Couverture de Future-Proof PT

Future-Proof PT

Future-Proof PT

De : Dana Strauss PT DPT and Alex Bendersky PT DPT
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Want to stay ahead of the curve in physical therapy? Future Proof PT brings you straight-talking, no-nonsense conversations about what really matters in healthcare today. From dissecting policy risks and opportunities to exploring innovative practice and payment models to practical ways to accelerate your career growth, we're your go-to source for understanding the forces reshaping our profession and the healthcare industry at large.


Through candid dialogue and real-world perspectives, we're building a community of forward-thinking professionals working both in and out of direct patient care. They aren't just adapting to change – they're shaping it.


Whether you're looking to understand market dynamics or seeking professional growth, each episode delivers actionable insights that will transform how you view the future of healthcare. Come join the conversation!

Copyright 2025 Dana Strauss, PT, DPT and Alex Bendersky, PT, DPT Economie Hygiène et vie saine Maladie et pathologies physiques Politique et gouvernement Sciences politiques
Épisodes
  • Episode 35: AI Was the Boogeyman. A Year Later, Everyone Was Using It.

    Episode 35: AI Was the Boogeyman. A Year Later, Everyone Was Using It.
    Sep 19 2026
    Chris Hoekstra watched PT's AI panic flip in twelve months at the same annual meeting, and he explains what that reversal says about how this profession actually changes.Chris has been a PT for about 25 years. He also holds a PhD in clinical informatics, teaches organizational behavior at Oregon Health & Science University, and leads clinical transformation work at Therapeutic Associates. He calls himself a sociotechnologist, and that turned out to be the right word for this conversation.We got into why PT has been slow to adopt technology, why most therapists can't tell you what an RVU is when every physician can, the difference between quality and value, and what Chris thinks leadership actually requires. He also tells the story of a quality dashboard rollout that made therapists call in sick.What we cover:→ Why the HITECH Act money went to medicine and PT paid its own way → The four levers that decide whether anybody changes anything → The gap between the scope therapists have and the codes they can bill → Quality and value, and why treating them as the same word keeps us stuck → What $800 a day buys in a skilled nursing facility → Why a quality number feels like a verdict on your character → What CMS is signaling in this year's requests for information → The three ingredients that put a clinician in flowChapters:00:00 Meet Chris Hoekstra 02:15 Why PT lagged on technology 04:05 What actually forces change 07:13 When patients start acting like consumers 10:29 The four levers behind every decision 12:45 The scope we have and the codes we don't 15:41 "I want an hour with my patients" 16:55 Quality and value are not the same 19:16 $800 a day to walk down the hall 22:09 The patient who wants the ultrasound 24:34 The 10 percent echo chamber 25:30 A failure of leadership 29:26 They have to feel it 31:12 Confident humility and one percent better 32:26 Every physician knows what an RVU is 35:06 AI, second brains, and what it's for 37:45 When AI alone outperformed the doctor 38:28 From boogeyman to ChatGPT in one year 41:56 The dashboard that made PTs call in sick 43:46 What quality even means anymore 46:06 What CMS is signaling in the RFIs 48:31 PT as prevention 50:40 Part of the primary care team 53:29 The recipe for flow 54:36 What every PT should understandA few quotes from Chris during in this episode. Listen for them:"I had more than one PT, the first day we rolled it out, call in sick, because they thought maybe they would be the lowest performing person on that dashboard. That's the amount of fear we have with people when you start to show these.""Historically we've dumbed down PT to say it's visits plus units.""We went from one year boogeyman to the next year put everything in ChatGPT. It just takes a couple of people getting a good outcome from it. And we're lemmings, so we're gonna follow.""We teach our PTs to look at the efficacy of their care in a frame of one, always. What we rarely do is roll those up into populations to say, how am I doing en masse?""Be confident, but first be humble. Every day step into it saying, I'm not where I need to be. And if I am, I should probably retire.""MIPS has been a travesty in many respects, with an overfocus on process measures that actually don't change care. Everyone's gonna game the system when you throw money at it."Find the full transcript and Chris' bio here. Follow Chris on Linked In here.Hosts: Alex Bendersky and Dana StraussFollow Dana Strauss on Linked In.Follow Alex Bendersky on Linked In.Subscribe to the Future Proof PT Linked In page.Subscribe to the Future Proof PT YouTube Channel.Subscribe to our newsletter and email list.Subscribe to our sister newsletter, Timeless Autonomy, Dana covers health policy insights and career growth tips for healthcare professionals and sends a weekly newsletter (nearly) every Sunday evening.Want information on PT and OT reimbursement and opportunities in policy and advocacy? Read Dana's guest post series for OT Potential here: How OTs and PTs Get Paid and Therapy and Value-Based Care Models.
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    55 min
  • Episode 34: PT Has a Capacity Problem. Hybrid Care is the Answer

    Episode 34: PT Has a Capacity Problem. Hybrid Care is the Answer
    Aug 3 2026
    Net Health's Ben Barron on the 12,000-therapist shortage, what CMS' proposed RTM changes would mean for rural practices, and how to create access to physical therapists' expertise starting today.The physical therapy profession is 12,000 therapists short, with no catch-up projected until 2037 at the earliest. Demand is climbing. Filling the schedule is not the problem. We should be focused on how to serve more of the community with the therapists we already have.Ben Barron is a physical therapist, former co-owner of a 23-clinic orthopedic private practice, and an executive at Net Health. He joins Alex and Dana to talk about what therapists can do about capacity right now.Ben said this perfectly: "We're going to be busy. The question is: How do we want to be busy?"The through line is more evaluations, hybrid and tech-supported care paths, remote touchpoints between visits, and care segmented by clinical need rather than by who called first. Besides being ways to address access issues, they're the pre-value-based steps that prepare a practice for what's coming and let therapy meet its physician partners where they already are on their own VBC journey. How? By delivering the thing those partners need most, which is prompt, skilled evaluation and reliable access to care for their patients best managed by physical therapists.In this episode, we cover this and more:• The workforce math that makes hybrid care a necessity rather than a preference • Why the 40-minute one-on-one visit came from the 8-minute rule, not the evidence • Visit frequency dogma, and what the evidence actually supports • Why a wait list is rationing, and why "we're full" isn't a success metric • The eval math: why skewing toward evaluations helps finances and patients • RTM, hybrid visits, and the 166 hours a week you're not with your patient • Why promising cost savings is the argument that loses regulators • What primary care and behavioral health figured out about access first • How to be ready for value-based care before you ever sign a contractTwo other quotes from Ben during the episode that we love (listen to hear the context!):"We are incrementally making an imperfect system less imperfect.""We ration care every single day."Chapters:00:11 — Music intro and welcome00:42 — Ben Barron’s background in physical therapy and health tech03:04 — Are technology tools making therapists’ work easier?07:37 — Workforce shortages, demand, and access to care10:51 — RTM: reimbursement changes and remote monitoring18:59 — Why RTM adoption has been slow26:06 — Rethinking one-on-one care and embracing hybrid models39:33 — What prevents practices from changing44:04 — Access, value-based care, and a more sustainable practice model52:30 — Building a future focused on lives impacted54:08 — Closing thoughts and thanksFind the full transcript and Ben's bio here. Follow Ben on Linked In here.Hosts: Alex Bendersky and Dana StraussWant information on PT and OT reimbursement and opportunities in policy and advocacy? Read Dana's guest post series for OT Potential here: "How OTs and PTs Get Paid" and Therapy and Value-Based Care Models.Follow Dana Strauss on Linked In.Follow Alex Bendersky on Linked In.Subscribe to the Future Proof PT Linked In page.Subscribe to the Future Proof PT YouTube Channel.Subscribe to our newsletter and email list.Subscribe to our sister newsletter, Timeless Autonomy, Dana covers health policy insights and career growth tips for healthcare professionals and sends a weekly newsletter (nearly) every Sunday evening.
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    55 min
  • Episode 33: How Physical Therapists Prove Their Value in Value-Based Care

    Episode 33: How Physical Therapists Prove Their Value in Value-Based Care
    Jul 25 2026
    VA Leader Brian Westlake, PT, DPT, Cert MDT on how to impact total cost of care, what it means to control healthcare spending in a fixed budget and how primary care is crucial, outcomes-accountable care, and MSK triage in primary care.After 25 years leading inside the Veterans Administration, Brian Westlake came away certain that future of the physical therapy profession depends on moving upstream, into the primary care team.He saw it firsthand. As an executive overseeing a ~$400 million budget in the Bronx, Brian watched primary care teams do what fragmented, downstream care couldn't do. They keep budgets viable and get patients the right care as early as possible. He has a high conviction that this is a better model for PT and that it's the only way the profession secures its future, steps fully into its role in the healthcare system, and has a bigger impact on patients.He starts off with the story of four patients, all sent to him for evaluations for shoulder pain. Two actually had a neck, not shoulder impairment, and some had already gotten injections and an MRI of the shoulder before anyone screened the spine. It's exactly the wasted downstream spend that earlier PT contact is built to prevent.Dana, Alex, and Brian get into:– Why PTs belong at the front of the system as the MSK triage point of contact– The VA's PACT model, and why MSK should follow behavioral health into primary care– Outcomes-accountable care and the IMC model (25% MSK cost reduction, at risk)– The Choice Act and Mission Act, and how community-care spend exploded– Telehealth that actually scales: e-consults, store-and-forward, video-to-home– Why weak outcomes collection is the thing holding PT back– Speaking the language payers reward: total cost of care and "days at home"Brian's message to the profession: We've earned a seat in the broader healthcare arena, we underestimate our own impact, and we can't afford to wait. We have to demonstrate the impact we can have so it becomes the norm for primary care providers and patients alike.Tune in for the rest of the conversation!Chapters00:09 — Introduction: Brian Westlake’s VA career and virtual PT practice03:35 — What it means for physical therapy to move “upstream”10:47 — The value of early MSK assessment in primary care13:37 — Building primary-care teams with embedded PT support17:23 — The need for standardized, outcomes-driven PT care18:42 — Integrated MSK Care: accountability, outcomes, and lower downstream costs23:17 — How the VA evolved: outpatient care, the Choice Act, and the Mission Act29:56 — E-consults and telehealth as tools for access and triage36:25 — Why outcomes data matters for PT’s future and AI39:09 — Proving value through total cost of care44:41 — The practical barriers facing independent practices47:28 — Primary care as the path to innovation and scale48:46 — Advocacy, interoperability, and avoiding professional stagnation51:06 — Why Brian is optimistic about PT’s future54:54 — Closing: start small, pilot partnerships, and move forwardFind the full transcript and Brian's Bio here. Follow Brian on Linked In.About the show: Future Proof PT is a podcast for physical therapists, physical therapists assistants, and others who want to think beyond the clinic, about policy, payment, identity, and the future of the profession.Hosts: Alex Bendersky and Dana StraussWant information on PT and OT reimbursement and opportunities in policy and advocacy? Read Dana's guest post series for OT Potential here: "How OTs and PTs Get Paid" and Therapy and Value-Based Care Models.Follow Dana Strauss on Linked In.Follow Alex Bendersky on Linked In.Subscribe to the Future Proof PT Linked In page.Subscribe to the Future Proof PT YouTube Channel.Subscribe to our newsletter and email list.Subscribe to our sister newsletter, Timeless Autonomy, Dana covers health policy insights and career growth tips for healthcare professionals and sends a weekly newsletter (nearly) every Sunday evening.
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    55 min
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