I own Total Motion Physical Therapy with 4 locations in the South Western Va. I also own Total Motion Performance that trains youth athletes and young adults in their 20s. Owning these two companies has allowed me to gain experience with using both cash-based and third-party payor payment systems for my businesses.
Through my years of being a PT, I had heard about the benefits of being a APTA Private Practice member from friends who were members especially for those interested in owning their own practice. They talked about how much APTA Private Practice and their membership benefited them and their practices, and that a APTA Private Practice membership would help me avoid making the same mistakes they made when they first opened their private practices. After going to one APTA Private Practice meeting, I was sold on becoming a member. I have been a member for 15 years now, being part of APTA Private Practice made it possible for me to have others stand with me as I opened my practice. It gave me confidence that I had a community to help me along the way.
One of the biggest benefits of APTA Private Practice membership has been the comprehensive tools to help run a practice and the interactions of like-minded folks you make that ultimately become life-long friends. Moreover, then many resources such as the monthly marketing toolkits have been a tremendous help with the social media strategy for my practice. Furthermore, we also include the Fit Factor on my company website.
Moreover, I am part of Peer2Peer Networking, which allows me to constantly have access to the masterminds of private practice business owners. It's invaluable to have a community with which to share ideas and get awesome feedback that assist in success of my clinics.
On another note, physical therapy advocacy has been a passion of mine too. I am part of the APTA Private Practice Key contact committee. This has helped create a grassroots network that has allowed me to developed contacts and relationships with more PTs across the country to get involved with meeting local and federal government representatives that work on important issues involving physical therapy, small business, and patient access to care. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, through that grassroots network, APTA and APTA Private Practice helped push a bill through Congress that allowed telehealth and telemedicine to be paid for through Medicare. That was just an instance where the efforts of APTA Private Practice members and advocacy made a huge difference.
When a physical therapist is looking at wanting to open up their own practice and asks me about my APTA Private Practice membership, I tell them to go to one meeting, listen to the speakers and take in all the information and content. If they're like me, they'll see the value of membership after just that one meeting. However, the real learning comes from when members interact with each other at these meeting and the life-long friends/relationships that are created. One is able to build a PT network of private practice owners that can assist with ensuring your private practice continues to thrive and your business grows. Thera are no words that can express the value of APTA Private Practice membership.