How EA Therapeutic Health Fixed Its Front Desk and Opened Two New Clinics

[00:00] Welcome to the Snapscale [music] Show hosted by Mike Yablonowitz and Nathan Bush. In every episode, we explore the [music] real challenges and breakthroughs happening in modern health care operations. From navigating compliance [music] to virtual staffing and emerging technology, you will hear real stories [music] from clinics, learn from health care leaders, and uncover practical strategies that help you [music] run a smoother, more efficient practice without losing

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[01:00] What is up guys and welcome to our webinar and behind the scenes look here at another clinic. Uh EA Therapeutic Health and Virtual Sally are going to join us today talking all about the solution for the front office and we're going to be speaking with Melanie the CEO of EA and we're going to be speaking with Rhonda the COO of EA. Plus Mark and Wendy have both agreed to join us on this webinar as well to talk a little

[01:30] bit about the Virtual Sally solution and and how they see this entire relationship from the back end, how it works with Snapscale Virtual Sally and uh from the actual clinics perspective. So you can get an inside look at what's going on and how to operate this within your practice. Um before we hop into that, I do want to tell you that we're extremely grateful that you're here and joining us on this webinar. Whether you're watching this webinar live as we stream this webinar to you or you're watching on replay, it's you that joins

[02:00] us that even makes these webinars possible and really quite frankly helpful to everybody. If you have any questions while we're going through this, please make sure to share those questions in the comments. And what we'll do is uh somebody from my team or somebody from EA or Virtual Sally will jump into those comments and respond to you if you have direct questions for any of those as we're going through the show. Um so again, hold on. Thank you very much for watching and being a part of the show. I'd like to welcome though

[02:30] uh Rhonda and Melanie and Mark from Virtual Sally and Wendy from Virtual Sally. Hey. Hi everybody. Thanks for joining us.Thank you. You're welcome.Awesome. So, you know, I I'd like to dive in and talk a little bit about Virtual Sally, but before we do that and we even bring that to the forefront, I want to hear about EA Therapeutic Health and kind of tell us uh Melanie, if you wouldn't mind, can you kind of give us a quick overview? What's your specialty,

[03:00] the size, kind of the volume of your practice?Yeah, [snorts] absolutely. Um, so I founded the company back in 2011. It was just me in my minivan doing virt or doing on-site you know um concierge going to people's homes doing therapy. I had broke away from traditional working in the hospital um and and my specialty really to to at the beginning and today has always been neuroscience and so neurologic therapy spinal cord injury

[03:30] stroke Alzheimer's dementia MS Parkinson's everything in between. Um, that's always been my interest and that's how I founded the company was to really bring something different to the community. Um, an outpatient clinic feel that was specifically for everyone else. I always say it's not orthopedic, it's not sports, it can be if they have a neuroscience issue. Um, but it really is focused on on bringing neuroscience to physical therapy. And

[04:00] then also right away when I started the company, I wanted to include wellness. Um, and so that leans into our name, EA Therapeutic Health. We're a therapeutic health and wellness company. Uh, we have physical therapists, we have personal trainers, we have recreational therapists, we have adaptive sports. I want to bring that whole whole picture of wellness. Um, and providing the right services at the right time. Um, and today we are a large company. It's no longer just me. We have 22 to 23 staff. It kind of fluctuates. We

[04:30] have three locations. We one of our locations is the 10,000 square foot neuro gym. Um and all located in Rochester, Minnesota, which is a a really interesting city. Um and we have Mayo Clinic here. And so we are we're a partner. We're not affiliated with Mayo Clinic, but we definitely provide services to the community of this destination medical center, which is what Rochester is known for. So around 200,000 um population, but then a large

[05:00] surrounding rural area. Um so southeast Minnesota, the the next largest cities are about an hour and 10 minutes away. Um so we really serve the region.That's awesome. Are there a lot of clinics across the nation that specialize in this neuro or you guys primarily it?We feel like we're pretty unique. we we really um providing this full package service from from injury, illness to wellness and and even adaptive sports.

[05:30] Like I just haven't really found anyone else that's doing that across the nation.Yeah, that's incredible. I mean, so first and foremost, if you guys are watching, if you're in physical therapy or not in physical therapy and you have neuro related clients, it may be worth the trip to get them the help that they need, especially with a practice that specializes in neuro and quite frankly, we haven't heard of any. You guys haven't heard of any. Virtual Sally

[06:00] hasn't heard of any additional neuro clinics. And so, uh, that's an incredible service that you're providing not just to your local community, but kind of to the world.Yeah, absolutely. I have a phone, um, consultation with somebody from Ohio today. Um, I'm working with somebody who lives in Los Angeles, California virtually right now. Um, and she had come here to us. We have people that come here to us from New Jersey and Florida and Arizona. Though we serve primarily the Rochester and greater southeast Minnesota area, we draw people

[06:30] from central Wisconsin, northern Iowa all the time, um all over Minnesota. So yeah, we we are really growing to be a more not just regional but national organization.Yeah, that's incredible. What um as we as we jump into this conversation, because it's so critical in physical therapy, the people that you work with, your team is important. They have an impact on the clients. But what were some of the challenges

[07:00] that you guys were having prior to working with Snapscale and Virtual Sally?Good question. Um, we had numerous challenges. I would say our biggest was hiring and retaining great receptionists. We would a little bit of roll of the dice. We would get a great one every so often and they would leave us for greener pastures. they were usually a little bit younger um moving on in their career. Um we tried so many things. We tried just hiring that

[07:30] traditional receptionist job at a little bit lower pay but just found we didn't have the talent to really kind of keep up with the level that we needed. We tried hiring college graduates, paying them a little bit more, thinking they'd have a little more of a skill set to puzzle through some of those complex issues that happen at the front desk. And that really wasn't our solution either. We just really struggled to retain staff and retain good staff. And when any of people called out, got sick, went on vacation, I found that myself or

[08:00] our director of administration would pop in and be running the front desk for extended periods of time. And that is just not economically feasible to have the COO and the director of administration running the front desk.Yeah.Really rings with really any clinic owner or director. Um, as I I talked to others about this, it's just that drain and strain that I felt from staff that I finally just said, we have to do something different, completely

[08:30] different out of the box because this is not working. It is really the sort, you know, when we sat down and did our strategic planning, time after time, it's fixing the front desk. It's getting good quality staff. It's not having turnover. Um, every the theme over and over was the front desk. And I just said we can't like we literally like it's going to break us. We can't keep this up. It's it's hurting us. Cancellation rates hurting us. You guys is not being able to do your jobs. It's and stress

[09:00] and needing vacations because you're overloaded and and um I'm stepping in and doing that piece. It just we had to stop and we had to like do something really really what we considered radical.Yeah, that's fantastic. I love the radicalness of it. We're going to get to that in just one second, but I want to ask Wendy from Virtual Sally and then and Mark. Uh Wendy, can you tell us a little bit about the Virtual Sally product and what your guys's vision was

[09:30] whenever you first started Virtual Sally?Absolutely. And it's so funny and interesting to hear your story because um being a PT myself and um starting a practice and developing and growing a practice had the same problems. you know, the stress, as you said, the call outs in the morning and um it just got to be overwhelming and and you lose focus of what your real what your real joy was in life and what your your mission in life to serve and stuff. It kind of really tears you down to where you really wonder if you even want to be

[10:00] in this field anymore. And um luckily uh my husband has a big technology background and we developed a few products within the field, dictation, things that are, you know, past now. But we actually started this product in 2015 in our own clinics. Um, uh, we just got tired of that. And so I came home one day from work and I said, "I want to create a virtual front desk." And thankfully he did not think I was crazy and [laughter] kicked me out. And so we started trying to develop the product and um um matured

[10:30] it over time and realized that there were a lot of people like us, like you and people that are still out there that need the ability to find a way to get back to their passions and let that front desk be taken care of. And um over time we developed that. We partnered with Snapscale to be able to provide both the people and the software so we could be as you said we could fix the front desk. You can and I tell people you can just go I don't have to care about the front desk anymore. It's taken care of. We have wonderful people. And

[11:00] what I love too is you said your reach to patients and stuff has increased over the nation and even worldwide. You can be worldwide now even with the virtual. And our uh connection with Snapscale has been able to allow us to do that too to be able to change people's lives to create a um a workforce that everyone is rowing in the same direction. oftentime felt like our front desk was rowing against us instead of with us. But with this connection, everybody rows in the same direction and that is to have the best patient experience and the best

[11:30] patient outcome. So it's a wonderful um ability to be in that which I love. Nowthat's awesome Wendy. And Mark, just with your background, what how did you come up with this technology? Like te tell us kind of share with us what the technology does?Yeah. So it's pretty easy to do when you have a gun to your head from your wife. That's kind of what happened now. Uh so it was it was kind of put together with, you know, scotch tape and staples when we first started it out, but uh and

[12:00] everybody hated it when we first started. And Wendy hates for me to say that, but they did. Um but this is back in 2015 prior to COVID and everything else has happened in this world. But but the point was um we we found that there was an inefficiency at the front desk. Um that the you know, these folks, they have they have a lot on them. I mean, it's a hard job, right? Count on them all day and and it's it's hard. And so we wanted to find a way that uh they could still do their job without necessarily have to be on site and they could they could multitask so they could do more than just sit there and talk to one-on-one. And so we felt that, you

[12:30] know, we had 10 clinics at the time and we wanted to be able to see all 10 clinics through live streaming video so that the receptionist could see all them and then interact, jump in and out of these these sessions. And we found that um that was really kind of the key. So they could it was kind of like the modern day switchboard, right? So that everybody could see what everybody was doing. And so if a patient walked up to the screen, they didn't have to say anything. They didn't have to do anything. They could immediately see them. They could jump on and engage them. That's what's been so great about Snap Scale is their folks are so interactive and so friendly and you

[13:00] know, it's been a really great relationship with them. But that was really the key. We had to make sure that they could see everything that was going on. And we found that once we put this model together, we we found a lot of surprises to be honest. But what we did see is that they were able to multitask so easily that we're able to work 10 clinics with only three receptions. And um and it was kind of funny because Wendy tied a little experiment because uh you know people were starting to adapt pretty well to it. You know again at first it wasn't so much but then by the time CO hit people really saying hey this is pretty slick. CO was the best thing that ever happened to us by the

[13:30] way. It was [laughter] really it was a game changer for us. So it was really great. No offense to anybody but uh um but she tried a little test. She went in the office one day and she said you know Mark and I have been talking and we think we're just going to send all you guys back to the office and you know just go back to regular business model. So they all kind of quiet and so their lead came into Wendy's office a few minutes after she said so we all talked and we're all quitting like what he said we're not going back in the office. [laughter] So so they they've really enjoyed the change and so it's it's been a real it's been a real win-win for all this. So

[14:00] thank goodness they product you know we're 10 years in now and the products it's it is what it is now. So it's it's been good.Yeah. What an incredible piece of technology you guys have developed. And this back to Rhonda and Melanie, you know, what did you guys before you even tried Snapscale and Virtual Sally, what solutions I know we had spoke about like trying to pay bonuses and overtime, but what other solutions did you guys really dive into? I mean, it sounds like you Melie, I know you're a strategic leader and you probably sat down and tried to

[14:30] map this solution out. What did that look like before Virtual Sally and Snapscale? Yeah, we so we did, you know, I saw help [laughter] honestly, right, to you know, national leaders in physical therapy, strategic overhaul, business solutions. I we've had a few different consultants um and and a lot of that was really based around really focusing on the metrics, focusing on gamification, focusing on um training, you know,

[15:00] really consistent training, doing a really great on boarding. Um so we did those things and and you know to a certain extent we are definitely still using a lot that we learned from all those individuals. Um but didn't work didn't work for the front desk. It was it was a lot of work for us. Like we're gonna do a game this month and then they you know they'd like it at first and then they're like oh like I don't need a new pair of socks or whatever you know and then you know it just was hard to cut through the the workplace drama that

[15:30] happened when things were on site the inefficiencies. It was just really it just the metrics getting that to hit home. Um it wasn't enough. It wasn't it wasn't making the whole machine work better.Yeah. Yeah. And when did you first hear about Snapscale and Virtual Sally? Where where did the solution come from?We first heard it from uh another company we were doing business with and

[16:00] that's when we were introduced to Virtual Sally and the platform. Um Snapscale honestly wasn't our first staffing solution. We had to make some decisions. Were we going to staff the Virtual Sally inhouse and we thought we did not have the capacity to do that and manage more employees. So we looked to outsource um we went with a company we had great success. Um really got us our feet in the water with the technology. Um I was at a conference and I ran into

[16:30] your colleague Lewis and he said have you tried Snapscale? They are a great staffing solution. So that was oh a ye over a year ago and contacted the people at Snapscale to explore just that staffing solution and it has been a great success. So we got introduced from another company. We tried one staffing solution. It wasn't an exact fit for our company and then we went to Snapscale.That's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. We we attend a lot of different physical therapy conferences whichever ones that we can throughout the year. We're very

[17:00] prominent in the physical therapy space. In fact, uh so much so that we've created a course inside of Snapscale right now where we have people who are being trained and if somebody needs, you know, staff member for physical therapy specifically, they've been trained on, you know, through this coursework on other people's uh systems that we've gotten approval for. We've talked with the clinics and they have an intern program and that allows us to be able to uh train on their system, do some

[17:30] insurance verifications, work with uh taking inbound and outbound phone calls. And so these clinics that we've worked with, they've been so gracious and kind to allow us to use their software in their system, but they're also trained on Virtual Sally already. So they already know how to use the Virtual Sally platform and the Virtual Sally system. So, literally, if somebody didn't even have the time to train their virtual assistant in the physical therapy space, we already have a program where we're putting people through training where all you have to do is let us know that you're ready for the next cohort and we have somebody that can be

[18:00] plugged right into the solution right away. Uh that you're not going to have to stress about your front desk anymore. But that's enough about Snapscale. What was your initial impression uh Rhonda and Melanie when you guys first started using the virtual desk? Was there any hesitation with it at all or were we like, "Oh, this is it."Well, you know,we loved it.We [laughter] I think you can break it down to who the to the who's. So, from an administrative perspective, we were excited but apprehensive, right? Like

[18:30] what are our patients going to think because we're not utilizing local we're not we're not hiring local workforce. Um, and they they really like chatting it up with our front desk people, which was one of the efficiency issues, right? If we got a really chatty front desk person and you're constantly like, "Get to work, get to work." Our our lobby loved our, you know, people in the lobby loved sitting and chatting with them. So, we were nervous about what our our patients would think. We were so excited

[19:00] about the efficiencies. Um I feel like there's a little bit of a delay on my on our video now, but um I was worried about the efficiencies. Our staff, they were not very excited at first um at all. They really like to chat it up with our front desk. [laughter] They like to go to happy hours with our front desk, but they also just liked having somebody in our meetings and and having that inerson contact and they were nervous about it. Um, and then our patients, I think Mark

[19:30] kind of inkled this, they were not happy when they saw that screen and then they saw that, you know, um, we weren't going to rehire the position. They had gotten used to Rhonda being at the front [laughter] desk like you're not here anymore and no.Um, so they they were really really worried about it and hesitant about it. So I mean going into it that that's the real that's the real thing that you're going to encounter that anyone's going to encounter. Um I think administration

[20:00] are going to be the most excited. [laughter]That's incredible. Mark, when you first launched Virtual Sally, did you have concerns about the adoption of patients and that whole concept of hey I don't have a person sitting at the front desk anymore? I mean you guys had your own clinics. How did you guys handle that?Yeah, what Melanie just said is spot on. I mean, that's that's exactly what we experienced and and we've heard the same thing from customers over and over and

[20:30] over again. It's really funny. Um, it's it's funny though because I go back to co again, but you know, we're talking right now, right, in this video session and it's like we're in the same room, right? So, the world has has gotten used to this stuff. Um, I laugh all the time. Uh, we did have the apprehension at first um but then people quickly adapted and got used to it. But we literally to the point where um people would bring Christmas gifts and leave them by the terminal and say, "Hey, can you get this to Alex, please?" Uh or they'd bring vegetables in the summer and set it next to the you know, so they they still

[21:00] develop the same personal relationship even though it's it's virtual. Um so that's that's been kind of a funny thing. It's we laugh all the time too. You know, you go to the grocery store now and uh you know, you see the guy standing at the register to check you out playing on his phone because everybody is at the selfch checkout, right? So everything's convenience now and that's just the world we live in. But but yeah, it's it's funny you mentioned that because the the adaptability is very very quick and and then soon it's we laugh too because particularly the elderly um when they come up and they use it, they're like, "Hey, look at me. I I can use

[21:30] technology. I did this." And we've also had other clients that have said it makes them look really high-te, right? You walk into their clinic, they don't have the traditional person sitting there, they have this screen, this person comes up, they're polite, they're engaging, they do everything they need to right here at the kiosk. And so it is it is a paradigm change but it's something that uh this world is quite ready for and it's uh the adoption very goodand may may I give a little shout out I know you don't want to be about Snapscale but their people do make a big difference. I've seen the things that

[22:00] they've done with the clinics they adapt to the culture. We have episodes of where uh clinics will do like wearing pink on Fridays for breast cancer awareness a certain month and your your personnel show up with a pink shirt. Uh they're very personal to the patients. I was on a call the other day watching and a elderly couple came in and they commented on the haircut that the uh uh Snapscale person had and they go just for you. [laughter] It was so cute. I mean they're just engaging. They're just

[22:30] delightful. And that makes the difference. I mean yes, we are the software. We make it run but it only runs well if the person is running well. And that's a kudos to Snapscale and the great people that they have there that they are just they they are very personable.We actually had one client was during Halloween and the staff scale person showed up in a big bird outfit for the day. [laughter] That's really funny.Yeah, I guess if that's the clinic's culture, that's uh it's it's good that the the virtual assistant is able to participate in that culture. I even have

[23:00] clinics that will send their virtual assistants swag or have us get local swag printed up for those virtual assistants so that they're on camera with specific clothing and that kind of stuff. So, that's been fun and unique way to integrate the virtual assistant and the kiosk but local with the uh the uh patients. Have you guys had any of those types of things, Rhonda and Melanie? Um, one thing I really enjoy about the Snapscale solution is we have a dedicated team. I know who those three

[23:30] core people are. I know who the two replacements are if they ever call out. So, we're on one-on-one basis with the patients know who those three are. They notice things. Um, one of the ladies that works on our team loves to wear um decorations on her headset and the patients get excited to see what decorations she has on her headset. They know them by name. Now the the team greets our customers. Hi Joe, nice to see you again today. Sothat familiarity and having that same core team has just been integral to the

[24:00] whole process. They're fantastic. Yeah, people still have personalities even if it's done in a virtual setting. And so those personalities are able to come through and that's why whenever you work with Snapscale, we provide you individual recorded interviews for you to be able to identify and see and then once you find your person, you get a meet and greet with that person so that you can meet that person, get to know them a little bit and make sure that that's who you want to add to your clinic. I mean, it's you have staffed before, you've hired before, you know

[24:30] what that cultural hire and what that fit looks like for you. And so, you get the opportunity during the meet and greet to kind of ask some of those same conversations and make sure that they would be a good fit culturally for your organization as well. And so, um, with that said, what kind of tasks are the virtual assistants able to handle for your clinic so that people who are watching can get an idea of what a virtual assistant can even do for them uh, from a virtual kiosk perspective? Because it's not just popping up on the

[25:00] kiosk and making sure there's somebody to greet them. What types of tasks are they doing beyond just answering the person who walks in? [snorts]Yeah. Uh the way we've structured it, we have um one of our um staff members from Stamps Scale does all of our insurance verifications and all of our chart prep and does all the scheduling of our initial eval. So we've parsed that out so that she has a full knowledge of what clinic they need to be scheduled at, what our staffing is looking like, and the best person to schedule an initial

[25:30] eval. Um the other ones we have them of course answering the phone, doing the scheduling, but behind the scenes they're looking at the plan of cares, making sure those are compliant, making sure everybody's on the schedule, um doing our faxes, um attaching faxes, attaching plan of cares, answering referrals, and then besides answering and directing phone calls, which seems to be a huge job at certain times of the day.Don't forget the phoneand the phones. Yes. Which is really great. and how we have it structured

[26:00] because we are um you know a larger organization. We have a director of the an office administrator, director of office um administration and she is really key for us because it's her job to work directly with with the virtual team. Um and so she's communicating with them. Um they're directing elevated calls. I think that could be some concerns of people considering this solution like do they have all the

[26:30] tools? What about somebody if somebody has a really, you know, clinical question, interesting question, what do they do? Well, they they route to her. Um, and so she can handle those or like difficult clients or, you know, they just have a really big you want to know the whole story about EA and how EA can help them, they'll they'll send them over to her. um she and she has other duties, but she is here on site working with us as part of the administrative team and then the the virtual um system reports to her. And so that's how we've

[27:00] found success. It works really really well for us.Yeah, that's incredible. Mark and Wendy, what are some ways that your technology is uniquely designed to help support those tasks?Um yes, so the really cool thing about Virtual Sally is that it can integrate with any EMR. So we are not like only certain ones and certain things that we can do. So any EMR to allow that conversation. We also have abilities within Virtual Sally to communicate with the clinics and the clinicians and

[27:30] for them to be able to communicate with their virtual assistants as well. Um so everybody's on the same page and knowing what's happening. People would always say to me, "Well, I used to go up front and have them do such and such." I'm like, "Well, you can still do that. You go up front and you talk to them and you ask them to do whatever you need them to do." But again, to your point, you know, we get rid of them going up there and either giving them tasks that they really shouldn't have to do for them or creating a social hour up there for them. They can still be friendly with them, but you know, it's, you know, letting them get back to the things they're doing, which also helps our clinicians because I think sometimes

[28:00] they forget how much time they've been socializing and then they can't get their notes done or whatever. So, you know, it gets everybody back on task and and a part of what's happening. So yeah, anything that a person can do up front, we've designed the software including processing payments, which I think is very important as we all know. If you don't get that payment at the time of service, it's very difficult. So our processes allow that. Um the communications, we are always innovating. Um Mark also gets mad at me because I say the project is the worst it's going to be today. It's only

[28:30] getting better, but we're getting ready tomorrow to release another uh new release which will have additional things like people will be able to fill out forms on the kiosk if we want to. uh we can create a selfcheck-in for you. We can now take over the documents if they're having trouble. As you know, some of your people will have trouble with like signing in. We can take care of those or if they want to process a card on file, they just having trouble get through the forms, we can take over all of that for them. So, anything that can be automated, which I call a cold case, like a selfcheck-in, we're always

[29:00] there and available to help them. Um, which is very important with the neurological or even, you know, children, um, pediatrics and stuff, we need to have that. We lock the screen. So, if they're up there banging on the screen, it's going to be locked. And so, the the virtual receptac going, "Oh my gosh." Because um when someone comes in, that that's going to start binging and letting them know someone's there that needs assistance. So, we give them both audio and visual cues to help your patients so that nobody's left out.Yeah.As a as a shout out to Virtual Sally for us, it's been so easy. I mean, you guys

[29:30] are so responsive. Um typically, when something goes wrong, it's because of us. like, you know, our internet went down, there was a power surge, whatever. Like, we messed up how our printer's communicating with our Wi-Fi. And so, it's so easy. We just call the number and the same two people answer and hey, what's up today? And I'll fix that. And they take over and they there it's fixed. Like, okay, thanks. Sorry, I messed it up again. You know,

[30:00] the the IT support is amazing and quick and super easy and always gets fixed quickly. Um, I know Rhonda loves all the options on the screen. Um,I'm changing the options on the screen, the buttons, the colors. We had a fundraiser, run, walk, roll. I put a button on there that linked right up to the registration that was on for a month. So, they could just boom, sign up for our fundraiser right from that screen. So, that was an option for a month. So, all the options are fantastic.Great.I love that. What were some of the

[30:30] workflows that you had to modify that allowed you to still function and operate whenever you switched to completely virtual? So, I know that there are some things when people are face to face that we do. And was there or was there no change? Everything was able to just be shifted over to the kiosk. I I've had clients tell me that they've had to modify some of their processes, which is one of the reasons why I asked this question is that I want it out there so people understand this prior to having the conversation with

[31:00] Snapscale and Virtual. Sally, was there anything you had to modify or change uh in your in your intake process or your phone calls or scheduling and the way you do business?We always had the capability to do things intake forms online. Um but I think before we went to Virtual Sally if they said I can't do it we'd say okay just come in early and it's kind of forced us a little bit to say no you you can do that. So I think that has been one thing that really more forcing that

[31:30] shift to the online intake process which is actually helpful and more efficient.Yeah.So that has been nice. I think the big message is not that much. Really, you know, for all of the clinic owners that are really nervous about how many things they have to change, really not that much. I mean, our front desk was already doing all this these things. Um, and now they're still doing those things. They're they're doing them remote. And um so yeah, I mean I think

[32:00] the processes that we had to change were all all good because we didn't have to do some of those like sick call coverage and like we changed processes like we no longer needed processes and that's what I was looking for and that's what happened.I will say the biggest thing that we noticed right from the start though, so small but huge, the phone quit ringing nonstop. Oh, the quiet.The quiet was so nice.

[32:30] Yeah, we didn't I I said what we were what we were worried about going into it, but all the benefits. Oh my gosh. Like I just the calm that came over the office and it's still um there um just the no the phone's not ringing, the constant chatter, the constant like sometimes bickering, right? the drama between the front desk and the clinician and then my administrative staff just they were able to focus on things that I needed them to focus on. Um and there

[33:00] was just a real calm um that was just I just would stop and I'd be like listen we just had a really loud lobby a really loud clinic. Um so yeah those arethat's incredible. I appreciate that feedback too because I have had clinics that have told me that they had to modify certain things, but you guys were doing a lot of those things already. You were trying to utilize online forms. You were trying to improve efficiencies at your front desk. You were working on the

[33:30] things that this solution actually helps solvein the process.That was that's the best way to say it. we were already wanting to implement all these more electronic features, efficiency features and just hesitant because the human nature is to hop in and to help and oh, I'll do that for you rather than using the technology. So, it just kind of forced our hand a little bit to use the tools that were there, which is what we wanted. So, it was great.And I will say that is wonderful because you're right, the sooner you get that data in, the easier it is to get their

[34:00] claims in and all time, all the things that help you, but also help the patient too. Um, but for other people listening just to know we can also print forms if they're used to printing them and having them fill them out when they're in clinic. We can do that. Absolutely can do it back in. Um, so that option is still there. But you're right, the more we get them to go automatic or we create the ease of that happening. And that's our latest release is being able to have that form on the screen. So, anything that they may have forgotten to put in the patient portal, we can put up there

[34:30] and just say, "Hey, you know, Rhonda, it looks like you forgot to give us or your insurance number is not complete. Let's go ahead and capture that card for us so we can get that in the form for you so those claims can go out." So, we do um realize that everybody's on a different paradigm of um accepting technology. I mean, in in future, you know, there will be no paper, there'll be no credit card terminals, all of those things. But until we get there, we try to help everybody hold their hand as we get through that and help them get where they want to be.Yeah, that's incredible. And and Mark,

[35:00] just really honestly from the technology standpoint, what does the future of Virtual Sally look like for clinics that maybe they have Virtual Sally today like EA Therapeutic Health or maybe like some of the other clinics that that Snapscale works with already or ones that are thinking about joining Virtual Sally. What does the future look like? Because this isn't a product and a software that's just, oh, it's done and it's out. You guys are constantly iterating and improving. So, what does that future

[35:30] look like?So, you want me to open the book and tell you everything we're working on? Really? I mean, [laughter]whatever whatever you're willing to share, honestly.Well, first of all, I'm going to go back real quickly to what Melanie and Rhonda said earlier. It warms my heart to hear that yes, this is a paradigm change, but our the purpose in building the product is it didn't change what that person could do in the front virtually. So they can still do anything that a person live can do. That was our intent. And then clearly and you mentioned the phones going going quiet. That was an after effect that we we didn't plan for. But

[36:00] all of a sudden we realized oh my gosh this is a big benefit that people were going to really like because we noticed the same thing in our own clinics like wow no more distractions no more interrupting patient visit. I mean it was it was really a nice nice bonus. So um futures everybody knows AI is coming. Okay. So we are actively involved uh with AI research. So, um, lots of fun things coming on that. Uh, lots of even more efficient ways to, um, to check patients in even quicker. Um, that'll be something be very substantial. Um, we have a new release every quarter. So,

[36:30] when you come on with Virtual Sally, it's not a stagnant product. I mean, if you looked at the product even a year ago, you'd be shocked at how far we've come in just a a year. And so, that is very, very active. Um, customer support, I'm glad you mentioned that. That is the number one thing. you can have the greatest product in the world, but if if you have an issue and you pick up the phone and somebody doesn't answer that call within a two rings, that's a problem. And so that's always very big focus of ours is making sure our customer support is better than than anything we could expect. Um, but I

[37:00] would love to share more about our futures. Um, but then you'd say when when can we have it, Mark? [laughter]So, as an IT guy, I have to be careful with that. But, uh, but stay tuned. And there's lots of great things going on.Yeah. And and point being, guys, anybody that's watching online, and again, it's the audience, it's you that makes this possible. You guys have asked me these questions, and so I wanted to make sure number one that I got you answers to that, but number two, um, I want you to hear how important it is to Snapscale and to virtual s to stay on the

[37:30] forefront of development and the forefront of the direction that the market's going. These are not companies that built a product and then walked away from that product and said, "Hey, go to the market with this product." These are two companies that are constantly paying attention to the physical therapy market and other healthcare markets saying, "How can we iterate our product to make sure that the solution is what the market needs?" And so, if you're meeting with somebody from Virtual Sally or you're meeting with somebody from Snapscale, just know that we're in the thick of whatever it

[38:00] is that we're talking to you about. We know what the market's direction's going. We know what the solutions for the products are. And so if you're looking for help specifically for your front desk, your back office, those types of things, that's why you have these conversations and that's why you're learning about this on the webinar. You're hoping and praying that there's a better solution, a better way for your front desk. And I'm telling you right now, that's why Rhonda and Melanie and Mark and Wendy all joined this call to share with you the better way to do what's in the market right now. And I just want to make sure that you guys are aware of why we even put these webinars

[38:30] on for you. With that said, uh Rhonda and Melanie, um what advice? So, you got somebody that's thinking about outsourcing. They're on the fence. They haven't pulled the trigger to do it yet. They're going through the same questions and thought processes you did whenever you first made this decision. What advice are you going to give that CEO and COO at another physical therapy clinic?Yeah, as I was just thinking about um that saying exactly what you're asking here. So I really think you have to look

[39:00] at um there's to to me and our experience we had in person front desk then we had Virtual Sally with a company who did the virtual hiring for us managed trained um the staffing and then we went to you know inherent problems with that we just didn't feel like we had enough control over the training and there there were some issues is that it seemed like we were on the phone a lot

[39:30] with the company just and and they were having to like fire and hire a lot because it we weren't seeing what we wanted out of that. Um and it wasn't because of Virtual Sally that was the study it was it was the staffing. So then we went to Snapscale which right away yeah the differentiator for us and to this day is has been successful really within the first week um is that we were able to interview we are able to hire we are able to to train

[40:00] and manage them ourselves and have the same consistent versus before there were like 20 virtual staff doing 20 clinics and so they'd get on and say the wrong name. you know, now they're just working for us through Snapscale. Um, and but we were able to retain Virtual Sally product. So, we didn't have to invest in an all new product, all new training of learning new product. We kept that terminal. We went with a different company and and it's just been a

[40:30] differentiator for for us. We thank Snapscale. Um, and so we've learned and we're able to share that information. Um, I I think that that is the right model. Um, it's nice to be able to have a company behind you outsourcing, finding those staff for you, managing them from a high level, but then we're able to really come in and train um that staff, oversee them dayto-day, get to know them, have the same consistent staff. So, the combination of Snapsale and Virtual Sally has worked for us

[41:00] really, really well. We would never go back. And so I think just to take that leap and to to know that it is the way of the future and it is a better it's a better life for everyone at our clinic.Yeah. My advice would be do your due diligence but take the leap. And for those of you that love data because I live and die by the metrics every day. Um our denial rate is less than 10% consistently on our claims. Our call answer rate is 88% or above. So not including those that miss during off

[41:30] hours. Ourour AR is likeour AR best everbest it's ever been. Um oursatisfactionsatisfaction is high. Uh our cancellation rate yesterday was 6% clinicwide and we were staffed at 86%. So um nothing but kudos. The team is working great.Yeah, we could we couldn't get there on our own beforeand we and we weren't able to get there with the previous staffing um not being as in our control. So this is has been a

[42:00] beautiful combination and within may we change January 1 within a month we saw a significantso this is January 1 to then in our statistics now at the end of June are that good.Wow I didn't expect that at all and I appreciate you sharing that with everybody. Thank you for taking the time to share the improvement in metrics that happens often get the opportunity to share that with people and that'syou hear those things and you think it's made up. you're gonna get this great

[42:30] return on investment. You think you're going being sold a product, but we're a real clinic doing the real work every day. And when we see those numbers, we just what do we even discuss in our meeting today? This is fantastic.Yeah. And the Snapscale staff are just amazing. Like they're just they're lovely, they're sweet, as Wendy said, like they're kind, they're um smart, they they take direction from usive. Yeah. And respectful and everything that we were looking for. we just unfortunately weren't experiencing that before. Um, and so it's just been so our

[43:00] our job is so much easier now. And that's that's what we need in this in this day and age for physical therapy. Everything else is so hard. This part should be easy.That's incredible. All right. I asked Mark and Wendy, but I'll ask you uh guys, what's next for EA Therapeutics uh for your your clinic on what you're trying to accomplish and um your front office staff? Well, as a clinic, I think a big direction is is we're learning from

[43:30] technology advancements as well and this idea that people do across the nation, maybe worldwide, need what we're offering. Um, so we're really trying to leverage technology, our website, and really do more with an online presence. Um, and again, I do I do know that we're able to do that and focus on that because we aren't spending like 80% of our time focusing on fixing the front desk. Um, and so that's really exciting for me, just creating educational content, starting a podcast perhaps. Um,

[44:00] you know, we're working on all of that. Um, just to have a more fulfilling global presence. Um, so I'm excited about that from a company direction. As far as the front desk goes, oh, I I think the biggest thing is it's allowed us to expand,lot of scale.Yeah. So if we opened two satellite clinics here in Rochester in January at the same time, which was quite stressful, but honestly, I would have never taken that leap if we didn't have virtual front desk because we just they're too small. And if we had to staff a front desk person at each of those locations, we we wouldn't have

[44:30] been able to afford to open those satellite clinics. Um, and our PTs, they they don't want to be checking people in. They don't want to be taking insurance information. And that was what would have had to happen because we couldn't hire two full-time people to be at those clinics. Um even with and especially expanded hours. So we're uh we were able to grow to a smaller satellite clinic philosophy. Um so I think that that too is now in our future. Um there's other areas that we

[45:00] could expand through to throughout Minnesota and it's more achievable now. yet we we need some other things to change within the physical therapy reimbursement to actually make it happen. But you know maybe that'll come too [laughter]yeah the scaling has become very easy and I am very confident that if we were to open another clinic and we needed another virtual staff member I could call up Snapscale and have interviews by the end of the day. So it makes it very simple.

[45:30] Absolutely.That's incredible. Thank you. And I'll finish up too with Mark and Wendy by saying you guys have talked to clinics across the country that use Virtual Sally but also sta staff with Snapscale. What's been your feedback and what would be the biggest piece of advice you'd share with those clinics? I'll start with Wendy. [snorts]I would say the same thing that uh Rhonda saying is that they're not going to go back. um and just the um dearness of the staff that they have, the appreciation of the staff from staff of

[46:00] having a job. That's something we've lost in the states, unfortunately. They're not there and and always like taking ownership of their um position and really thriving in it. So, they're all seeing that that's that that's thriving and the growth. Most of our clinics are able to scale very quickly because you're no longer training the next the next clinic you open. That's the great thing. With Snapscale, they're already trained. They, you know, they'll train the next person and the next person. They create a profile for you. So, if something happens to that person or you add another one, you don't have

[46:30] to, you just tell them, you tell us that you need another kiosk, we send that out in a couple of days, it's there and ready. We do all the setup for you. It's plug-and-play, which is, I think, as a clinic owner is nice. I don't know the technology. Just do it for me, make it work is what I say. And that's kind of what we try to do.Incredible. How about you, Mark? Any any other feedback that you've heard? Yeah, just particularly from a practice owner standpoint, you know, we had had our practice for 30 years and there's a lot on your plate, right, to try to run a business. Um, you know, you're not just a clinician seeing patients, but you've

[47:00] got to run the business. And that front desk is a vital vitally important. I It's the first contact you have with with your patients. And so, the impression they get from that that first interaction with your clinic is everything. And if they get a bad if they have a bad interaction there, it's it just all flows downhill from there. So to be able to take that off the plate and not have to worry about and be able to focus on growing your business. But I mean, I love what you said about your de novo clinic, your new clinics that you put out there, it makes it so easy when you don't have to go and source for staff and and and interview them and train them and then they leave after two

[47:30] months. It it's just it happen. We've heard this story a million times because we experienced it. And so just getting that off your plate is we've seen that from many many practices across the country that just um said, "Wow, I didn't think of this before." So that's been that's been really nice. Um, from our background, you know, we're not just like a PT and some knuckleheaded, you know, business IT guy that put this together. We 20 years ago, we won Microsoft's Partner of the Year award in the emerging technology sector. So, this isn't our first rodeo. You know, we've built successful software companies in the past and so we appreciate greatly

[48:00] appreciate you all as customers and Snapscale as well. Um, we couldn't do this without you, but just just be encouraged that we we're going to do this right and we're not going to release anything that's not right. And um, so and again, the customer support is everything. So, just we're very grateful to both of you.Yeah. I'll finish up by saying a big thanks to Virtual Sally and to Rhonda and Melanie with EA Therapeutic Health for being a part of the program today. We didn't even get into and discuss HIPAA compliance and the culture of

[48:30] HIPAA compliance that Snapscale has and how even our third-party auditors who audit our practice say that Snapscale is the example in the industry of HIPAA compliance. So you don't just always have a security issue when you outsource, you also might have a HIPAA issue if you're not using the right organization. And we're proud to stand behind that. We sign a BAA directly with the organization. So, thank you again uh Rhonda and Melanie, Mark and Wendy all

[49:00] for you for being a part of our program. I sincerely appreciate it. And thank you to the audience for participating, for being a part asking the questions that you did. And again, like I told you, somebody will get back to those questions in the comments for you to make sure you get an answer to those specific questions. Till next time, guys. Thank you very much and you guys all have a great day. Thank you.Thank you for having us. Thank you.