ($900)and get three free”. Always establish and maintain a high perceived value in your own and your clients’ minds. (more…)

The Internet is such a big place that it is becoming increasingly critical to ensure that your website collects visitor ’s contact details.

Why? Because the alternative is that visitors click into your site, have a look around, think “hmmmm that ’s interesting, I think I might come back later and find out more when I’ve got a bit more time”. Then they click away and they are gone… forever.

While they might intend to come back, they forget, they lose the website address, they forget to write your url down and so on. If you want each and every potential visitor to your site to become a potential client, then you need to capture their contact details and then keep in touch with them so they don’t forget about you.

The easiest way of doing that is to give something away for free on your website. (more…)

Emotions Are a Key Factor Determining If a Client Will Hire You. It is well known amongst copywriters and marketers that people buy a service or product based on their emotions and use their logic to back up their decision. People want to feel understood and have faith that you can help them or they won’t be inclined to buy your services. The moment your copy touches on your clients’ feelings is the moment they begin to seriously show interest in what you are offering them.
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Focus on Benefits rather than features!

In our cash practice video, we talk a lot about focusing on benefits rather than features. This article takes a slightly different and unique look at “benefits” focusing more on the emotional needs of a website viewer, your potential patient / customer. As a therapist or healing artist, you work with people who are struggling with emotional, physical, mental or spiritual pain. (more…)

In physical therapy, most beginning practice owners will beat the streets to “get the word out” and finally get some referral sources. After that, they stop marketing to those referral sources. This is something like a man’s getting married and then forgetting how to complement, hold hands, affectionately touch and kiss his wife and has the same results.

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What about the easiest referrals likely to come from these seminars? Are these likely to be cash paying clients? No. Will I do the work of seeing these patients? No. Will I make sure the client gets matched with a good therapist? Yes. Do I own a home health agency? No. Will and do I earn money on the transaction? Yes. Those approximate 25 cards earned me $250.

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My best friend back in Illinois who visits a chiropractor from time to time told me of his chiropractor, “If he’s in the room with me for two minutes it’s a long time.” I believe there’s a happier medium if one learns from the experts and practices the right skills. I did mainly 15-20 minute treatments focusing on using reciprocal inhibition and some other related techniques I’ve learned recently to get maximum pain and stress relief.

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If you really want to do a cash PT practice, there is a place for you. Today, I spent a very pleasant afternoon with a doctor who has a cash practice. He needs help with his overhead. I’m pretty sure we can help each other. (more…)

She had already paid me through the second of three visits we plan for next week and she wanted to be sure I got paid in advance as we usually schedule it. I thanked her and got her number so I could keep in touch with her with updates about her husband.

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This week, every evening I’ve been playing the part of the “King” in a vacation Bible School at our church. The sketches are different every night and are done from memory. I’ve really been rehearsing. We’ve had a great time! Maybe I’ll post a picture on of me in my “royal robe” but you’ll have to come back to see it.

As soon as I stop practicing and am finished performing one sketch it begins to fade from mind. It’s no longer needed. Why do we therapists believe that our marketing efforts should be any different? When we do great therapy for a patient and “discharge” them they unavoidably begin to forget us. With patients (best referral sources) and other referral sources it is no different. We must stay in touch with our customers and potential customers!

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Happy Memorial Day!

To boost your endorphin level, listen to this 16-minute video with Pat Croce (PT). It will make you laugh and think! Pat Croce is a Cash PT Course Contributor and if you want to hear the $40 million dollar advice Pat has for PT’s today, “opt in” at Cash Practice Secrets.  Yes, I know it’s a process. You’ll have to go back and check your email to get the link to the interview, but I value your privacy and I don’t spam.

As always it’s an honor and a pleasure writing to you. Have a GREAT Day!

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I give it my best but knew I was late. Striding up to the bed of my seriously ill client, I gave him a smile and before I could say anything he told ME,…. “Happy Birthday!”

He got it right! He turns 83 late next week on a day I’m not scheduled to see him. Guess who I’ll call and wish if not sing Happy Birthday for. I’ve already programmed my phone to remind me to call him. He made MY day and I sure hope to make his. I can’t figure it out but the patients that pay directly for therapy really seem to be the most appreciative. In fact that one made me feel like a million dollars!

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For the last few years in the winter we have had and an “Angel” behind us. She, Angel Harvey, and her husband Paul attended our church sitting about 8 rows behind us to the left and rear. When I greeted him one week I said, “Thank-you, Mr. Harvey, for all your GREAT radio broadcasts.” Still speaking to him but making sure his wife could hear I continued, “I think my wife is just like yours [he called her “Angel”]!”

When a state of the art sound and video system was installed in our church it was Angel who had shared very, very generously. Of course, we sent a thank-you card. Several weeks back we got the news that the Harveys were returning to Chicago and probably wouldn’t be back. (more…)

“I called you because I knew your number”!

My children are young and of course exceptional in every good way but this was a first for me. They’ve known my number for a long time but this was a first time for one of them to actually dial and speak to daddy without my wife’s having dialed the number. Children have such an eagerness to learn to do new things.

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Though many people have bought, repented of and lost lots of money via timeshare ownership I have a different story of my timeshare ownership that will benefit you and your PT practice should you wish to grow it.

I recently called our timeshare company, Westgate Resorts, to reserve our floating week. The operator didn’t ask, “Who’s calling please?”, but instead he asked, “With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”. He was very kind over the phone and made sure to ask, “Is there anything else I can do for you”? (more…)

“What are you doing?”, a passer-by asked him.

‘”I’m looking for my glasses. I’m almost blind without them,” he replied.

“Where do you think you might have lost them?” the helpful passer-by asked.

“Back on 40th Street” the now visually impaired man replied.

“Why don’t you go and look there?” the passer-by questioned further.

Squinting beneath the street light the man stated, “The light’s better here”.

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Is this masochistic Chinese Torture? No, it is an ad I just received today for a personal trainer con-ed. class on “corrective exercises for pain and performance”. After I write this, the ad is going in file 13. It is a two day course for $299 taught by a non-therapist CSCS. By the way, in the background of the shiny postcard ad there is a Total Gym(TM), an exercise bench and a rack of dumbells.

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Unwilling to let the girl with the golden brown hair get away I admitted, “I probably make 2-3 times what a therapist earns here”. Clearly that was “the hormones talking” but it indeed was the truth.

Back in 1996 as a home health physical therapist, I was easily earning over $100,000/year. As I’d crossed our northern border to meet this lovely lady, this was even more true because the U.S. dollar at that time had more earning power than their dollar.

In those days before 27 page home-health “OASIS” forms it was quite easy to see 8-10 patients per day and collect the equivalent of a contracted $59/visit for each one of them. My fuel costs were $100/month. Finances were easy for any PT willing to do home health.

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It has a check box with text behind it that says, “I will take advantage of the $30%discount [This can be a lesser discount or other benefit but I suggest at least discounting the 6-10% that it would cost you to collect that money after the time of service.] offered for paying cash at the time of service.”

Remember there are many clients for which cash is the only option. I treat many of them. If you intend to treat Medicare patients you may be “non-participating” and set up your system where the client pays you directly and gets reimbursed by Medicare.

2) Respect your clients’ time and their money. Advise your patients honestly like you’d advise your own family members. You can’t have too much integrity. Those who can afford to pay cash frequently think they have very busy lives even if that “busyness” is going from one social to another. They frequently don’t want to come in for therapy three times per week if they can be taught how to do many of the treatments at home.

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If you know how to make your practice visible obviously you will have more customers. One way to make your practice and career more obvious is on the web.

If a web site is static it will seldom be ranked high by search engines. Incoming links to one’s site enhance your presence on the web. Having your Technorati Profile completed can also increase the visibility of your blog. (more…)

Today it was too little too late. Scott was indeed moving out - closing his doors. His financial partner was going on with one of the other two clinics without him. I doubt the split was because they were making too much money. Scott is a very good and conscientious PT. I’d personally seen him doing muscle tests with objective dynamometers.

I know he tried his best. They were “in-network” with at least 25 insurance companies with a “multi-plan” agreement. I asked if I could help him later as I had a cash-paying customer at 12:30 not far from his office. They were nearly done moving out but my heart goes out to them. I will be of help however I can. For now he’s taking a job in a skilled nursing facility.

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They run a great business that has no employees. If you talk to someone there it is one of the owners. As I run a house call practice I make a point of at least saying “hi” to every PT practice owner in the area. It has been fun getting to know a few practice owners.

Today, I got a call from a lady in Michigan. I didn’t know her and she didn’t know me. She needed to arrange therapy for her boss’s 94 y/o father, and avid golfer, who got sick on vacation, was recovering, but really needed to be gotten up and around.

How did you hear about me?” I questioned. Apparently a local PT office that doesn’t do out-calls recommended me. In a little while I got a nice call from the son of the prospective patient. There are a few details to be taken care of but the $150 price of the 45 minute therapy sessions isn’t one of them.

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