What if your highest-graduating clinicians all shared a few simple habits—and you could teach them to everyone on your team? In this conversation, Chad Madden and Dr. Ben Fung reveal the small, repeatable behaviors that turn full schedules into raving fans, better retention, and a healthier PT business.
Many clinics obsess over visits, billed units, or other sub-metrics. However, those numbers can mask what actually drives growth: engaged patients who complete their plans of care and return—and who share their experiences with friends. Meanwhile, leaders struggle to read employee sentiment until it’s too late, losing clinicians to churn that could have been predicted.
Key Insights
Manage to production, not just sub-metrics. Chad’s team simplified performance into a weekly production goal anchored to what truly matters: filled schedules and graduated patients. High performers consistently hit both.
Match the message to the mind. One clinician’s “secret sauce”: identify whether a patient is more numbers-oriented or function/emotion-oriented. With the former, show progress in measurable terms; with the latter, anchor outcomes to meaningful life activities—like being able to sit on the floor and play with a grandchild. Same care, different framing, dramatically better buy-in.
Always end on a win. Borrowing from behavioral science (think Daniel Kahneman’s peak-end rule), top clinicians tackle the hardest task early, then finish with something the patient can accomplish successfully before they leave. The result: patients leave feeling capable and motivated to return.
Corporate Quality Index (CQI) as your early-warning system. UpDoc’s CQI blends ~8 items (e.g., pay perception, culture alignment, social responsibility, NPS-style questions). Two takeaways stood out:
Intention to stay ≥9 signals true loyalty; ≤8.5 means they’re already looking.
In peak hiring seasons, ~4.5–3.5 and below often means applications are already submitted.
CQI visualizes hotspots (teams, supervisors, or “rogue” outliers) so leaders can intervene before attrition bites.
Treat care like a stage. From how you greet in the waiting room to your stance by the bike, micro-behaviors tug on emotional centers that shape decisions. High performers tend to ask far more questions and practice active listening at a multiple of peers.
Chad’s clinic observed a clinician graduating ~100% of patients over a full quarter while staying fully booked. When they deconstructed her encounters, consistent patterns emerged:
Early difficult work, late easy win.
Rapid assessment of the patient’s “language” (data vs. daily life) and tailored explanations accordingly.
Visible, warm nonverbals—eye engagement, body angle toward the patient, and positive tone.
A high question-to-statement ratio, approximating 4:1, which invited collaboration and surfaced obstacles early.
This checklist became a training tool: ten observable behaviors that new hires can practice, coach on, and measure.
The playbook for growth isn’t a mystery metric—it’s the compounding effect of human moments done right. Set production goals that reflect finished care, frame progress in the patient’s language, and end every visit on a win. Use a lightweight CQI pulse to catch retention risk early and coach leaders with data. Finally, borrow from retail behavioral science (see Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy) to refine patient experience beyond tests and scores.
Want help building your clinic’s behavior checklist or CQI pulse? Share this episode with your team and start with one change this week.
Ready to scale your practice? Schedule a demo with us and see how Breakthrough’s growth platform can fit into your practice. https://getbreakthrough.com/demo/
The Corporate Quality Index (CQI) 2024 Report
