There was a slight delay of my email marketing interview with Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT, so I’m going to finish the 3-part series on my learning highlights at the 2012 PPS annual conference and publish that interview in the next couple weeks.

One of the sessions I attended was titled Wellness Deliverables in PT Practice and Jennifer Gamboa, PT, DPT, OCS, MTC was a co-presenter. Jennifer is founder and President of Body Dynamics, an incredibly impressive out-of-network Physical Therapy and wellness/fitness business. I’m guessing that this is the largest cash-based PT practice in the nation and she has done an amazing job at also utilizing complimentary services such as massage, personal training, pilates, nutrition, etc to increase cash flow and make her business a one-stop-shop for all her clients’ PT, fitness, and wellness needs.

Much of her presentation focused on the use of “Fitness Physicals” to generate a massive amount of cash-based business, and to create comprehensive programs to address any dysfunction and/or barriers to exercise that attendees may have. However, the big lesson I learned from Jennifer was not related to these Fitness Physicals … At the end of the presentation, I was able to ask her a question that went something along the lines of:

“Like you, I have a 100% cash-based PT practice. I find that most of my new patients come from word-of-mouth, and that very few are referred by Physicians because they tend to avoid sending patients where they can’t utilize their insurance. For this reason I almost never spend time marketing to MDs. Do you experience a similar situation at your practice, and if you do market to Physicians, how do you convince them to send patients to an out-of-network PT clinic?”

Getting referrals from physicians

She said that the majority of her referrals are also via word-of-mouth, but that she and her PTs do market to Physicians in a specific way (I’m just gonna say up front that I love this idea, and like many of the marketing tactics described at this site and in my cash-practice guideook, it is equally applicable to insurance-based clinics).

They invite local Physicians to give a presentation on their medical/surgical specialty or a related topic. Before the presentation, the PT staff at Body Dynamics will do extensive research and literature reviews of the topic, so when the MD arrives, he/she is blown away at their level of knowledge and the questions that are asked. The Physician leaves incredibly impressed and highly motivated to send patients where they know the Physical Therapists understand their particular type of patient so well; even if it’s at an out-of-network clinic.

Brilliant. Hopefully I can interview Jennifer for this site someday.

Have you ever utilized this tactic, invited Physicians to present to your staff, or presented to a group of Physicians yourself? Tell us about it in the comments below and share any lessons you learned along the way.

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