Last week marked our sixth OPIE Con, a Futura and OPIE Software user conference and training event.  Over 200 attendees, sponsors, and staff convened at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay from May 3-5^th.  The 2018 event featured new content, revamped tracks, and new speakers.  At OPIE Con there is a little something for everyone, and the education provided is unlike anything else in the O&P profession. Connecting and collaborating is another big part of OPIE Con.

From icebreakers to group activities during the morning keynote, to ending the day with a fun reception – conference goers are never bored and walk away having built relationships with colleagues that can help them as they move forward in their offices.Each morning after the keynote speech, attendees break off into their specific educational track – Office Management or Clinical Management.  The three day program includes numerous breakout sessions that cover topics from clinical documentation and change management to the who, what when, where and why of effective WIP meetings.  Here’s a taste of what one of our many OPIE Con sessions cover:

Valerie Vastola, Administrative Trainer, walked attendees through how to run a data driven staff meeting that ensures your team is achieving daily tasks and goals.  Doing this small act each week helps to predict and prevent problems that may arise in your office.  Here are some basics that Valerie provided during her sessions:

 

How Do Weekly WIP Meetings Help my Patients and my Business?

• Weekly staff meetings will ensure you are getting the most out of your software program
• You will rule out problems that may occur and provide better patient care
• Avoid chaos later during audits
• You will ensure open and honest communication between staff members
• Builds trust, camaraderie and growth for the company and team
• Weekly WIP meetings are critical to the successful management of an O&P office.

• The meetings should be held weekly
• Pick a day and time that will work for all staff
• Keep the day and time each week and don’t change it
• Enter a recurring appointment in the schedule for all practitioners

• Anywhere in your office that can fit your team
• Add a virtual option if you have staff spread across multiple offices to ensure everyone feels included

Who should attend? 

Everyone – Office Manager, Practitioners, Clerical Staff, Technician(s)

• Have an agenda
• Follow the same agenda week to week
• Pick one person to run the meeting
• Pick one person to document the meeting (minutes)
• Topics of discussion – deliveries, patient cases, fabrication issues, product delays, in-services, policy changes, staff vacations, etc.

• System reports/updates
• Work In progress/WIP (or access to electronic WIP)
• Fab tracking/status and issues
• Patient prescriptions/What is in the pipeline
• Visits/deliveries
• Practitioner schedules- What is scheduled next 10-14 days
• Any topics that relate to patient care
• Industry updates and product changes
• An open mind and a positive attitude

“OPIE Con is a great 3-day immersion course that encourages a community atmosphere in the O&P world. I have met so many great people at these conferences, people who have helped me with workday issues and brainstormed simpler processes to benefit my facility. Paul has done an amazing job uniting a community together and creating a well-functioning program.”

–  OPIE Con Attendee, Samantha Case from Seacoast O&P

Day One of OPIE Con is now wrapped up.   For all who are attending, what an amazing opportunity this is to learn from the very best in the Orthotics and Prosthetics profession.    Few things compare to the personal and group discoveries that occur when you step away from the demands of daily objectives, step into a world of learning, and then commit to new things.   For me personally, it’s been a thrill to be with you today, seeing light bulbs go off inside as breakthroughs take place.

Over the next two days, more courses will be taken, networking will occur, ideas will be fostered, hearts will be motivated, and then…Monday comes crashing back into our professional lives.   Within a week or two the lessons from the training get dimmer, the present realities loom larger, and the good intentions we had on the way back home become memories in a notebook.   We catch a bad case of “conference-itis”.

What can each participant at OPIE Con do to immunize themselves from this chronic condition so that the good intentions turn into goals, and the goals turn into results?  What can we do to “Keep the Change”?  To borrow a word from my key note session this morning, the answer is SIMPLE, UP-FRONT CLARITY.   In my experience as a practice coach, the action items from this conference have a 90% chance of success IF you invest the mental and emotional energy – sometime between now and Monday morning — to gain crystal clear answers to the following questions:

1. What do you really want and why? Whether we like it or not, genuine change begins at an emotional, and not an intellectual level.   Emotions drive people, and people drive performance.   Tapping into this level begins with knowing exactly what you want, and, more importantly, why you want it.   This is the starting point of clarity, because after these two answers are in mind, the rest of the answers begin to fall into place.  Without these answers, change doesn’t stand a chance.  With them clearly in place, more than half the mental work is done.
2. How important is this? Once the “why” is determined, the next question to consider is its level of importance.   What impact will this change have on your organization; on you personally; on your patients?   How big a deal is this…really?  These thoughts help sink the answers to question one further into our hearts, and also into our minds.
3. What will success look like? With this change firmly in place, can you describe how things would run, look, feel, perform?   How will you know when success is reached and what the finish line looks like…if there is a finish line at all?
4. How am I going to make this happen? Shifting to action planning is the fourth step.   For each point in this step keep in mind that you may not know the answer, but if you did, what would it look like?   Give yourself permission think out loud and start from where you are.  These three simple questions keep the clarity going:
   • What are the steps?
   • How do I/we go about making this happen? Who would be involved?
   • What is your goal completion date?  Remember, time is one of our greatest allies in getting things done.  If we don’t set realistic deadlines, tomorrow never comes.
5. What’s the reward for getting there? For each major step in the process, what reward(s) could be put in place as mile posts for celebration?  If this is a team effort, could you employ a grab bag (a bag full of 5’s, 10’s, 20’s and a 50 dollar bill that each gets to grab into and see what they get)? What would also be a fitting, ultimate reward for achieving this change/goal?  A trip, cruise, night out, CE event, or time away?   The answers are only limited by our creativity.
6. What’s the penalty for not nailing this? If the change isn’t sticking, is there an appropriate way to reinforce it by setting up negative reinforcers as well?  A client of mine has some very specific fitness goals, and each time he forgets to nail one of his commitments he puts $5.00 into a fishbowl in his office.  What’s the big deal about that?  He’s a loyal University of Georgia Bulldog, and the hair on his head stands up when he thinks of Auburn University.  The five dollar bills in the jar will be donated to Auburn’s booster club. The money isn’t the big deal; the thought of promoting Auburn is.

In summary, ideas don’t create change; ownership does.   These six steps are all about creating clear, genuine ownership both on the inside and outside, in order to create the future you want.   Conference-itis is not contagious.  We choose to catch it, or not.   Make this OPIE Con a game changer by cementing in place, before the vortex of the office sucks you in, clear answers to these six points.   You’ll find by doing so that you not only got your feet in front of you and kept them there, but will have created an unforgettable journey upward. And that bird Paul spoke of Thursday morning will be nurtured.

Make sure you sign up for the post-OPIE Con coaching sessions! They are another means of helping you ensure you don’t leave what you learned at the conference.  Sessions are free for all Choice members! Register Now!

Written by: Christy Butler, MBA

One of my favorite quotes is “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Doesn’t that ring true in so many aspects of our life, including our work?

Today though, I want to talk to you specifically about your marketing efforts.  Do you have a plan? Are your efforts targeted? Are you using the data already available in your system to drive your efforts?

The best way to create a solid marketing plan is to take your yearly organizational goals and break them down into quarterly strategic marketing goals.  After that, you should break those out into high-level monthly activities and detailed weekly and daily activities.  This will allow you to create a manageable plan with milestones for completing the plan and achieving your goals.  Additionally, by breaking your goals down into smaller chunks, your staff will have a clearer vision of what can be accomplished.

Your marketing plan can be as simple as an excel spreadsheet or a word document that you break down by quarter and month. As the Marketing Manager at OPIE, I do this.  I start out listing all of the months on a sheet, and then I add in all of the activities that I know will happen and when they will come into play.  In November or December I do an overall planning session for the year, and then I also work on Q1 goals.  In March, I complete Q2 planning, June is Q3 planning, and September is Q4 planning.

Try the Target Marketing Activity!

This is not a perfect process!  Other things will creep in as they always do, and things will need to be rearranged for various reasons.  I simply try to work out when I will need to do various activities for the year, and quarter by quarter and month by month I adjust and move things around in my plan as necessary.  Not only will this help to keep you on track to achieve your goals for the year, but it will also help you as you plan for future years.

So thus far, I haven’t even really discussed anything marketing specific, other than the word “marketing” a few times.  BUT, making a plan is more than half the battle! If you can do that, implementation of your marketing strategy becomes much easier.

So what do you need to ensure your marketing efforts are aligned with organizational efforts? I suggest working with your owner or business manager and asking them to provide you with at least yearly strategic initiatives (hint: these should align with your corporate mission statement). From there, sit down with your team and determine the following key things –

• Your Purpose – Why does your organization exist?
• Target Market – Who is your ideal customer?
• Messaging – Why do your customers care about what you offer? What value do you create? Why are you different from every other O&P office out there?
• Platform – Where do you tell your story? (What media will be used?)
• MAKE IT ABOUT THEM (the customer), NOT YOU!!

Planning and answering these questions will put you at a huge advantage as you create or improve your marketing efforts. But remember: perception is reality…people choose to work with companies due to intangible value, for what they experience and what they care about. Your competitive advantage is what your customer believes, not the device you provide.

Join me at OPIE Con for a full session on taking a targeted approach to marketing. Register now!

Register for OPIE Con Now

Written By: Spencer Penhart, Penhart Performance GroupAs a former presenter at multiple OPIE Cons, I have had the unique perspective of experiencing several OPIE Con meetings and meeting hundreds and hundreds of the attendees. While every OPIE Con is a little bit different, here is what I have seen that is the same, and why you should attend…I see a group of over 200 people arrive at a terrific destination, city, and venue. They are from all over the U.S. and other countries, and some come with several clinicians and staff from their clinics.

They enter the ballroom for the opening session, often looking a bit nervous and uncomfortable. Many are first-timers, and they wear their inner monologue on their faces, all seemingly asking themselves the same questions: “Was this a good idea? Should I really be here? Is this going to be worth it?”

They then begin their opening session by meeting new people and making  friends. People are soon feeling much more comfortable. They then participate in a presentation that is both emotionally challenging and career-changing, redefining how they see their role in the clinic and how they can impact patients. It sets the stage for one of the most valuable benefits of OPIE Con: the mindset shift away from just doing transactional work, to doing your VERY BEST to positively impact patients and the practice. Then, a guest speaker usually presents on a key topic that is foundational for the success of any O&P employee and practice.

Day 1 is spent in breakout sessions with people from their same functional tracks: Clinician or Administrative/Billing. They improve their skills and knowledge, and another critical light bulb goes on for them: OPIE and Futura software systems aren’t just something their boss told them they have to use; these tools are critical  for providing the highest quality care for patients, as well as for ensuring maximum financial viability, efficiency, and success for the practice. They reconvene as a large group at the end of Day 1, seated with people from their same functional track but different practices, and share their key takeaways with one another. Yet another key OPIE Con takeaway: collaboration helps everyone be more successful. Day 1 ends with a really good party. I have personally witnessed Paul Prusakowski doing a fantastic salsa dance to the smooth Caribbean beats of a steel drum band and eaten delicious crab cakes at the oldest restaurant in Baltimore on a waterfront balcony while watching the Cleveland Browns ruin yet another NFL draft, just to name a couple! By this time, the attendees are having a great time, and making terrific new friends.

On Day 2, the focus begins to shift from working as a function to working cross-functionally throughout an entire clinic. It often begins with the Innovation Workshop, where attendees are seated at a table with clinicians, billing, and administrative personnel, all from different clinics. They then begin an open and honest exercise about where the biggest frustration points tend to be within each of the three functional areas. What they quickly see is, “It’s not just me or my practice that struggles with this, it’s everyone!”

They then move into an ideation session, where they work together to develop multiple specific solutions to the most common significant problems in each track and share those with the entire audience. Every single attendee witnesses 200(!) new ideas for how to solve that issue in their practice, and then hones in on the top 3 solutions they want to proactively bring back and discuss with the practice owner. One of my most interesting observations of this workshop is that it is often the first time the clinicians have ever heard of these issues existing, as they often are not shared with the clinician or practice owner out of fear of repercussions. The attendees then go on to complete their functional tracks in the afternoon and are brought together at the end of the day for a final idea sharing session, this time seated with all the people they came with from their practice. They share their key opportunities for improvement both as individuals and as a practice and begin the process of action planning to resolve them. This is among the biggest gold nugget you could imagine from a conference. On Day 3, they attend a few final sessions, then head home with a new perspective, brimming with both possibility and newfound responsibility.

I saw the same result every time. OPIE Con is truly an impactful and memorable experience that can transform your practice. To get the maximum ROI, I would recommend not just sending one person from your office, but all key personnel at all the levels: the Clinician, Office Manager, Biller, Administrator, etc. It’s the opportunity to take your practice’s success to the level you hardly dared to imagine…

Register for OPIE Con Now

Written By: Darren Donnelly, CO, MBA

The Top 4 Things You Can do to Feel Financially Secure

Financial Security is the peace of mind you feel when you aren’t worried about your income being enough to cover your expenses. It also means that you have enough money saved to cover emergencies and your future financial goals. Knowing how much money you need to feel financially secure in your business is not easy and it is not the same for everyone.  The top four things you can do to increase your feeling of financial security are: