I’m Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits.
Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the field of physiatry by imparting knowledge, facilitating learning, and fostering curiosity.
You also develop a following to promote further study of the field. What better place to start than the physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech pathology programs? You want to start with the students.
Most states have an accredited program for physical therapy, physical therapy assistants, occupational therapy, occupational therapy assistants, and speech-language pathology. They train students in the fields of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech pathology. These programs present a unique opportunity to educate individuals who will be evaluating patients, documenting, and making recommendations for post-acute care settings.
Leverage these programs to educate students on the different levels of care, the various criteria for each level of care, and the specific outcomes which put patients in a better position.
As we know, the more educated provider is more likely to make the best recommendation for the patient. Here are a few things you’ll want to explain to educate future providers properly:
- what the field of physiatry is and what physiatrists do
- exactly how you work closely with each individual discipline to promote and achieve excellent functional outcomes
- the different practice settings which you can work in alongside each particular discipline
- how you both can function as a team to help patients
- how you have a common goal and how to work effectively to meet that goal
- the process of transitioning a patient from an acute-care hospital to the different post-acute care settings
- the insurance authorization process and the role in which they play
- how they have to document in a certain fashion to get the best outcome
- how they can advocate for patients and also encourage consulting physiatrists to assist in getting the patient to the correct post-acute care setting
- how they can help patients by getting you involved
Locate students by searching the national association for each discipline (i.e., physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy). Once you’ve located the respective national association, you can search for schools in your particular state. Once you find a school, reach out by cold calling, emailing, or visiting the office. Inform the program director (or whoever else might be in charge of curricula/programming) that you’d like to give a brief presentation on physiatry. Nine times out of ten, they’ll be open to it–even if they have to schedule you for the following term or year.
Learn how to keep your practice thriving once you’ve obtained your practice start-up funding and successfully launched your practice.
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I am Dr. Hassan, Board-Certified and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own independent practice so that they can achieve financial independence and live without limits. Please go to businessofrehab.com/guideto pick up the free guide to help you determine the best business entity for your practice.
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Attention, Physiatrists! Stop leaving money on the table. Sign up for the free video series: How To Build A Profitable Practice in 90 Days or Less: http://www.sixtytosuccess.com
