Navigating Your Physical Therapy Practice Through Crisis: The COVID-19 PT Resource Guide

Have a Schedule/ Routine to Maintain a Sense of Normalcy + Remember How Best To “Talk” Your Partner/Spouse’s Love Language

• If you haven’t read the book “The 5 Love Languages” by Dr. Gary Chapman, check out this site for the fast track.

Only Make Decisions Based on Credible Sources of Information

• CDC.gov 

  • Main COVID-19 section

  • Main Info page specifically for Healthcare Professionals

  • Downloadable resources to print and use in your clinic

• WHO.int 

• Your local government (state or province site)

  • For example, many have specific sections or separate websites now dedicated to COVID-19 within the Dept of Health:

    • Pennsylvania

    • California

    • New York

• Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – Coronavirus Page

• Specifically for Physical Therapy…

  • American Physical Therapy Association

  • Private Practice Section (PPS) of the APTA

    • The COVID-19 Special Issue of Impact Magazine

    • A comprehensive (and continually updated) FAQ doc about Covid-19 and your Private Practice

  • Your state chapter, for example:

    • Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Association (PPTA)

    • California Physical Therapy Association (CPTA)

    • New York Physical Therapy Association (NYPTA) 

• Compliance Advice – Business & Clinical Management Services, Inc. (BCMS)

  • Mary Daulong is the “Queen of Compliance” (and a PT herself). 

• Legal Advice – Straight from Lawyers

  • Paul Welk of Tucker Arensberg (Corporate & Health Law Lawyer – and he’s also a PT) – he is highly recommended in our PT network

    Scott Leah of Tucker Arensberg (Employment Lawyer Expert – colleague of Paul Welk’s)… go straight to employment lawyers specifically for advice on employee matters

Have a Schedule/ Routine to Maintain a Sense of Normalcy + Remember How Best To “Talk” Your Partner/Spouse’s Love Language

• The “Grey to Black Plan”

  • Video of Chad walking through the overall process

  • Video of Chad walking through the Pro Forma worksheet tool

  • Chad’s Pro Forma worksheet tool -> found in the “Files” section of the Facebook group

• U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) – COVID-19 guidance and loan info

  • The 3 Step Process for Disaster Loans 

• Consider looking up state-specific small business relief loans or work share programs via the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) site

  • Ex. NYC Less Than 100 Employee Small Business Relief 

  • Ex. Massachusetts WorkShare Program

  • EX. California Work Sharing Program

    • San Francisco

    • San Diego Workforce Partnership

• The Cash Stress Test PLUS full access to a bunch of tools for 3 months to help your business during the COVID-19 crisis (shared from Verne Harnish of Scaling Up) 

  • Go to the link and enter 6 numbers from your financials. Then login and click on the “Stress Test My Business” button and follow the instructions.

• 3/27/20 Interview with Bob Kowalick on Accounts Receivable, Billing for Telehealth, and all things Stimulus Package. As a PT himself, and former Practice Owner, Bob is passionate about helping Private Practice PT’s get paid more and get paid faster with his company Revenue Cycle Solutions, LLC formerly known as Certified Reimbursement Solutions, LLC. 

  • Bob Kowalick’s contact – [email protected]

• The COVID-19 Stimulus Package: The Senate Bill: To provide emergency assistance and health care response for individuals, families, and businesses affected by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Have a the tough conversations. Be human and understanding, we are in this together.

• The 6 Step Framework for Communication with Staff
• 3/23/20 Chad’s video walkthrough of Paul Welk’s Employment Docs… “Personnel Decisions: Layoff, Furlough, Reductions in Pay or Hours”
  • Got the OK from Paul Welk to share these two docs (posted as PDFs – look in “Files” section in the FB group)
    • 3/19/20 Paul Welk Guidelines – Coronavirus/COVID-19: – General Considerations for Physical Therapy Private Practices
    • 3/19/20 Paul Welk Guidelines – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Legal Update on Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”)1
• 3/25/20 BCMS’s SIPA Issue 278 – March 25, 2020 – HR Related Decisions During COVID-19 
  • 3/25/20 FFCRA summary
  • 3/25/20 Summary on Layoffs/ Furloughs/ Reduced Hours/ Unemployment

3/26/20 Breakthrough’s COVID-19 Webcast #2: How To Best Navigate Employment Law Issues Relating To The Pandemic (special guest, Scott Leah, Employment Lawyer)

We are here to help your Physical Therapy business survive and thrive. Community is the best remedy.

• 3/19/20 Breakthrough’s COVID-19 Webcast #1: Best Practices for Navigating Your Physical Therapy Clinic Through Crisis (special guest, Mike Lewis, practice owner)
• 3/14/20 Interview with Mike Lewis, practice owner and currently earning his PhD in Healthcare Leadership. Mike’s Physical Therapy clinic is 3.5 miles from the Seattle nursing home where the first US cases of COVID-19 popped up. This interview kicked off “How to Handle COVID-19 at Ground Zero”
  • Facebook Group Post
• 3/16/20 Interview with Tom Dalonzo-Baker, previous practice owner and founder of Total Motion Release (TMR), discussing how to implement a simple system for telehealth PT treatment.
  • Facebook Group Post
  • Special Offer! Access to free training at totalmotionrelease.com 
• 3/25/20 BCMS’s SIPA Issue 277 – March 25, 2020 — CORVID-19, New Symptoms, Telehealth, E-Visits
  • Patient/Employee Questionnaire that you can provide to everyone to determine their exposure risk (in “Files” section of FB group)
  • Facility Message to use for communication with patients/staff regarding Corvid-19. The first is a patient statement that you can customize (in “Files” section of FB group)
  • Patient Decision Tree – which is essentially a guideline on how to implement/utilize the patient questionnaire (in “Files” section of FB group)
  • Facility Decision Tree – basically the guideline for how to implement/utilize the questionnaire for employees (in “Files” section of FB group)

Full article from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery stating that evidence is rapidly accumulating from sites around the world that anosmia (smell blindness) and dysgeusia (distortion of the sense of taste) are significant symptoms associated with the COVID-19 pandemic  (in “Files” section of FB group)