.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

Who really pays for physical therapy? While insurance companies often seem to hold the keys, they’re merely intermediaries. The true payors are employers, patients, and communities. This session challenges attendees to rethink traditional payment systems and explore innovative models such as programmatic cash pay, bundled payments, subscription plans, and preventative services.

The session will include real-world case studies of cash-pay models successfully implemented in private practices, showcasing solutions for practices of various sizes. Participants will gain strategies to create a hybrid approach that balances insurance-driven income with diversified cash pay options. This is not about abandoning insurance contracts but rather about finding the right mix to improve net rates, enhance access and affordability for patients, and support community care.

The goal is to empower practices to diversify their revenue streams, expand offerings, and overcome the many barriers imposed by insurance companies. Attendees will leave equipped with actionable tools to monetize value-added services, trial new payment models, and navigate the complexities of healthcare payment systems, all while staying true to their mission of supporting local communities.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Differentiate insurance, employer, and consumer payment models.
• Identify alternative direct cash pay models, including programmatic payments, bundled services, and subscriptions.
• Explore strategies to enhance the patient experience and reduce insurance barriers.
• Learn how to integrate expanded professional services, such as nutrition and exercise physiology.
• Develop actionable plans to trial and implement direct care models that improve financial outcomes.

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

In today’s competitive job market, identifying the right candidates for your clinic goes beyond resumes and rehearsed answers. Interviewing for Truth: Uncovering Authenticity in the Hiring Process provides Physical Therapy private practice owners with proven strategies to conduct interviews that reveal a candidate’s true potential, values, and fit for your team.

This session combines principles of behavioral interviewing with an understanding of the unique needs of Physical Therapy clinics—where cultural alignment, patient care philosophies, and teamwork are essential for success. Participants will learn how to ask targeted, insightful questions that uncover a candidate’s genuine experiences, mindset, and capabilities rather than surface-level responses. We’ll also explore techniques to detect inconsistencies, assess emotional intelligence, and identify red flags while maintaining a positive, professional candidate experience.

By mastering these interviewing strategies, practice owners can make more informed hiring decisions, reduce turnover, and build teams that drive both clinical excellence and business growth. The course will directly enhance participants’ skills in human resources management and leadership—critical areas for running a thriving private practice.

Participants will leave equipped with actionable tools to strengthen their interviewing processes, ensuring they hire Physical Therapists and staff who align with their clinic’s mission, enhance patient care, and contribute to long-term organizational success.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the benefits of using structured interviews for hiring Physical Therapists and clinic staff.
• Identify the key differences between structured and unstructured interviews and their impact on hiring outcomes.
• Apply techniques to minimize bias and ensure consistency during interviews.
• Demonstrate how to create and use an interview scoring system to objectively evaluate candidates.
• Evaluate interview outcomes to make confident, evidence-based hiring decisions for long-term team success.

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

This session is designed to help multi-location practice owners and managers streamline their front desk operations and strengthen their leadership. Attendees will explore the most common challenges in managing front desk teams and learn essential strategies for training front office managers to lead with confidence, boost team morale, and handle daily operations effectively—all while reducing front desk turnover.

Led by Dee Bills, who has successfully trained over 1,500 front desk staff across 400 practices in the U.S., this session will provide actionable insights into optimizing front desk performance. Attendees will uncover the #1 overlooked metric for evaluating front office success and learn how it directly impacts schedule utilization, profits, and patient satisfaction. With a practical, interactive checklist, participants will identify key areas for improvement and leave with actionable steps to fill their schedules, improve team effectiveness, and reduce front desk turnover.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the most common challenges with managing front desk staff and turnover across multiple locations.
• Describe the key role and responsibilities of a Front Office Manager.
• Describe practical strategies to help front office managers lead their teams confidently and handle day-to-day challenges across multiple locations.
• Describe the #1 metric for evaluating front office performance.
• Apply a step-by-step checklist that pinpoints your key areas for front office improvement.

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

Every therapist has unique practice and documentation habits, which can make identifying effective strategies for improvement a challenge. What helps one therapist improve may not be effective with another. However, thanks to AI and millions of notes generated from rehab therapy practices nationwide, we now have visibility into therapist behaviors and documentation patterns. In this session, we’ll break down the data and share the behavior categories that emerged from our analysis and the interventions that offer the easiest path to improvement.

This session will empower practice owners and clinic leaders to take a targeted approach to driving meaningful change. By understanding each documentation type's specific challenges and strengths, interventions can be tailored to maximize efficiency, compliance, and clinical quality.
Join us to gain practical strategies for recognizing therapist documentation “types” within your organization and learn how to apply tailored interventions that drive measurable improvements. We'll also discuss the role of AI-driven tools in analyzing behaviors and streamlining documentation, sharing real-world success stories of how these insights have transformed practices.

Whether you’re a clinic owner, manager, or therapist, this session will provide actionable takeaways to help you unlock your team’s full potential, reduce administrative burden, and enhance the overall patient experience.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Define common documentation “types” of therapists based on a national analysis of practice habits.
• Identify key challenges and strengths associated with each therapist documentation type.
• Apply tailored interventions to drive behavior change and documentation improvement.
• Evaluate AI-driven tools to support more efficient and compliant therapist documentation workflows.

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

This session provides an evidence-based exploration of how Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) enhances patient adherence, improves clinical outcomes, and drives profitability in outpatient physical therapy practices. Drawing from real-world data through a National Institute of Health Grant to perform a multi-site clinical trial, attendees will gain actionable strategies for implementing RTM to address declining reimbursements, patient compliance challenges, and workflow inefficiencies.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• List the challenges facing private physical therapy practices and explain how RTM addresses these barriers to improve patient outcomes.
• Describe the steps necessary to successfully implement RTM, including staff training, patient engagement strategies, and workflow integration.
• Demonstrate how to evaluate the financial impact of RTM using ROI metrics and real-world case studies.
• Compare RTM-enabled physical therapy workflows with traditional models to identify efficiency gains and areas for optimization.
• Formulate an actionable plan to integrate RTM into your practice, including overcoming potential barriers and leveraging data to support reimbursement

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

This course will cover strategies and tactics to not only survive but thrive in the private practice world of physical therapy. The presentation will focus on the overarching strategy of driving revenue vs. cost cutting. We will discuss the value of PT services and revenue strategies both in and outside of the third-party payer system. Key performance indicators will be reviewed to assist practice owners and managers in making sound financial decisions related to accepting contracts, pricing direct-to-consumer services, and compensating staff.

Kelly Sanders and Jennifer Gamboa will also share the process, challenges, practice assessment, and disciplined innovation required to develop a roadmap for integrating direct-to-consumer programming into an existing third-party payor model. They will discuss the difference between quantitative and qualitative definitions of value, consumer perspectives on value in healthcare, and the power of the provider/client relationship. We will also discuss several key strategies implemented to grow direct-pay revenue streams for practice sustainability.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Differentiate between qualitative and quantitative value measures
• Define consumer-centric attributes of value in healthcare
• Develop a payer scorecard to assist in evaluation of burden, revenue opportunity, and value
• Identify gaps in care that provide direct-to-consumer opportunities
• Learn specific strategies for blending direct-pay services into an existing 3rd party payor environment.

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

Struggling to improve your private practice's cash flow? This session provides actionable, proven strategies to boost your clinic's financial performance and ensure predictable profitability. We'll cut through the jargon and equip you with the tools to take control of your practice's financial health.

You'll discover how to:
• Implement key financial indicators (KPIs) and dashboards for data-driven decision-making.
• Empower your front desk team to maximize point-of-service collections.
• Optimize billing and collections processes to accelerate revenue.
• Leverage proper CPT coding and payer-specific guidelines to ethically enhance reimbursement.

Join us to learn how to identify critical financial metrics, streamline your revenue cycle, establish effective financial protocols, and enhance provider billing practices for sustainable growth. Walk away with concrete strategies you can implement immediately to improve your cash flow and secure your practice's financial future.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify Key Financial Indicators: Attendees will learn to implement and analyze essential financial KPIs, from reimbursement/visit/payor to A/R reports, altogether enabling data-driven decision-making to enhance clinic performance.
• Optimize Revenue Collection Processes: Participants will be shown strategies to maximize collections at the front desk, optimize billing practices, and avoid coding-related denials, ensuring that every dollar owed is collected.
• Establish Effective Financial Protocols: Participants will be instructed in simple financial protocols and team workflows which ensure maximal cash flow and result in predictable profitability projections for their practice(s).
• Enhance Provider Billing Practices: Attendees will gain actionable insights into ethical and optimal CPT code usage, guiding them to industry resources to increase per-visit reimbursement rates across various insurance providers.

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

From 2011-2023, physical therapy reimbursement declined 37.0%. In 2024, Medicare reimbursement decreased another 1.8%. Physical therapy has become a low-margin industry. Organizations that achieve and maintain solid profit margins will understand the Key Performance Indicators that drive their business. They will also understand how insurance contracting and rate increase negotiations impact their profit margins. Key Performance Indicators and insurance contracting are interrelated and profoundly impact your profitability. In this session, you will learn what Key Performance Indicators impact your profitability, along with industry benchmarks and ways to maximum those indicators. You will learn how to leverage those well-managed Key Performance Indicators in your insurance contract negotiations to gain fee schedule increases.

Attendees will also learn what language in a contract is favorable to the provider and language they need to avoid in a contract that is favorable to the payer. Often, physical therapists struggle to grasp this reality. These different mindsets can make the difference between signing a contract that is provider-friendly versus signing a contract that is payer-friendly. In this session, attendees will also learn how to present fee schedule increase requests in a way that resonates with insurance companies. Finally, attendees will learn the practice tips that the presenters used to negotiate fee schedule increases in their combined 60+ year careers.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Discover practical strategies on how to use your Key Performance Indicators to secure insurance contract fee schedule increases
• Identify language to include and language to exclude in an insurance contract
• Learn proven techniques to understand how insurance companies think and view physical therapy providers in contract negotiations
• Understand what information is required to successfully negotiate and/or renegotiate an insurance contract

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

In the current landscape of therapist shortages, private practice owners face growing challenges to attract and hire top talent. This session is designed to equip you with actionable strategies to operationalize a proactive and intentional hiring funnel, ensuring your clinic not only survives but thrives. While much attention is given to optimizing the patient experience—through exceptional customer service, outcome measures, and satisfaction scores—this session emphasizes the importance of applying the same level of intentionality to the candidate experience. You’ll learn how to implement a consistent, strategic approach to talent acquisition and discover how to effectively leverage internal resources to build a robust and dynamic hiring pipeline.

Key takeaways:
1. Crafting a forward-thinking hiring strategy to eliminate last-minute staffing crises.
2. How to optimize the interview process to enhance the candidate experience, including emphasizing swift follow-ups, transparent communication, and highlighting your clinic's unique strengths.
3. Explore effective sourcing strategies, including tracking student program data, conducting outreach campaigns, and leveraging staffing agencies.
4. Gain tools for building a comprehensive hiring funnel, such as internal referral programs, connections with university and alumni networks, and maximizing job board visibility.
5. Understand how to connect with candidates by recognizing their specific needs and goals, avoiding assumptions, and fostering genuine, meaningful communication.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Design a proactive hiring strategy to prevent last-minute staffing shortages and maintain steady recruitment efforts.
• Create an interview process that enhances the candidate experience through prompt follow-ups, clear communication, and showcasing their clinic’s unique strengths.
• Implement sourcing tactics like leveraging referral programs, utilizing student program data, and optimizing job board visibility to attract top therapist talent.
• Connect with candidates effectively by understanding their specific needs, avoiding assumptions, and fostering genuine communication.

.1 CEUs/ 1.0 Contact Hours
Course Level: Intermediate

This session is geared toward clinic owners or those interested in clinic ownership to understand the impact that intentional design has on the function, flow, and brand experience within your clinical space. This course will touch on topics such as multifunctional space design to maximize revenue, how to create a memorable brand experience, and the integration of technology to create an innovative clinic.

Participants can expect to leave with an enhanced awareness of the principles of clinic design, tangible steps to create a clinic concept and unique brand experience, insight into where it is smart to invest within your space and where to save money, a deeper understanding of using technology within your space to enhance the functionality, and simple ways to maximize income generation through thoughtful design.

We live in an experience economy where almost every industry has capitalized on not just providing a service but rather an experience. Health care has a massive opportunity to use design in a thoughtful way to enhance the user experience and to create a new standard for our profession.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Implement a unique and elevated brand experience within your space
• Recognize areas of inefficiency within your space and ways to make the clinic function and flow more effectively.
• Understand new ways of using technology to make your clinic more innovative
• Understand some of the key principles of clinic design and have tools and tricks to implement these concepts.