December 2016 | Business View Magazine

36 37 1.800.779.3668 Footmaxx.com NEW Voyager™ custom orthotic The Science of Support. It’s how we describe our smartest, most innovative orthotic yet: the NEW Voyager ™ custom orthotic. It’s bursting with sci-tech materials in every layer. Advanced Gait Cycle Analysis • Reviewed and approved by a certified pedorthist • In-depth detail; 19 aspects of gait analyzed • Assessment of each foot’s gait reveals asymmetries • Includes a summary and conclusion for each foot and begin helping existing, private practice physical therapists implement business expertise in a business that traditionally didn’t have any, and then, begin to differentiate themselves with the addition of state- of-the-art balance and vestibular services that no one offered. Still today, if you ask yourself: ‘Who does bal- ance?’ probably no one comes to mind. And that’s one of the primary reasons why Jim got into the profession and what’s led to the tremendous success of FYZICAL, thus far.” BVM: How did the company first launch its franchise operations? DiMauro: “Early on, we targeted existing private practice physical therapists for what we call a ‘conver- sion model.’ After becoming a franchise, you rebrand to FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers and being implementing the FYZICAL system. We have also had innumerable start-ups. Right now, we have 14 locations being built from scratch. So, a significant percentage is conversions. Out of our 17 company-owned, only one of those was a start-up.” BVM: If I were a practicing physical therapist, why would I want to convert and become a FYZICAL franchi- see? DiMauro: “The overall industry of physical therapy is experiencing declining reimbursement; it’s affecting every private practice owner. It’s simply due to our in- efficient healthcare system. In the past, we would only fix someone who was already broken. Today, there has been a shift towards prevention as it’s more cost effec- tive for the healthcare system. Looking at the past two decades of physical therapy, the rate of reimbursement has declined somewhere around a third, taking into ac- count inflation. So, in physical therapy, today, you simply can’t keep doing what you’ve always done. Expenses are increasing, rents are going up, utilities are going up, etc. and that’s a fundamental business challenge. So, the business model within physical therapy is obsolete; it’s a broken business model and we have the answer.” “FYZICAL provides a revolutionary, innovative busi- ness model with ways to be less dependent on in- surance reimbursement. Our business model is based around prevention and creating lifetime relationships FYZICAL THERAPY AND BALANCE CENTERS with our patients. Commonly, at the end of physical therapy, you discharge your patient. If you were to come to a traditional physical therapy practice – let’s say you had a knee replacement – they would look at your knee and nothing else; they would fix your knee and noth- ing else; they would fix your knee and then send you on your way. At FYZICAL, whatever brought you in, we provide. At FYZICAL, it’s very different. We take a holistic approach; we’re looking at your entire body. So, at time of discharge – after we fix you for whatever brought you to us – we will provide a proprietary muscular/ skeletal assessment that we call ‘BodyQ.™’ It’s similar to an IQ test that you would take as a child to compare your intelligence. BodyQ does that for your body – your muscles, your joints, your vision, your hearing – so we can pinpoint challenges before they become serious injuries. BodyQ’s a cash-based service and it’s also a service that our patients can elect to do on an annual or bi-annual basis. So we are helping our franchisees create residual income opportunities that are not de- pendent upon insurance reimbursement.” BVM: So, in a sense, you’re cross-selling. DiMauro: “We’re creating residual products and services; bridging the gap into health and wellness. As previously stated, we have a big focus on prevention – moving from episodic care to preventive medicine. A lot of our programs are based around addressing challeng- es today before they become serious tomorrow.” BVM: Who are your potential franchisees? DiMauro: “Originally, we launched targeting physical therapists for the conversion model. Today, we also tar- get otolaryngologists - ENTs are what they’re commonly called – Ear, Nose, and Throat doctors. Otolaryngology is a physician specialty that deals with a plethora of pa- tients with dizziness. And ENT physicians refer patients to physical therapists. So, instead of going to the last source – physical therapists – we’re going to where the patient is referred in the first place. Just like orthope- dic surgeons have been successful in adding physical therapy to their practices, that’s exactly what we’re doing with ENTs; we’re adding balance centers into existing practices, where they can treat a patient along www.carecredit.com | 866-853-8432 The CareCredit healthcare credit card helps patients fit out-of-pocket costs into their monthly budget. Your center receives payment in two business days — helping accelerate revenue and cash flow. Find out howCareCredit can help your center. Help keep your patients and revenue healthy with CareCredit.