We recently connected with Kelli Chandler and have shared our conversation below.

Kelli , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you ever experienced a times when your entire field felt like it was taking a U-Turn?

I started Concierge Orthopedics in 2016 to give patients one-on-one care without the restrictions of insurance. The more I told fellow physical therapists about the business model, the more interested they became. In 2021, I began working on a framework that enabled physical therapists to sign on with Concierge Orthopedics through a licensing agreement so they can work under our business license and have their own cash-pay practice without the hassle of setting up their own PLLC, website, and everything that comes with start-ups. Talk about a U-turn! We went from being a one-women show to a company with over 30 providers and our own social media director!

Kelli , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I became a PT because I knew from an early age I wanted to be in the medical field. I noticed physicians didn’t get the time with patients that I craved so I began investigating physical therapy.

After PT school my husband and I moved to Las Vegas, NV and I began working for Cirque du Soleil. Wow! It truly was as cool as it sounds. I miss the shows all the time. I learned several things from the performers. One, every day is game day. And two, all patients deserve to be treated on site and without the deterrents of insurance restrictions.

From my experience with Cirque and a strong desire to spend as much time with my then one and three year old children, I formed Concierge Orthopedics.

CO continues to evolve as healthcare evolves. Two years ago I didn’t know what Zoom was or how to deliver a Telehealth visit. Telehealth now makes up 25% of our monthly revenue.

More recent changes include the addition of more than 30 physical therapists nationwide to the CO ranks. We are extremely proud of the growth seen since offering our licensing agreements and partnerships in October of 2021. CO aims to provide operational support for every allied health care provider in the country wanting to begin their own cash-pay practice. We worked hard to build out a framework that provides documentation services, payment processing, social media support, business coaching, company wide webinars and much more to our subscribers.

I am thrilled to see what the upcoming year holds for the company and the profession. Cash-pay allows patients to benefit from PT when other settings and insurance companies tell the patient they are done. We reach better outcomes. We take the patient farther. We are changing the face of healthcare one provider at a time and that is what I’m most proud of!

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

I would absolutely choose PT again and again! It’s one of the most versatile and rewarding professions. You walk into an appointment and get to help a patient reach their goals. You walk out feeling like you contributed to the patients well-being. You can start in one setting, say acute hospital care, and completely pivot to pediatric outpatient care.
You can work for a hospital, a private practice, a school, or even yourself.
When you can’t find a setting that works for you, you can build your own!
Who knows, you might even find yourself working for the circus one day like I did!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Listen to your patient. You have skills and knowledge but they have pain and intuition. It is their body. They’ve lived in it longer than you’ve studied it. Work to prove yourself wrong not right. Admit when you don’t know something and always look to learn from a situation.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.conciergeortho.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conciergeortho/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conciergeorthopedicsphysicaltherapy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/concierge-orthopedics/

Image Credits
Heather Thorne Photography