Supplementing In-Person Practice with Online Component

Welcome to Pelby biz podcast. I'm Dr. Kelly Alhui. I have grown and established brick and mortar practice in Northern Virginia called Ortho Pelvic Physical Therapy and also founded Pelvibiz, which is an online business consulting company that helps healthcare providers make more money and be healthy while doing it, especially in the pelvic health realm. So let's get into today's episode. Today I'm going to talk about why you should have an online component to your practice. And that could look in many different facets. It could be telehealth. It could be a continuity program. It could be you basically kind of creating a program that's like a personal trainer. It could be you creating guides. It could you be creating scorecards. There's so many different things that you can incorporate online and also have a brick and mortar or a mobile practice. So today I want to kind of dive into that and go over kind of the positives of telehealth. So the beauty of telehealth is what? Number one, it saves people time. Okay? So it saves them time from physically coming into the office. Number two, you can reach more people throughout the U.S. now, it doesn't have to be telehealth and the fact that it's. You're solving a specific diagnosis. You could just be coaching. This is more in the coaching realm. You could be coaching people on how to walk properly, on how to run properly. Like, it doesn't have to be solving a diagnosis to where it is, like, classified as physical therapy. It could be you are creating some program for someone to PR at a marathon. So it could be many. There's a big scope here that I think many people are unsure of because there's not really black and white rules to this. And it's all over the place. You got people that don't even have certifications that are coming in saying they're the experts on pregnancy and postpartum. You got someone that's a new mom that says, hey, this is what worked for me. Let me put out a program, and people buy it. You do have pelvic health experts coming into the field saying, hey, no, this is the program. Try this. So there's so many different online products already on the market, which I do think is great to have a wide variety of different things. But how are you going to stand out in that marketplace? I think that's huge. And also how are you going to. How are you going to make sure that you deliver the result that you promised? I think that's the biggest thing when it comes to teletherapy or telehealth is people are unsure. Especially therapists, I feel like, are really unsure on how they are going to deliver the service that, that they promised the patient. Like, how are they going to deliver the outcome? Because so often than not, we were trained to use our hands, and if we do not use this, then we are immediately in our head, deemed not valuable enough to be able to treat the patient and be able to help the patient out and move the patient forward. The reality is, and these are the things they didn't teach us that we need to learn is you need to learn how to interview people. Kind of like motivational interviewing and the fact of getting to the person's deeper. Why understanding what they truly want. A lot of times it's not manual work. They want you to actually solve their problem. And it has to be hit from a multifaceted approach. So if you're only looking at it one way, what muscle can I stretch or, or what joint can I mobilize? You're not going to solve their problem and their problem will never be solved. So how can we, how can we do better in the fact of, of knowing that our brain is the most powerful tool instead of our hands? And that is what you don't learn in school. So how can we do better in the fact of, you know, we are providing so much knowledge and because of our knowledge, then we are valuable. Like, I just had this junk guy come and just take away some Amazon boxes and he charged me $200. $200. He was probably there for about seven minutes just moving the Amazon boxes. Okay. And that was $200. Most PTs and OTs are like, oh my God, I can't charge $200 for even just one visit because it doesn't, like, I'm not doing much for them. Yeah, you actually are. You're solving a big problem. The guy that, that charged me 200, he solved a big problem. I didn't have to break down all the boxes. I don't have to do any of that. And he just took it away and I didn't have to worry about it wasn't going to fit in the trash can. What day is the trash going to go out? Oh my God. Then I got to pull it. Like, it's just, it's a lot. Instead, he solved my problem very quickly. He came over the next day, literally, and did his job and said, this is how much it's going to cost. Okay, great. Thanks for coming out, buddy. And Here you go. So why are we not, why are we not doing that? Why are we not saying we are valuable enough to A, charge $200 and B, why do we believe that if we don't touch them that then there was no value? We don't provide any value. Like really, you got to think about that. The value is in our head and the knowledge that we have. And yes, there is Google, but Google does not organize it like we do. Google does not specifically tell them specifically on their issue. It's a general thing. It may be right, it may not be, it may be wrong. We don't know. Okay? Especially with AI, it definitely could be right and definitely could be wrong, but it's not going to be customizable to them. They want a customizable plan. And we're the go to people now for telehealth. We can also save, you know, like I said, time. And the moms don't have to leave their house. If we're treating lots of moms, kids can be in the room. That's great. It's also we're going to be able to see their environment. So because we're able to see their environment. I now can see specifically why Sally's back is hurting. Because I saw how she's sitting at her desk. If I just change that alone because she's sitting at her desk for eight hours, I don't have to give her any exercises, I don't have to overwhelm her. I just change how she's sitting for eight hours. All of a sudden her back pain will go away. It's crazy, I know. But most of us don't believe that because we've been trained. You got to get in these exercises. The hip, the glute meat has to be strong. The forefoot has to be doing this, the knee has to be doing this, the hip has to be. No, you change the pattern that got them in the first place. In the pain, you do something differently and all of a sudden watch the pain go away. Because there's also pain conscience component as well to this. So you gotta hit it and get outside the box. And you have to be able to do that these days and pivot and not just from a muscular skeletal standpoint, otherwise you're not gonna make it. So how are you going to save people time, understand people's movement patterns specifically in their environment? The answer is telehealth, Teletherapy, telehealth, whatever you wanna call it. I mean, let's talk about the definition of that. I Like to call it teletherapy because it sounds more like physical therapy or occupational therapy compared to telehealth. Seems more like Dr. Like, like MD Dr. Like. So I like to call it teletherapy. So it's because people don't know what it is. So when you position it, you have to be able to make sure that it is that people understand what they're getting out of teletherapy. Otherwise, people do not value it because they value you working on them, because they believe we're just glorified massage therapists. That's truly what they believe and view us as. But the reality is, that's why you got to show them that our heads can do most of the work and provide so much value in the session that it's not just our hands. Okay, so how are we going to do that? Well, you, every single session, have to give couple tips and trips. You do not want to give every single thing because you will overwhelm them and they won't do anything. And they'll have this whole list when they go home and they're gonna be like, up, I don't want to do it. There's. I gotta go to the store and buy this, she told me. And then I gotta do five scoops of this at night. And then I gotta stop drinking water here. Like you just now overwhelm them. And the likelihood of them doing that is very slim. Keep it simple. Keep it like the iPhone. Keep it simple. One thing, try it, come back, give me feedback. That's it. And that's all you got to do. So that's. That's what I'd be saying is, is that. And what else with telehealth? You know, telehealth, it can be scary. I know most of you guys are hesitant about it because you don't know what to do because no one's taught you. Okay, well, I am going to be doing a webinar soon on telehealth, just so you guys know, so that we can move things forward. And I can truly teach you how to get patients to evaluate themselves at home. They don't need us. They can evaluate by the tools that I have. You can evaluate yourself at home. You can let us know what's going on, and then we help guide you in a customizable way through the whole process from your home. I'm telling you, it is a thing, and it's happened. And we treated many patients that way, and they have amazing outcomes just like they do in clinic. So I know some People are very hesitant to that because it doesn't feel, you know, right for them. But I promise you, it is something that is going to be beneficial to them. And then changing up their movement patterns. The biggest thing is if you change up their movement patterns, the pain goes away. It goes away. Most people just don't want to do the work. So what's going to motivate them enough and be simpler enough to then be able to get the person to be compliant with whatever you gave them? This is why I really, really look at everyone's routine, and I just audit what the routine is like. And then from there, I'm like, okay, we're only going to make this little, little change here. That's it. Next week, we're gonna make another little change here. And then they start to see, like, wow, I'm not in that pain anymore, Kelly. And it's like, yeah, because we changed why it's happening. And then they're shocked that that's what they have to do. So there's very little effort on their part, which is good. When there's less effort on the patient's part, they're going to be more compliant because they don't have to, like, it doesn't have to be this big production of getting out of mat and lying on the floor with their kid and or their dogs and then trying to do some exercises. Like, there are so many little things throughout the day that you can do to not overwhelm the patient and to be able to, you know, move the people in the right direction. So when it comes to telehealth, if you guys need help, I'd be happy to help you because, you know, we do see amazing results telehealth, and we do see amazing results in person as well. And we do that based on our method that we have. And because of our method, we're able to get clients the results they're looking for and get them to the finish line. So you guys are struggling with that, and you don't know how to do therapy without using your hands. I'd be really happy to help you. Got to make sure you join our webinar soon that's coming up, because that is going to be super, super helpful for you guys. So hopefully everyone enjoys. Bye, guys. Thank you guys so much for listening to the podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Jane. They are the people that are going to have amazing scheduling system for your patients. They're going to provide you with a super bill. They're going to make templates for you. They're going to provide you with the best customer service. And because of that, they allowed us to have a code for one free month. For those that are wanting to try Jane for their scheduling, checking out super bills, telehealth, all the different options, that code is Pelvi Biz1mo. We'll put in the show notes. But PelviBiz1mo that is the code for Jane. And thank you so much Jane for sponsoring this podcast. If you guys want more information and want to learn how that you can keep bettering yourselves, go ahead, click the link down below and make sure that you book a call. And we love to provide any clarity questions on any follow ups. Bye guys.