Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dan Chapman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

I came out of residency in May 2020 – not exactly he best time to begin a new job. As a residency-trained physical therapist, finding work is rarely a challenge but considering the state of the world at that time, I couldn’t even find an interview. Physical therapy clinics were empty, no one was hiring.

I never imagined running my own physical therapy business. Starting a new business is daunting enough nevermind a health care business handling insurance, billing, treatment, administration etc. So I decided the only way was to jump in with two feet and learn as much as I could while staying true to what I wanted to do: Show people that healthcare can truly be about the patient. It can be personal. It’s possible to build deep, lasting relationships with patients and not only improve their pain, movement and function but their quality of life in a sustainable, lasting manner. That’s why I decided I would treat all patients 1 on 1 for a full hour – a model that’s very rare in the physical therapy realm.

I learned a lot of lessons in my first year. I had a lot of failures. I would say that I failed in my first two business endeavors and have succeeded in my third. I started off doing mobile, in-home physical therapy. That was too challenging within our insurance model to be profitable. The second endeavor was alongside my mobile business I had a clinic within a great gym in Baltimore. However, for people in pain, it was too challenging to get downtown, find parking and walk to the gym. Accessibility was a big problem. My third (and finally successful) clinic is just a small 10×12 room within a community center with the equipment I was able to furnish within that space. Funny enough, I don’t miss all the amazing equipment I used to have access to. It was a bonus for sure, but not necessary for success.

So I have a few recommendations for those looking to start their own clinics:

-Accessibility and parking are huge. Prioritize these when choosing your location.
-Keep your overhead low. Starting out is really expensive (and you will make mistakes that make it more expensive) and having a large overhead to cover will increase your stress tremendously. You can get creative with minimal equipment and space and still have a major impact on your patients. Start your clinic in a small, affordable space that has good parking and is easy to get to.
-Outsource your billing. I recommend Big Sky Billing. They’re great.
-“Don’t worry about the money.” This one is weird, I know. When I say don’t worry about the money, I mean… don’t prioritize it. Prioritize doing a good job. Prioritize taking great care of your patients, really truly listening to them and caring for them. If you do that and don’t worry about the money, money will never be a problem you have to worry about.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Dan Chapman, I’m a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a Board-Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. I used to be a personal trainer but I found that I really wanted to go back to school to learn more about the body and, in particular, learn how to help people in pain. The best part of my job is helping people who are trying to get active, get healthy and take care of their bodies but are hampered by chronic pain, injury, and/or previous surgeries that are holding them back. It’s a pretty powerful experience to see someone come in Day 1 having a hard time walking and then, down the line, see them back to running, lifting and enjoying their life.

The thing I’m most proud of is being able to build a successful business that accepts insurance and still treats patients 1 on 1. It’s pretty rare in the physical therapy world to get the kind of 1:1 attention you get at Chapman Physical Therapy and, in my experience, it truly makes all the difference in the world. People feel good about coming to their appointments. They are happy to be here and we have a lot of fun while getting people back to the activities they love. U.S. healthcare doesn’t have to be the terrible system it is and we’re here to prove it.

Beyond that, I’m an Associate Editor for the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy. We have a leading podcast in the physical therapy world called JOSPT Insights where we interview content experts, authors and reseachers about specific diagnoses, treatments and patient care. We focus on making the podcast extremely clinically applicable to PTs listening.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I probably sound like a broken record here but…you need to really care about your patients. I have a reputation for truly caring for my patients because I do. People talk and when they encounter a professional that is good at what they do that’s great but it doesn’t necessarily create a strong connection or a strong bond. There are plenty of people that are good at what they do. You know how many people really care about other people and work hard to go the extra mile to really get to know someone else and help them? Unfortunately, that is less common.

Go the extra mile. Really get to know the person in front of you, ask the deeper questions that demonstrate you’re really listening and you really care. THEN show them you’re good at your work and get them better. That’s how you create a network of people that are day in and day out recommending you to their friends, their family, their colleagues because they want their family, their friends, their colleagues to receive the same amazing care that they recevied.

But remember, it’s not about your professional skills (yes they are important, andyou need to be good but that’s actually not the most important thing) it’s about the fact that you care.

“Don’t worry about the money”

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Inevitably at some point in my plan of care with a patient they will say one of the following things:

“This is just so incredibly different from X PT place where my PT was treating 2 or 3 patients simultaneously”

or

“I just have never recieved 1:1 care like this, thank you so much I feel so much better.”

When my patient says something along these lines I just ask them the following –

Would you mind mentioning that to your doc at your next follow up? They really don’t know the difference between different PT clinics and it would be really helpful for them to know where to send patients to get good care.

Doctors don’t care what I say about myself when I come to their office and tell them what we do at Chapman PT. They see 100 people like me a week telling them about X and Y service. But when a patient comes in and says “wow, I’ve never had PT like I had at ChapmanPT, they are really great and really cared for me there” that really makes a lasting impression on the physician.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ChapmanPT.com
• Instagram: Chapman_PT
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChapmanPhysicalTherapy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmanpt/
• Twitter: DanChapmanDPT