PT Pintcast - Physical Therapy

Jimmy McKay, PT, DPT | Physical Therapy Podcast
  • 4.8 (201)
  • Medicine
  • Updated Semiweekly

PT Pintcast is a physical therapy podcast featuring conversations with physical therapists, clinic owners, educators, and leaders shaping the future of physical therapy. Hosted by Jimmy McKay, PT, DPT, PT Pintcast blends real talk, big ideas, and practical insight on clinical care, business, culture, and where physical therapy is headed next. If a TED Talk and a radio show had a baby and raised it in a physical therapy clinic, this would be it.

  1. 21h ago

    Can Cash Pay PT Actually Scale?

    What if the future of physical therapy is not just more visits, more units, and more productivity pressure? In this episode of PT Breakfast Club, Tony Maritato, Dave Kittle, and Jimmy McKay start with a productivity benchmark chart comparing outpatient private practice, corporate clinics, cash-based care, hospital outpatient, sports med, and high-volume clinics. That opens up a bigger discussion about what productivity really means in PT. Is 25 visits a day automatically bad? Is one-on-one cash pay automatically better? Or does it all depend on the patient, the payer, the legal model, and the business you are actually building? From there, the conversation turns to whether cash-pay physical therapy can scale. Dave points to Onward and similar performance-based models. Tony pushes back by asking whether that solves a population-level problem or simply serves a smaller group of people who already want the service. Then the crew explores a bigger business idea: can PTs productize their expertise? Jiffy Knee created a branded surgical approach. McKenzie became a global system. Total Motion Release built a recognizable method. So why don’t more physical therapists turn their clinical expertise into branded, licensable programs that other clinics can buy, use, and market? The final stretch gets spicy: Tony’s “best personal trainer vs worst physical therapist” post sparks a debate about education, professional identity, licenses, and whether PTs overestimate the protective power of the degree. The takeaway: knowledge is not proprietary. Value comes from the result, the system, the delivery, and whether people actually want what you are offering.

    Can Cash Pay PT Actually Scale?

  2. 1d ago

    The Therapist Who Took the Interview While Driving

    What matters more in a physical therapy hire: clinical skill, reliability, values, or fit? In this episode of PT Breakfast Club, Dave Kittle and Tony Maritato talk through the uncomfortable parts of hiring that rarely make it into job descriptions. Tony starts with a question every clinic owner eventually faces: what do you do with someone who is great with patients, but unreliable? Dave shares his interview process, including phone screens, Zoom calls, in-person skills assessments, reference checks, and the small behavioral details that can reveal whether a candidate is actually serious. The conversation centers on one memorable example: a candidate who took a scheduled interview call while driving. For Dave, that was the end of the road. Not because the person was evil, but because the moment revealed something about attention, preparation, and how seriously they treated the opportunity. Tony and Dave also explore whether employers should clearly spell out expectations or leave some things unsaid to see what a candidate does naturally. They talk about new grads versus experienced hires, hiring for core values, ambition alignment, long-term fit, and why one person can either elevate a clinic or quietly disrupt everything. Then the episode turns toward outpatient ortho and the future of physical therapy. Dave brings up a LinkedIn post from an orthopedic surgeon who says he prescribes less formal PT than he did 10 years ago. Tony responds with a bigger question: what if some routine outpatient ortho care is not the best use of insurance dollars? That leads to a spicy conversation about joint replacements, bundled payments, home exercise programs, AI, cash pay, private practice, premium models, scalable healthcare, Equinox, Planet Fitness, and where PT might be headed next. This episode features Dave Kittle and Tony Maritato.

    The Therapist Who Took the Interview While Driving

  3. 3d ago

    John Gallucci: You’re Never Smarter Than the Curve

    John Gallucci, CEO of JAG Physical Therapy, joins PT Pintcast for a conversation about business, failure, community, mentorship, branding, and building a physical therapy company that lasts. John traces his story back to Brooklyn, Staten Island, and his family’s surgical supply business. When consolidation took away his father’s hospital contracts, the family lost the business and the home John grew up in. That experience became one of his defining lessons: you are never smarter than the curve. Understand it, adapt to it, and do not assume history will protect you. He also shares how he found physical therapy at 13, how mentors shaped his career, and how JAG Physical Therapy grew from one clinic into 155 community-based clinics. For John, the number matters less than the model: every clinic has to be ingrained in its own community. The episode also covers The JAG Method, his books on soccer and baseball injury prevention, why the company name came from his initials, how opening the second clinic was driven by not wanting to lose a great clinician, and what a one-on-one conversation with Gene Simmons taught him about branding, audience, marketing, and entrepreneurship. John’s parting shot is simple: never take no for an answer. If you want it, go get it. If you get knocked down, get back up. You only go through once. Jag Physical Therapy John Gallucci Jr.

    John Gallucci: You’re Never Smarter Than the Curve

  4. 3d ago

    Make 100 Mediocre Things!

    Your clinic is already full of content. You just may not be noticing it. In this episode of PT Breakfast Club, Tony Maritato and Jimmy McKay dig into what is actually working in physical therapy content right now. Jimmy shares what he is learning from LinkedIn, including why heat maps, rankings, dogs, sneakers, and “PT but make it…” posts perform well. The reason is not magic. People engage when they can identify with something, argue with it, correct it, or add themselves to the story. Tony shares what is working on Facebook, including AI-generated knee replacement images, real patient photos, simple text prompts, and posts that invite patients to talk about their own experience. Some of the highest-performing posts are not polished videos. They are simple, direct, and built for conversation. That leads to a bigger point: media should be social. Clinics do not need to produce perfect videos. They need to tell real stories, ask better questions, and get more reps. The conversation then turns to hiring. Jimmy explains why most PT job posts sound exactly the same: competitive salary, fast-paced environment, great culture, mentorship, and all the beige phrases that say almost nothing. If every job post sounds the same, the clinic pays a sameness tax. Tony pushes the conversation into access and rationing care. If patients cannot get into PT for weeks or months, referral sources may eventually stop referring. Same-day or next-day access may be a differentiator, but it also changes the business model, staffing model, and documentation burden. The episode wraps with charting beer, call-in show energy, TikTok rage bait, viral injury stories, and the reminder that content creation works like physical therapy: one perfect rep does not change much. The reps do.

    Make 100 Mediocre Things!

  5. 5d ago

    The Apple Pie Lesson for PT Clinics

    Is physical therapy school still worth it? In this episode of PT Breakfast Club, Jimmy McKay joins from the APTA Connecticut golf fundraiser at Lyman Orchards, where every round comes with a free apple pie. That becomes the first business lesson of the morning: people remember what is worth remarking on. Tony Maritato, Dave Kittle, and Jimmy use that idea to talk about what makes a clinic memorable, why healthcare defaults to being bland, and how practices can show their value instead of just saying they are different. Then the crew tackles the bigger question: is becoming a physical therapist still worth it? Jimmy says it depends. Dave says yes, if you choose the right school, manage debt, and understand the opportunities available. Tony says the degree is an asset, but only if you use it in today’s world instead of trying to practice like it is 2002. The conversation also covers Dave’s new video strategy in New York City, recording patient care with consent, using anonymized patient stories, AI in PT education, and how future DPT students should be using AI as a study partner. Then Dave shares a $652 refrigerator repair story that turns into a surprisingly useful PT business lesson about urgency, diagnostic fees, same-day service, customer education, and selling access to expertise. The takeaway: physical therapy is still worth it, but the old story is dead. The opportunity is still there for people willing to be modern, visible, creative, and clear about the value they provide.

    The Apple Pie Lesson for PT Clinics

  6. Aug 17

    Payment, Reimbursement, and Grandpa the Mailbox Guy

    This episode of PT Breakfast Club starts with Jimmy McKay reporting from Prompt HQ after a trip to Portland for APTA’s Payment Summit and House of Delegates. Jimmy explains how he got in trouble for live tweeting the House of Delegates, why he likes the word “payment” more than “reimbursement,” and what it felt like watching the profession debate policy language in real time. Dave Kittle pushes hard on the bigger question: has payment advocacy actually moved the needle for physical therapy? If insurance companies and Medicare are not meaningfully increasing payment, should more PTs stop waiting and build direct-to-consumer cash-pay offers? Tony Maritato adds the counterpoint: maybe some advocacy success is measured by slowing the decline, not producing giant wins. Then the show turns into a business strategy clinic thanks to Grandpa the Mailbox Guy. For $320, he solves the whole mailbox problem. No hourly rate. No overexplaining. No “here are the 17 steps.” Just a clear result at a clear price. The crew applies that lesson to PT, including grab bar installation, home safety consults, cash-pay evaluations, AI content ideas, therapist recruiting, viral video formats, and what practices should do when a clinician calls out sick. The takeaway: keep it stunningly simple. The customer does not want your process. They want the problem solved.

    Payment, Reimbursement, and Grandpa the Mailbox Guy

  7. Aug 16

    What’s Your Clinic’s Zip Line?

    What does Sophie Cunningham have to do with physical therapy? More than you might think. In this episode of PT Breakfast Club, Tony Maritato, Dave Kittle, and Jimmy McKay start with WNBA attention, athlete branding, Tom Brady publicity stunts, and the uncomfortable truth that the biggest money often comes from what surrounds the game, not the game itself. Then the crew brings that back to PT. If a physical therapist wants wealth, freedom, or leverage, maybe patient care is not the whole vehicle. Maybe the opportunity is media, ownership, products, digital offers, real estate, consulting, or something built around the clinical identity. Jimmy shares a “show and tell” prompt for clinic owners: what is one thing in your clinic you are irrationally proud of? A coffee setup, a mural, a workflow, a teammate, a clinic dog, a zip line. The stuff clinics usually bury may actually be the thing patients remember. From there, the conversation turns to job posts, salary expectations, retention, recruiting, and why PT jobs need their own baseball cards. Salary matters, but it is only the floor. The real question is what the job actually feels like once you are inside it. The back half gets into Hormozi-style premium offers, virtual assistants, Meta ads, Facebook revenue, insurance documentation mistakes, Google review mining with AI, and Jimmy’s scooter ride to Prompt HQ. That becomes the final metaphor: the golden mile problem. AI can give information, but people still need help turning information into action, context, accountability, and progress. The takeaway: AI may remove the visits that never needed to be visits. But complex care, human judgment, and the last mile of implementation are still incredibly valuable.

    What’s Your Clinic’s Zip Line?

  8. Aug 13

    The Business Model Behind the Care

    What if physical therapy is not bad at care, but bad at naming, packaging, and selling the thing patients actually want? In this episode of PT Breakfast Club, Jimmy McKay, Tony Maritato, and Dave Kittle start with Dave’s poker night in New York City and end up in a much bigger conversation about relationship-building, recruiting, cash-pay offers, performance training, AI, and why clinics may need to stop selling visits. The crew talks about how poker night, PT pub nights, student events, and live experiences can create better connections between clinicians, students, employers, and practice owners. Instead of another stale job fair, what if recruiting looked more like a room people actually wanted to be in? Then Tony raises the bigger identity question: should everything delivered by a physical therapist be called physical therapy? Or should clinics start naming the service more clearly, like performance training delivered by a physical therapist? Dave breaks down a real cash-pay experiment at Concierge Pain Relief, including a paid evaluation, a value stack, and a results-based plan of care instead of selling visit by visit. That sparks a deeper discussion about why selling transformation is harder than selling a commodity, why clinicians struggle with large dollar amounts, and how repetition, call recording, AI feedback, and coaching can make value communication stronger. The episode closes with AI’s future role in patient decision-making. Patients may increasingly use their own AI tools to evaluate offers, compare options, and decide whether a package makes sense. The final takeaway: clarity beats complexity, and clear beats clever every time.

    The Business Model Behind the Care
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4.8
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About

PT Pintcast is a physical therapy podcast featuring conversations with physical therapists, clinic owners, educators, and leaders shaping the future of physical therapy. Hosted by Jimmy McKay, PT, DPT, PT Pintcast blends real talk, big ideas, and practical insight on clinical care, business, culture, and where physical therapy is headed next. If a TED Talk and a radio show had a baby and raised it in a physical therapy clinic, this would be it.

Information

  • Creator
    Jimmy McKay, PT, DPT | Physical Therapy Podcast
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    295
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © PT Pintcast LLC
  • Show Website
    PT Pintcast - Physical Therapy

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