Over my time traveling throughout North America teaching our Post Rehab Professional workshops, I have noticed the highly successful Post Rehab Professionals (PRP’s) always have eight habits that guarantee their success. We will discuss each of these 8 habits and explain the effect each has on your post rehab practice. Successful PRP’s are able to develop safe and effective post rehab programs for many different medical conditions, effectively establish great, long-term referral relationships among the medical community, and many receive insurance reimbursement for their services. If you begin to develop these habits, I promise you will also grow a profitable and successful post rehab practice.
PRPs explain their scope of service and role in a clear and concise manner within their brochures, marketing materials and medical presentations. By explaining your scope of practice and clearly providing your menu of service, this allows you to position yourself as an expert in the rehab spectrum, rather than expecting someone else to understand who lacks the knowledge of your background and education. Not explaining your position, could result in an inaccurate definition that will negatively impact the future of your practice. Providing a clear understanding of post rehab fitness will further reinforce your scope of practice and prevent any misunderstanding or misconceptions regarding your role in the field.
PRP’s present to local medical clinics, professional medical organizations and local area support groups to teach these groups about the services he or she has available. This is a chance to include information on the PRP’s scope of practice, the postive role of the PRP for rehab individuals, the types of people PRP’s work with and the benefits of a post rehab exercise program. Offering a quick demonstration of a few easy to perform exercises should be included during the presentation. This demonstration will show the members of the audience the ease and simplicity of the exercise. Being able to experience the exercise often times converts members of the audience to new clients. Any successful PRP’s goal should be to make one presentation per month.
PRP’s document and shar their findings of the fitness assessments they perform and client progress to the approrpriate medical professional or insurance carrier. This ability to accurately report any issues and progress is a necessary skill each PRP should develop. If you are not able to inform the appropriate individuals about your findings and progress in a clear concise manner this could result in the loss of future referrals as well as being turned down for any insurance reimbursement. Appropriate post rehab forms and reporting guidelines are available to buy at www.postrehab.com and www.postrehabtoday.com.
Successful post rehab professionals always follow-up by telephone for all written or verbal inquiries with the appropriate medical professionals and insurance carriers. These calls should be made within 72 hours – the sooner the better. In doing this, you can make sure the medical professional or insurance carrier received your documentation and they can inform you if more detailed information is necessary. Written communication limits the subtle details a medical professional or insurance carrier often needs to help make an informed decision on the patient’s care and management. A timely follow-up call enhances PRP’s professional image.
Successful PRP’s assess and re-assess the post rehab client to establish a baseline for the program and to determine the client’s progress. The PRP must determine the appropriate assessment procedures to use to gain a clear understanding of the client’s ROM/flexibility, strength, endurance, balance and functional capacity. The assessment process should give the PRP a clear understanding of the client’s ability without precipitating an exacerbation of the client’s symptoms.
The PRP must progress the client to reach the goals established at the outset of the program. The PRP must progress the client without triggering an exacerbation of the client’s condition. The ability to progress the client requires a combination of understanding the client’s condition, knowledge of the progression guidelines and the ability to perform post rehab assessment techniques.
The PRP must motivate, encourage and help the post rehab client to reach the program goals. Being knowledgable on when and how to motivate the client but not set the client up for failure is a necessary trait each PRP should develop. Pain and discomfort could cause the post rehab client to become discouraged and even depressed. Knowledge in exercise prescription alone is not the only thing needed for post rehab success. The post rehab client usually needs more encouragement and support than the traditional fitness client.
PRPs educate their clients so they can better improve their own conditions. Having an educated client means they have a much better chance of success than the client with who does not understand their own condition. PRPs should also actively educate themselves and their staff members. Successful PRPs regularly attend workshops and seminars, and also conduct their own research on conditions and complications they see among their clients. PRPs use this new knowledge when enhancing their practice. Successful PRPs believe in continuous learning.
Post rehab is the new frontier in fitness. The post rehab professional who demonstrates the eight habits outlined above will see increased referrals, an enhancement of their reputation and increased practice revenue. Good habits promote great success. For more post rehab practice building ideas, please visit our website at www.postrehab.com http://www.postrehabtoday.com or email me at DrMike@postrehab.com.
Want to find out more about Post Rehab or Medical Rehab Programs, then visit Michael K. Jones, PhD, PT’s site on how to become certified as a the premier post rehab professional for your area.
