Well the time has come to vote on your favorite Holiday card for the season.  This year we had some really great cards and we will be rewarding the top 3 cards in the new year.  I hope you will all take a minute out of your busy days to vote on these very spirited and festive cards.

Just click on the link below to start the process and remember to only vote for your favorite.  Have fun!

Holiday Card Contest Poll

I thought about this a bit this week. For some of us, the pressures of getting it “ALL” done right the first time seems so easy to consultants, facility leaders and others who are afforded the time to criticize our work yet doing the work and doing it well and with passion is not always easy. Recently I was speaking to a consultant who was sharing with me some issues she found when visiting another Skilled Nursing Facility in the area… As a consultant she and her team discovered some areas that could be improved.  The message was here is a problem and it needs to be fixed.  As a result there was heightened pressure of the SNF owners, consultants down to direct pressures on the healthcare team… to correct X, Y and Z issues and do it yesterday!

What really caught my attention was during this process, speaking to the consultant it was revealed that other organizations are “much worse than the organization in question, in fact ”X” facility has some of the best we’ve seen” yet the message to the facilities, and filtered down to the team was here is a problem and fix it yesterday!

I believe too often we focus our energy on the 2% of issues and forget to appreciate the 98% of the efforts that we do daily to make a positive difference.

A growing trend in Physical Therapy is the use of IASTM.  Frankly most people do not understand the value of it.  Let me do my best to explain through a little Q and A.

Q.  What is IASTM?

                A.  IASTM is a form of massage where “instruments” or a “Tool” is used in place of one’s hands.

Q.  Why would I want IASTM?

                A.  Early Research and growing anecdotal evidence leads us to believe patients get better results.

Q.  How does IASTM work?

                A.  Mechanically, early evidence suggests that IASTM works as a stimulant of the inflammatory cascade.  Meaning patients with muscular-skeletal problems involving muscles and soft tissue (i.e. Ligaments, Tendons and fascia) who suffer from chronic pain may have their tissue “stuck” in the healing cascade and unable to heal themselves.  Research shows that Fibroblasts are significantly stimulated with the technique.

Q.  When did IASTM begin?

                A.  Various models of the technique have been around in cultures for thousands of years.  In the Western Healthcare Model, IASTM began in earnest during the early to mid 90’s in Indiana.

Q.  Who and what are the IASTM techniques?

                A.  There are 3 major competitors in the IASTM market all originated from the same research and same principle “partners.”  The original Technique was called Grastech, changing its name to Graston after the founder David Graston.  Later on, Dr. Sevier, one of the principles left to start his own company ASTYM and later still, David Graston having sold Graston Technique started his own company SASTM.

Q.  What difference is there between the 3 major IASTM companies?

                A.  Materials, Education and Business Model.  The technique minus semantic vernacular is the same.

Graston Technique:  Steel Instruments, 25.5 hours of training, clinician purchases for aprox $3700

ASTYM:  Plastic Instruments, 12 hours of training, clinician pays $700/yr for 10 years ($7000 total)

SASTM:  Plastic Instruments, 4-6 hours of training, aprox $1000 investment.

Q.  What does BURGER PHYSICAL THERAPY offer?

                A.  We offer Graston Technique at all twelve (12) of our sites.  We particularly like that the instruments are made of steel and therefore we feel more comfortably that they can be truly CLEANED between uses from one patient to the other.   Along with their quality clinical education are driving forces in our ability in maintaining a quality work environment.

Many analogies attempt to explain why we choose things.  “The grass is greener…”  “One man’s trash is another’s…”  “you say potato’, I say…” come to mind. 

This week I was reminded we can’t please everyone when I received a complaint from a client who did not like their Physical Therapist.   I was told that X Company in X location was better.  Maybe true…

But I got to thinking that Physical Therapists are simply people.  Like you and I, like the Doctors that refer us, we are ALL different.  No two of us are alike.  That’s when I took a breath and appreciated how great Burger Physical Therapy is.  We have a team of over 76 licensed clinicians in the 5 county Sacramento region.  Unlike other pastures where you might find one or two clinicians, we have the opportunity to work with people who have extraordinary experience in various fields and subspecialties.   This list is long… we have experts in almost every field!  That is what allows us to continue to be the first choice for area physicians. 

Today it was announced that Burger was once again the #1 Physical Therapy provider in the area.  With the support and trust of UC-Davis, Hills Physicians and many other Physician Groups, we say Thank You!

Something for us to be proud of!

I pondered our services this week as I tried to determine between a want and a need.  I was given a gift card recently to “Peets Coffee and Tea.”  Without much thought, I discovered myself frequenting Peets not once, but twice a day.  Why not?  Its free right…

Well, it’s not actually free as my gift card quickly dropped to a $.49 balance before I finished the month.

Isn’t this like Health Care???  When we have a low – no co pay why not see the Doctor for every ache, sniffle and cramp…  but when we have to pay for the services, we better be dying before we call for an appointment.    I wonder if everyone paid full Value for their services, how much of those services would be used?  Would we really have a MD, Nurse and Physical Therapy shortage?  

Probably not…

 “I wanted to catch you up on the Aide Games we had at our staff meeting last week.  We narrowed down 10 or so different “events” to four and had our 5 aides compete.  All of the events were related to aide tasks and each one had points attached.  The first competition was the towel fold/pillow prep.  They had 5 towels to fold and 2 pillows to put cases on.  Points were awarded based on order of finish.  The next event was the towel toss.  Each aide had the chance to throw towels into the towel basket and points were given depending on the location of made attempts.  We also had the kinesiotape cut where they raced to cut a piece of tape 6 inches long and round the edges.  Again, points were given based on order of finish.  The final event was the timer diffuser.  This one really separated the men from the boys.  We placed 5 timers throughout the clinic and set them to go off simultaneously.  We timed how long it took the aides to turn them all off and points were given.  I really wish we had video of this…everyone had a blast.  Winning prize (a pack of gum and $25 Visa gift card) but it was a close race.  We had a great time…pretty funny stuff.  Talk to you later! “

I wanted to thank our Roseville Team!  Often, we miss opportunities in life that are right in front of us.  We look for someone to do it… whatever “it” is or whoever that “somebody” should be… when in reality, we all have opportunities to be doers, add value to our patients and our co workers. What a great place and Team we have in Roseville.

If you see opportunities to add value and fun with your team, do it!  and when you have time, share it with me.

Through it all, one thing rings clear…The key buzzwords continue to be innovation and efficiency which is code for what technologies will allow us all to see more patients. 

Where and what does this mean for us, is still being debated.  Remember when your Doctor would be able to spend as much time as needed with you?  Now it seems that time is cut to the essential tasks of getting the job done… but what it that “job” and what will it be in the year and years to come?  I don’t have THE answer, but I do know our team is focused on making sure we feel value in our experience. 

Next week, we are moving into a new location in Natomas (by Arco arena) and we look forward to providing great value to our community.  April 1st will be our first day.  Feel free to look us up and stop in to say hello!

It’s easy to complain about healthcare pricing.  When I was a kid, I was told repeatedly that there are simply two types of people in this world… those that do things (you may not like what they are doing, but at least they are doing) and those that complain about those that do.  Doers and complainer’s we say in our house.

Needless to say, the constant complaining regarding our healthcare system is confusing.  What really is the point?  I for one don’t have the answer, but I was recently surprised to find out that behind the noise, there are people doing.  Simple solutions to one issue at a time, making life easier for everyday people like yours-truly. 

So what is so interesting that caught my attention?  $4 prescriptions at Walgreens.  You see, last year I had a ‘traditional’ HMO insurance plan with a $10 co pay.  This year, I decided to be a doer and enroll in a HSA were my responsibility is the first $2500 of all health care costs for the year.  My first trip in the New Year to Walgreens, I was shocked to pay only $4 for the same medicine that I paid $10 for the prior month.  What’s the difference I asked?  Simple, the insurance costs more, more people to pay for, more paper to push, more work that costs more money!  When you’re paying “cash,” there is only Walgreens and the patient so the costs are a lot less.

What the… I wanted to say!  But I said thank you with a ‘doing’ smile and went home.  If only our Hospitals were so simple.

This past week we were notified that Blue Shield is reducing their payment effective March 1^st for Rehab by approximately 7%.  This same week, it is being reported that Blue Cross is attempting to raise their premiums for health insurance 60% effective July 1^st.  My head is shaking… we are already working hard to deal with the 20-25% reduction on a portion of the Medicare payment that went into effect Jan 1^st.

Clearly, our healthcare system has some significant issues going forward.  What we pay for insurance is going up up up… what we are getting paid for our services is going down!  What does this all mean? 

Those of us that recognize the opportunity, realize that our way of doing our work, our business model will need to innovate.  We will need to be more efficient.  We will need to look at our “delivery systems.”  Those of us who do will be successful.  I am excited by the opportunities.  Through all the negative news, come opportunities for all of us to work for solutions. 

In the past 6 months alone, our company has grown to nearly 400 team members… we have added multiple new SNF teams in Southern California and Fort Bragg in Northern Ca.  We are expanding our Outpatient services in Natomas and are looking for an opportunity in the Bay Area.  Thank you for your efforts.

This past week, each of our outpatient clinics leaders gathered together for what has become an annual leadership day.  A full day starting with breakfast, organizational updates, HR updates, lunch and an afternoon of planning for the New Year.  I want to thank each of our 12 team leaders in Outpatient who took the efforts to add value to the team.  I also want to thank the clinic teams who worked and held down the “fort” last Thursday when all of them were out of the office. One of the key items we discussed was a refocus of our mission statement.  Our long standing mission statement reads   “We proudly acknowledge we are in business to make a positive difference in the lives of our patients, our employees and the community at large.”  In focusing our efforts we defined our mission statement a bit further to read:

“We proudly acknowledge we are in business to provide rehabilitation expertise and valued service in the lives of our families, patients and community at large.”

A slight change, but a significant change we believe will help guide us for 2011 and beyond.   As we add expertise and valued service, we head into 2011 with a focus on: Safety, Courtesy, Aesthetics, Valued Service, Delivery Systems and Innovation

 As a team we have a lot to look forward to this year.  There are great opportunities.  Please consider the pillars above in your service.  Please consider these in working with and making solutions possible with your team.  No ONE can do it all…  each of us has an opportunity to look, and offer solutions.