Find the full episode transcript here.

Posting more isn’t a growth strategy. Kylie Williams joins us to break down why “marketing to patients” on social media is getting harder, and why the clinics that win are the ones building culture that therapists actually want to be part of. We talk retention, autonomy, flexibility, benefits that matter, and a simple “side quest” approach to content that does not derail clinical excellence.

Kylie is a healthcare professional with 8+ years of experience in physical therapy as a PTA. Now in a non-clinical role, she focuses on industry market analysis and storytelling to help private practices grow, adapt, and stay strong in a change healthcare landscape.

Key Topics:

-Social media's impact on private practice growth

-Creating a strong clinic culture to reduce turnover

-Innovative marketing strategies for healthcare providers

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Kylie Williams

01:36 The Importance of Culture in Physical Therapy

05:05 Defining and Building a Positive Work Culture

09:29 Targeting the Right Audience for Recruitment

18:15 First Principles for Engaging New Clinicians

23:07 The Impact of Social Media on Attention Spans

23:40 Balancing Attention and Depth in Learning

25:20 Navigating the Attention Economy

26:10 Attracting Talent in a Digital Age

27:04 Creating Value in Social Media Content

28:27 The Challenge of Teaching Value in Social Media

30:18 Connecting Social Media to Business Success

32:12 Investing in Marketing Education for Therapists

34:03 Finding Balance in Clinical and Promotional Roles

37:15 The Role of Influencers in Modern Careers

39:07 Empowering Clinicians to Pursue Side Projects

40:47 The Importance of Agency in Clinical Roles

42:36 Shifting Paradigms in Therapy Business Models

44:40 Embracing Creativity and Optimism in Therapy

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."

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(read the full transcript here)

In this episode, Alex and Dana discuss the CMMI ACCESS Model and what it could unlock for MSK care inside ACOs. They debate digital enablement reality and explain how aligned incentives can reshape referral pathways. They make a direct case the that the physical therapy profession's future depends on understanding payment mechanics.

A core theme of this episode is that if PT stays positioned as specialty care based on "treatment minutes" as the primary service, it will keep losing in a system shifting relative value units (RVUs) toward primary care and behavioral health. If PT repositions around evaluation-driven expertise and ACO partnership, the profession can move from survival to influence.

Here's what else you'll learn:

• Why the ACCESS Model payments are intentionally low, and why that is not the point.
• How ACOs think about total cost of care and why MSK spend is hard for primary care to manage.
• What “aligned incentives” can look like in a PCP + ACO + ACCESS org + PT partnership.
• Why engagement is often 3–5% for digital MSK programs, and what that means in context.
• A practical “go do this tomorrow” play for clinics: identify local ACO participants and pursue Preferred Provider relationships.
• The RVU basics most therapists never learned, and why it changes your advocacy strategy.
• Why PTs should prioritize evaluation, differential diagnosis, and plan-setting, with PTAs executing more follow-up care.
• How waitlists and access challenges become non-starters if PT wants to play in ACO-aligned care.
• A potential new productivity mindset: RVU-based expectations instead of “visits per week.”

Want more 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."

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 for exclusive content.

Subscribe to our sister newsletter, Timeless Autonomy, Dana covers health policy insights and career growth tips for healthcare professionals and sends a weekly newsletter every Sunday evening.

We sit down today with Sergei Polevikov (FixHealth.ai, Well.AI / Chart2Chart) for a reality-check conversation on what AI in healthcare actually is, where it genuinely helps today, and where the hype can cause harm.

Sergei breaks down AI’s evolution from early machine learning to modern transformer models, then moves from definitions into the real stakes: transparency, validation, and workflow fit. Then we discuss with him the risk of overpromising in musculoskeletal care.

The conversation zooms in on a massive, under-discussed shift: Medicare’s growing interest in digitally enabled care models that can substitute for traditional services, and what that could mean for PTs, patients, and outcomes. Sergei explains why digital-first triage is likely the future, while also outlining the biggest watch-outs right now, including hallucinations, automation bias, incomplete data, and the lack of real-time interoperability that healthcare needs most.

We also cover a PT and OT relevant rubric for separating hype from real clinical value: does the tool augment PT judgment and continuity of care, or is it being positioned (and reimbursed) to substitute for PT, especially in emerging Medicare digital-first models?

Takeaways from the episode should help outline what to pressure-test before adoption or referral: safety guardrails and hallucination risk, transparency and validation in real-world MSK populations, EHR/workflow fit (not “more clicks”), and whether the vendor’s incentives align with outcomes vs. billing.

Clinicians are concerned about AI "replacing clinicians tomorrow," but that's not reality and it distracts from the real issue. The biggest threat is poorly governed digital care pathways that can bypass PT and OT, fragment care, and dilute instead of improve accountability unless the evidence and oversight are truly there.

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 for exclusive content.