February 2002

Surviving and Thriving

By Brian R. Jacob, MHA

Surviving and Thriving

Determination, discipline, and dedication are the defining principles for WestArm Therapy Services.

My interest in pursuing a career in health care and ultimately in the rehabilitation sector stemmed from several personal influences. My father, a physical therapist, founded our company and established our first location prior to his death in 1991. His career had much influence on my interest in health care, but my own personal experiences were what piqued my interest in rehabilitation. In 1978, I was involved in a sporting accident that left me a complete C5 quadriplegic. I spent many months in rehabilitation as both an inpatient and outpatient. This experience gave me a personal insight and helped convince me that I could make a positive difference in the management of rehabilitation services.

WestArm Therapy Services has operated as a Medicare-certified rehabilitation agency since 1983. We currently own six outpatient facilities that offer physical and occupational therapy along with specialty programs of hand rehabilitation, osteoarthritis, lymphedema, orthopedic rehabilitation, and massage. Rehabilitation services are also provided in local schools, personal care homes, assisted living centers, and private homes.

Over the past 10 years, we at WestArm Therapy Services not only have been able to survive during this time of numerous changes in the health care industry, but we also have been able to thrive. In my youth, I devoted much time and effort to the sport of collegiate wrestling. During this time I learned that success requires an application of three principles-what I refer to as the 3-D effect: determination, discipline, and dedication. The utilization of these principles has positioned us to survive the uncertainties that change has brought, and enabled us to thrive within this environment.

Determination
In order to succeed at anything, it is first necessary to set goals for what you are trying to accomplish. The goals must be realistic, not too lofty, but not so simple that you will not need to work hard to reach them. At the time I took over WestArm Therapy Services in 1991, I decided that it was my goal for us to become the recognized leading rehabilitation provider within the primary geographic market that we service. I believed that this was a realistic goal because I was very familiar with the area and was able to readily assess the competition. At the time, there was competition from local hospital rehab departments and several private practice offices; however, the market was not saturated.

I began to look for geographic areas that were not being readily served or were being served poorly by others. Rehabilitation is a service-oriented business, therefore it is necessary to have the right staff who can provide the quality of service that will be recognized as the leader in this field. My focus on hiring has always been to prioritize the personality by finding individuals who exhibit a friendly, energetic, and outgoing attitude. Sure, it is important to have people with the proper experience and knowledge for a job position, but often these are skills that can be learned on a job, whereas a personality is not something that I can teach.

Discipline
Discipline is the willpower and hard work that it takes to maintain your determination for accomplishing established goals. Everyone can set goals and convince themselves that they are determined to accomplish them and succeed. However, it is the discipline that you apply to your work that will make the difference.

To be recognized as the leading rehabilitation provider in our service areas means that our clinical staff must be knowledgeable on the proper treatment techniques and protocols. Our director of clinical services, Patrick Sheehy, MS, PT, coordinates monthly staff in-services that are mandatory for all clinical staff to attend. By utilizing the talent and knowledge from each individual clinician, our staff is able to share their areas of expertise with each other. These in-services have allowed our staff to become familiar with each other's areas of interest and establish a rapport that allows them to call on each other when faced with uncertainty regarding a particular treatment situation or patient condition.

Clinical staff are allotted an annual budget to attend seminars and conferences that will increase their knowledge of a clinical subject or area of interest. However, they are required to then share this continued education with staff members in future in-service meetings. Subscriptions to current publications and journals are maintained by the company for therapists so they have ongoing knowledge of what is current in the field and can share them with other clinical staff. I believe that if we want to accomplish our established goals, we must stay abreast of current treatment approaches. In addition, we have always considered the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment an assurance that patients have the best options available in their treatment.

We at WestArm Therapy have disciplined ourselves to know and recognize who our customers are and to do everything possible to please them. All of our staff are disciplined to adhere to this basic principle.

All of us interact with our customers on a daily basis and we make every attempt to please them. This includes excellent phone skills that portray us positively and efficiently. Proper tone of voice and communication are emphasized to maintain our reputation. A dress code is necessary so that we always present a professional appearance to our customers.

We make sure that patients are scheduled within 48 hours from their first contact with us and provide them with the details of their insurance coverage for our services. If a patient is experiencing financial hardship, I will make special payment arrangements for them. The key here is to work for our customers and do everything to make their experience with us pleasurable. The attention to small details is what separates us from our competitors. The details that ensure our correspondence to referring physicians is timely, concise, and neat include how our facilities look from the outside and inside when a customer first walks in, the type of reading material available in our waiting area, the temperatures of our rooms, the proper lighting, and the overall cleanliness. Paying attention to these details requires discipline from all staff members throughout the company, including myself.

Instilling the right attitude in our staff is of utmost importance in fulfilling our philosophy of customer relations. Our staff members are in-serviced on the importance of a good attitude and reminded of this regularly. We provide incentives to our employees in hopes of maintaining a positive attitude throughout their work day.

We are dedicated to providing superior customer service. The importance of this goal is emphasized in each employee's job description, and it is evaluated regularly along with other job duties. Annual increases and performance incentives are based on many responsibilities but, ultimately, on demonstrating excellent customer service skills.

Dedication
Dedication demonstrates a long-term commitment to carrying out the goals established. A true commitment and dedication to expending the resources necessary to establish our reputation as the leading rehabilitation provider. I have always believed that it is necessary to spend money in order to make money. We are a for-profit company and are considerate of the bottom line. However, I believe that we must be willing to spend money for recruiting and retaining good employees, continued education, state-of-the-art equipment, proper staffing levels, advertising and promotion, and presentation of our physical facilities.

In my wrestling days, in order to be better than my competitor, I had to work harder than him in my training. If I knew my competitor was running five miles a day, then I would start running six. This same theory of dedication is applied to the operation of WestArm Therapy. A dedication to working hard to please our customers and fulfilling their needs has given us the means to survive and thrive in today's competitive rehab environment.

Brian R. Jacob, MHA, is president of WestArm Therapy Services in Lower Burrell, Pa.

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