When I first started blogging, I thought about every post being titled after a song of my favorite artist, Bruce Springsteen. I abandoned the idea quickly after realizing his proclivity for songwriting is more than mine for blog authoring.
However, I couldn’t help think of this song as I tossed many recent PT magazines down the trash. Side note: Bruce performed this song that he didn’t write (that would be Young Paul )on the Sessions Band Tour and you can hear it live on the Live in Dublin DVD). I tossed them into the trash simply because they did not represent the “common people”-what our industry does on a day to day basis.
While carrying the private practice PT magazine, PT the magazine for PT’s, and the various “wouldn’t wrap a dead rat in” throw away non-APTA journals, the content on PT as a “cash” business was dominating-grossly over representing our industry.
I realize that there are the “chosen” few who have a cash based business typically surrounding a niche and often times not even really being a PT practice (e.g. Pilates, fitness, etc.) per se but to deceive the mass plankton like ourselves that this is either a megatrend or the wave of the future is both foolish and damaging to our profession.
It is foolish because the market has no pent up demand for cash paying elective PT services. “Concierge” medicine is a microtrend simply because there is an inability to access primary care docs in some markets and there are some people willing to pay a premium for it (certainly not “common people”). PT practices around the country aren’t suffering due to lack of ability to access our services, they are suffering because of the hi cost of co-pays in some markets coupled with declining reimbursement, increased cost of doing business, unkind regulatory environment and encroachment. Is it realistic to think that we will be abandoning a third party reimbursement schematic anytime soon?
It is damaging to our profession because it further “clouds” the picture of what we do and who we benefit the most. While there is little to no consumer demand for cash payments to traditional PT clinics, there is a pent up demand for people suffering from musculoskeletal injuries who would do well to access a PT where we have demonstrated cost effectiveness and efficacy. If only more people knew about this-there’s the marketing and branding challenge.
For those of you that have a cash based only business-congratulations and please consider yourself fortunate. I am sure that you are more in number than blackberry thumbs treated by PTs but the rest of “common people” have too many other things to worry about in this industry and don’t need to be overwhelmed with the misrepresentation of your prevelance and viability in our journals.
Thoughts?
