June 3, 2025 • 31 mins
What happens when you build a healthcare practice around doing common things with uncommon standards? Davis Bradley, founder of Uncommon Physical Therapy in North Carolina, has created a revolutionary approach to physical therapy that puts service and patient experience at the centre of everything.
While many physical therapy clinics focus on volume and efficiency, Bradley has deliberately chosen a different path. His practice calls patients within 30 minutes of receiving referrals, schedules appointments within days, and provides full hour-long sessions with dedicated therapists who stay with patients throughout their treatment journey. This approach creates remarkable continuity and relationship-building that patients frequently describe as "different" from their previous therapy experiences.
Bradley challenges conventional wisdom about what makes a successful practice. Rather than defining his niche through specialisation in specific conditions or techniques, he considers the exceptional level of care itself to be his differentiator. Simple practices like having every therapist greet every patient in the waiting room create an atmosphere where patients feel known and valued. This philosophy extends to his business approach as well – balancing insurance requirements with patient needs, measuring success through quality metrics rather than volume alone, and maintaining sustainable workloads that prevent therapist burnout.
Perhaps most telling is Bradley's ultimate measure of success: "This office will be successful when I'm considered the least best therapist here." This servant-leadership approach prioritises building an exceptional team and sustainable practice over personal recognition. As healthcare faces increasing pressures toward efficiency and standardisation, Uncommon Physical Therapy offers a compelling alternative – proving that focusing on human connection and service excellence can create both outstanding patient outcomes and business success.
Ready to experience physical therapy that truly puts your needs first? Discover what makes Uncommon PT different and why patients are calling it the most refreshing healthcare experience they've had.
Guest Contact & Socials for Episode Bio
- Name: Davis Bradley, DPT, CMP
- Title: Owner, Uncommon Physical Therapy
- Website: https://uncommonphysicaltherapy.com
- Email: info@uncommonphysicaltherapy.com
- Phone: (704) 803-8038
- Instagram: @uncommonpt
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Andrew Greenland (00:02):
Okay, so welcome back to Voices in Health
and Wellness.
This is the show where we speakwith bold clinic owners and
health innovators who arereshaping care delivery from the
ground up.
Today's guest is Davis Bradley,a licensed physical therapist
and the founder of UncommonPhysical Therapy in North
Carolina.
Davis has built his clinicaround simple but powerful
belief that success inhealthcare comes from doing
(00:23):
common things with uncommonstandards.
At Uncommon PT, he and his teamare challenging the norms of
traditional physical therapywith a patient-first,
values-driven approach that cutsthrough red tape and focuses on
results.
Davis, I'm really grateful foryour time this afternoon.
Thank you very much for joining.
Are you in Carolina at themoment?
David Bradley (00:42):
Yes, andrew, presently in Charlotte, north
Carolina.
My wife and I moved up herefrom Charleston, south Carolina,
a few years ago and opened upUncommon Physical Therapy in
January of 2024.
So we've been cracking on foralmost a year and a half now, I
guess.
Dr Andrew Greenland (01:02):
Okay, so could you maybe start by telling
us a little bit about yourjourney and how Uncommon
Physical Therapy came to be?
David Bradley (01:09):
Yeah, absolutely so.
It's a little bit of aninteresting story where when I
was in physical therapy school,I did an internship with a
clinician in Charleston who wasa private practice owner and had
a couple private practiceshimself, and I kind of took a
leap of faith after school andwanted to work with him just to
(01:32):
learn about the business ofphysical therapy, ultimately
thinking that down the road Iwould want to potentially own my
own office With him at ImaginePhysical Therapy in Charleston.
I was actually able to partnerand we opened up an office
together where I was a partowner and his guidance was kind
(01:52):
of invaluable, if you will.
He actually graduated physicaltherapy school the year I was
born, so he'd been doing it fora little while, and so I managed
that practice with him foreight years and really got to
understand and build thefoundation, based on some of his
(02:13):
beliefs and successes that he'dhad over the years, of what
uncommon physical therapy wouldcome to be.
We were really patient focusedthere in Charleston, putting
their needs above kind of thenorms of business at times.
And then my wife had anopportunity up in Charlotte and
we took the leap of faith andshe said to me wouldn't it be
(02:36):
fun to start all over again andopen up your own office.
And I said, boy, does thatsound fun.
So we did that back in January,again with that basis that I'd
kind of grown to know over those10 years or so in Charleston.
And that was just that.
Despite what everything lookslike on the outside, if you're
(03:00):
in control, you can kind of makethe decisions based on how you
want your practice to look.
And I'm very much a passionateperson about the care that our
patients receive.
And that's where kind of thebasis for Uncommon started.
Of course we want to be thebest physical therapists that we
(03:24):
can be and provide the bestcare.
But the experience overall inhealth care sometimes is what
you hear people have the biggesttroubles with, and so our
experience stems from our firsttouch point with the patient how
they're integrated into meetingus, how they're integrated into
(03:45):
meeting us, how they'reintegrated into getting their
forms before the appointment.
We call them within 30 minutesof receiving the referral.
Sometimes they haven't evenleft the doctor's office and you
know they're kind of amazed bythat.
So it all kind of boils downjust to this level of care.
(04:06):
If you will, I think about howwe're a service industry at the
basis of what we do, and ourservice just happens to be
physical therapy, be physicaltherapy.
(04:30):
So when I'm out in the worldI'm constantly evaluating what
things make me feel good, rightas an experience through a
service, whether it's at arestaurant or getting my oil
changed or going to the drycleaner and seeing what sorts of
things we can incorporate intoour business.
That alludes that same sort offeeling.
So that's kind of where we'vetaken some of that, you know,
(04:52):
non-medical approach to thebusiness.
Dr Andrew Greenland (04:56):
Nice.
And when you say uncommon, ifsomebody picks up the phone and
say, oh, so what's uncommonabout what you do?
What would you kind of pin downas your kind of main headlines,
as the uncommon?
David Bradley (05:07):
So it would be that kind of what I was alluding
to is is.
You'll get a call the same day.
We'll schedule you within acouple of days.
You'll get to see yourtherapist for an hour, one on
one.
We're not going to pass you offto other practitioners to try
to lighten the load.
(05:27):
We're not trying to just pushvolume through our office.
We're going to be successfulthrough the level of care.
Our patients are going tofinish their kind of care
prescription because of theservice that they get.
They're not going to show up ontheir third visit and go oh,
(05:49):
I'm seeing someone totallydifferent who knows nothing
about me, and they just sit hereand watch me do exercises.
You really build a relationshipwith the person who's working
with you.
I think that matters immensely.
I'd say that some of ourpatients, if not all of our
patients, know more about us andwe know more about them at
(06:11):
times than we do with some ofour friends because we get to
just spend that level of timewith them.
I think in medical practicesthat's uncommon, right, and so I
think that kind of stems fromit.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe the specific treatment that
we're doing with someone.
(06:33):
People in physical therapy a lotof times talk about you know
what your niche is, right, areyou a sports medicine specialist
?
Are you the best vestibulartreating practitioner?
I would say that our niche isthe care, and then the physical
therapy comes with it.
Right, we do simple things, asyou know all of our therapists,
(06:58):
when we walk through the waitingroom, we say hello to everybody
, right, and it's just.
It just creates this atmosphereof enjoyment and, again, I
think that's uncommon.
There can be a patient in ourwaiting room that one of my
therapists has never worked withand they've said hey to him 15
times, and then that patient,through chance, has a scheduling
(07:22):
conflict and they need toschedule on someone else's
schedule and they already feellike they know the person.
So it's no, it's no challenge.
Um, they go, I'm happy to workwith them, um, which, again,
just isn't always the case.
So again, that's kind of ourdefinition of uncommon.
It's the simple things that wecan do, almost unrelated to the
(07:45):
true physical therapy.
Dr Andrew Greenland (07:47):
Brilliant.
So what does a typical day looklike for you?
At the moment, I don't know howmuch time you spend in sort of
practice versus being thebusiness owner, the clinic owner
, and I suppose no day istypical.
But what does a typical daylook like?
David Bradley (08:01):
So a typical day for me is I'm probably spending
60% of my time still treating,right, I don't think there's
ever a time where I get out oftreating.
We also don't want to be thelast people to jump on the trend
(08:27):
if science backs it and so,being evidence-based in the way
that we approach our actualphysical therapy, I don't think
there's a time where I'm justcompletely out of treating.
You have to kind of keep thoseskills, keep that mentality of
you know one foot in front ofthe other.
(08:48):
We kind of are saying is ifwe're doing everything exactly
the same that we are now, in acouple years we're probably
doing it wrong, but if we'redoing everything completely
different in a year, we're alsoprobably doing it wrong.
So there's a little bit ofevolution of how you know the
treatment side goes.
And then on the business side,I'm trying to spend time
(09:13):
mentoring my therapists.
We have a couple youngtherapists as far as when they
graduated from school, so wehave it set up in our kind of
program, if you will, to spendspecific time mentoring, making
(09:33):
sure that they're supported infeeling welcomed and comfortable
with their treatment,practicing skills, having time
to read evidence and then tryingto build relationships around
town with referring providers orpatient pools where we may kind
(09:53):
of expand to.
So it's a little bit ofeverything.
Dr Andrew Greenland (09:56):
Nice, and one of the big themes we're
hearing from other clinic ownersin this space is the increasing
pressure from insurance andinsurance and regulation.
David Bradley (10:06):
just wondered how that's playing out in your
world yeah, so, um, I actuallylistened to your other podcast
with christian on who runs thebilling company, and I happen to
really agree with a lot of thethings that he was saying in
that podcast.
(10:26):
As of right now, you know, myperspective is that the
reimbursement is there.
It's on the clinic side ofunderstanding the back end of it
and making sure that you aregetting the most out of your
visits, your approach to billingand reimbursement and working
(10:48):
the claims.
I've kind of accepted thatinsurance will be an
ever-changing challenge and wejust need to be able to evolve
efficiently with that.
I think the way that weapproach it is realistically.
Our patients who have insurancewould want to use their
(11:12):
insurance at this point in timebecause the cost per visit to
them is going to be less, and so, if we can still figure out a
way for that to be beneficialfor the clinic, that's the way
that we want to do it.
Patients deserve to use theirinsurance if they have it,
(11:33):
especially if they have goodinsurance.
I think we would be limitingour patient pool at this point
if we just went to a strictlycash-based option point.
If we just went to a strictlycash based option.
We have some patients who havegreat insurance and they pay
fifteen dollars, you know, andand they don't have visit limits
.
And so for us again, thatuncommon level of care means we
(11:56):
get to see you ten times for onehundred and fifty dollars and
you're better because you're notlimited in the amount of time
that we get to spend with you.
So that's kind of how weapproach it.
We take it as it's ourresponsibility to make sure that
it's worth it for us, not thepatient's responsibility to kind
of pay us what we need.
Dr Andrew Greenland (12:16):
And do you think you've nailed the
insurance side of things?
And I only say that becauseI've spoken with lots of people,
not just in physical fitnessspace but across the health
niches, and it's one of theirbottlenecks, it's one of their
major problems.
You seem a little bit morechilled about it.
I just wondered if you'vemanaged to crack it.
David Bradley (12:35):
I don't know that , it's crackable.
I think I've managed to wrap myhead around what it is right
and knowing that we're going tohave to be flexible and change,
Knowing that this year what therequirements are for certain
insurances for us to get paid,if you will, may be different
the next year.
(12:55):
Right, and as long as theeffort and time of doing those
things still equates for thebest experience for the patient,
then I think we do that,because it only again allows us
to build our brand, if you will,of being this uncommon level of
(13:16):
care.
Right, If we're one of the onlysmall clinics in town who's
still taking insurance andproviding great care, that opens
us up to a huge patientpopulation, because not everyone
can afford to go out of networkor to pay a cash-based price.
So until we can't do it, ourgoal is to do it.
Dr Andrew Greenland (13:36):
Brilliant.
What about patient expectationsin terms of things that you're
seeing?
So, do patients find itsurprising your approach?
You do this uncommon thingwhere you give such a high level
of service.
Does that sort of surprisepatients?
Are they more expecting to seethe high volume models that our
other clinics are doing?
David Bradley (13:57):
I.
I think that that's one of themost interesting things, andrew,
and and honestly, one of themost um complimentary things
sometimes is when we havesomeone who has been to therapy
and they say you know, I don'tknow if this is going to work,
but my doctor, my friend,recommended that I come and see
you guys.
I did therapy before and it wasokay.
(14:18):
One of our first questions isokay, great, tell us a little
bit about your experience.
What did you guys do?
What worked for you, whatdidn't work for you?
And almost always it is notwhat we do here.
It's kind of what you describedof a higher volume.
I felt like I could do some ofthe things that they gave me to
(14:39):
do at home.
I didn't feel like I got greatone-on-one attention.
You know, I always ask patientsa lot of times when they come to
an office like mine.
You know they've got some sortof big musculoskeletal
irritability or a knot or atrigger point if you will
somewhere and I say, hey, didanybody ever lay their hands on
(14:59):
you or stretch on that, ormassage on that, or you know?
And they say no, and I go oh mygosh, how did?
Well, of course stuff didn'twork.
You didn't, you weren't gettingthe best care did.
Well, of course, stuff didn'twork right, you didn't get, you
weren't getting the best care.
And so in a visit or two, theythey almost always go oh, this
(15:20):
is different, I, I like this iskind of what they say.
I like your approach to this.
That isn't a promise that willget them better, right, but
their overall feeling about theway that they're being
approached is different and theyreally enjoy that.
So great.
Dr Andrew Greenland (15:36):
It sounds like you provide a wow
experience, which is veryimpressive we try to yeah, what
do you think is the biggestmisunderstanding about what it
takes to run a sustainableprivate practice today?
Because a lot of people lookingin at these things think it
must be an easy ride.
But what do you think is thebiggest misunderstanding that
people might have about runningsomething which is clearly as
successful as what you do?
David Bradley (15:57):
um, I think that the biggest misunderstanding
probably is that there's nomagic formula.
Um, I think in my perception, Isee a lot of almost like quick
fix marketing out there in thePT world, especially in the US,
of if you do these seven things,then we'll 10 times your
(16:19):
revenue, sort of deal.
I think the sustainability inprivate practice really comes
from understanding what yourgoals are as a clinic owner,
understanding where you want tosee your clinic go and then
honestly just taking one step infront of the other towards
(16:41):
those goals.
There's no quick fix, there'sno magic pill.
If you can do the things thatmatter to you really well, um I
I think over time, you can besuccessful.
Um, I think it's just kind offor lack of a better term
outlasting other people.
(17:02):
Um, and if you're passionateabout it and you're really proud
of what you're going to do,you're going to do that it and
you're really proud of whatyou're going to do, you're going
to do that.
Um.
I think being honest withyourself matters too as far as
where you're moving, what yourgoals are, how it's going, being
willing to pivot but also beingwilling to just be consistent
(17:25):
great um.
Dr Andrew Greenland (17:27):
so what's been working really well for you
in terms of growth or patientoutcomes, in terms of the things
that you do and obviously youmentioned some of them already
in terms of creating this wowexperience?
But is there anything else inthere?
David Bradley (17:40):
Yeah, so honestly for us as far as patient
outcomes, we try to do a reallygood job from the beginning of
being honest with patients.
We try to do a really good jobfrom the beginning of being
honest with patients.
One of the hardest things inphysical therapy is we're fixers
.
Right, Our goal is to fixpeople.
We try to be honest with ourpatients and say if we're
(18:07):
consistent with what we do andyou're consistent with what we
ask you to do, very rarely do wehave people who don't make some
progress.
Right, some better is alwaysbetter than no better.
But I never promise anyone thatwe'll go from a 10 out of 10
pain to zero out of 10 pain.
I say that would be wonderful.
That's always my hope.
But we're just honest.
And when you set that honestexpectation, when you are making
(18:29):
that progress, the patientunderstands.
And when you set that honestexpectation, when you are making
that progress, the patientunderstands.
And if you do have a plateau,then you can be honest with them
and say, hey, we're doing allof the right things that we need
to be doing.
There's nothing about your carethat needs to change, but maybe
it's a referral back to yourphysician.
Let's see if something else isgoing on.
So we try to just be reallytruthful and honest, not
(18:52):
salesman like and going, hey, ifyou give me 10 more visits then
I promise it'll get better andthen as far as kind of I think
your other question was, youknow, the growth of the clinic
we try and be really genuinewhen we meet with potential
referring partners about who weare and the experience that we
(19:15):
provide and then hope that inturn we're fortunate enough to
receive a couple of theirpatients and we treat them like
we are an extension of thatpractice.
Our goal is for the patient togo back to the practice and say,
oh my gosh, thank you so muchfor sending me there.
(19:36):
You were right.
Right, it has nothing to dowith us.
It's the doctor who referredthem, made the best decision for
the patient.
We just happen to be thatextension of the doctor and then
the patients turn into yourbiggest cheerleaders and it all
kind of reinforces itself.
Dr Andrew Greenland (19:54):
And what's felt like the most persistent or
frustrating challenge that youhave to kind of deal with
recently.
David Bradley (20:03):
Honestly, being patient with growth you know I
mentioned that my office here isabout a year and a half old.
You know I mentioned that myoffice here is about a year and
a half old being driven andexcited about what we're doing.
We're receiving wonderful,generous feedback from the
(20:27):
patients that we've been able totouch and the doctors that
we've been working with.
Being patient and just makingsure that you don't get ahead of
yourself, expand yourself toofast or too quickly, that
changes the level of care thatyou give, because ultimately
that's going to be what definesus.
I think in the industry, one ofthe things that we deal with are
(20:48):
there's more need for PT thanthere are PTs.
So finding those exceptionalpeople who share the same values
in a process of growth for anoffice like mine is always going
to be a challenge.
You know I'd be.
I'm willing to do 10 interviewsand hire no one if it doesn't
(21:10):
fit for our, our office Um.
But when you find the rightperson, you also have to be
willing to pull the trigger,maybe before you have the need
for them.
So kind of playing that game ofum.
You know, fulfilling the needfor a clinic like mine with
great people that's kind of whatI tell people when we're
interviewing for a position.
(21:30):
I say I'm always looking forgreat people.
We can become great physicaltherapists.
Dr Andrew Greenland (21:35):
So you're kind of always recruiting at
some level always looking outfor people.
Yeah, got it.
David Bradley (21:41):
Yep, because if you find the right person,
andrew, they'll create the need.
Is the way that I approach itright.
They'll buy into the philosophy.
Here at Uncommon, the patientswill go.
You know what?
I don't want to see Davis.
I want to see somebody elsebecause I had a great experience
with them.
I had a friend ask me one timewhen I know that I think I've
(22:08):
been successful and I kind ofsat back and thought about it
for a minute and I think thisoffice will be successful when
I'm considered the least besttherapist therapist I've.
(22:31):
I've given everyone else whatthey need to become excellent
therapists, excellent people.
Um, and it's never been aboutme, and at that point it'll
definitely not be about me um,it'll be purely about um
uncommon.
So brilliant.
Dr Andrew Greenland (22:45):
Are there any um metrics or signals that
you keep a close eye on in yourbusiness, whether those are
clinical indicators or businessfocused ones, things you kind of
use to get a thermometer ofyour business?
David Bradley (23:09):
going back to Christian again.
We track a lot of data as faras our insurance what we're
receiving based on per visit.
We track the codes that we'rebilling and how viable the
reimbursement of those codes is.
We track we have a standard, ifyou will, that we track for we
call a full day for ourtherapists, so we work an
eight-hour day.
We call a full day seven and ahalf visits a day.
(23:32):
Obviously you can't have a halfa visit, but that's the
standard of.
We want to keep the schedulerelatively full.
When we keep the schedule fulland we bill correctly, it allows
us to keep our patient volumerelatively low.
That then transitions to lessburnout of our therapists.
Right?
(23:53):
Our therapists take no noteshome at the end of the day
they're done.
So you know that's a prettygood work-life balance, if you
will.
So we track all sorts of thingslike that.
We track how quickly we reachout to patients after we receive
their referral.
If we don't get them the firsttime we call, we track when we
(24:16):
call them the next time.
That's usually within anotherday or two.
If we don't get in touch withthem after three times, we let
their doctor know that wereached out to them a couple
times in touch with them.
After three times we let theirdoctor know that we reached out
to them a couple times again.
So kind of all just thisexperience, if you will, of how
do we make this whole thingenjoyable for everyone and it
(24:38):
comes down through tounderstanding kind of those
metrics that make it possiblethank you and if you could, um,
I was say where do you want tobe in six to 12 months time?
Dr Andrew Greenland (24:48):
You kind of indicated you're always trying
to grow and recruit good people,but where would you like the
Uncommon PT to be in six 12months from now?
David Bradley (24:57):
So six to 12 months from now and I think
we're on the road there of Ireally want us to be synonymous
with one of the best privatepractices in Charlotte.
I want our name to be known asyou go here if you need PT,
(25:19):
because of the experience thatyou'll get.
And then down the line fromthat, I think one of our core
goals is people always ask meyou know what happens if you get
too busy?
Do you find a new space andgrow bigger?
And I think that that actuallychanges the perception of the
office.
(25:42):
Two years, one year, who knows,maybe we're replicating this in
another part of town to providethat same level of service in
an area that maybe isn't seeingus currently because it's a 20
minute drive or something likethat is there a?
Dr Andrew Greenland (26:02):
is this going to be organic growth or is
there anything that you'reworking on to try and get that
level of growth that you'relooking for?
David Bradley (26:12):
What would you mean by organic growth?
Dr Andrew Greenland (26:14):
So just the natural thing of you know, word
of mouth, referrals and moreand more inquiries, or is there
anything you're actively tryingto do to grow the business?
David Bradley (26:24):
Yeah, so some of both.
We keep in active word of mouthand for all there are the best,
they're the biggest compliment.
We try and create relationshipswith local doctors,
orthopedists, primary carephysicians.
We'll set up lunches, if we can, with them and introduce
(26:45):
ourselves again, just trying tobe really genuine.
You know, we're kind of open toall of it and not being super
specific in any of it, if youwill, we kind of let the patient
population drive where we gowith some of this, drive where
(27:11):
we go with some of this.
We've done some classes at alocal YMCA where we've talked to
55 plus age adults just topractice talking about physical
therapy, nothing other than that, and then we happened to
receive a couple patients fromit.
You know we're willing toworkshop with people if we need
to, but nothing totally specific.
(27:33):
As far as you know, creating agame plan of this is how we're
going to drive the patients inand in the future.
A little bit of all of it seemsto work best.
Again, when our niche is kindof just this level of care,
right, we maybe target practiceswho we know get to spend a
(27:55):
significant amount of time withtheir patients, because then
their patients expect that levelof care.
Dr Andrew Greenland (28:02):
Amazing.
And if you could wave a magicwand and remove one obstacle or
roadblock, whether that's aninternal thing or an
industry-wide thing, what wouldthat be?
David Bradley (28:10):
currently goes back to the insurance and the
inability of patients who havemedicare you know, government
(28:42):
issued insurance they alwayshave to have a doctor's referral
before they can be seen inclinic.
So even a patient who's been aprevious patient of ours who
says you know, I've got the sameshoulder pain that I had a year
ago Davis fixed it and made itfeel great for a year I'd love
to go in and have a touch upthey need to refer back to their
doctor before they can come andsee me, which that's just a
little road bump.
Again, we, if we received thatcall from the patient, we'll
(29:05):
actually reach out to the doctorfor them and try and make that
request.
So it's not on their shoulders,but that's a little road bump,
and the expanse of care is evergrowing that at times patients
(29:29):
get confused on who is theappropriate person to answer
their questions, if you will,and so practitioners or
healthcare individuals, personaltrainers, yoga instructors,
doctors, kind of helping educatepatients as far as where their
(29:55):
kind of clinical expertise liesand falls.
We'll have patients who come inand ask us medication questions,
and that's out of our scope ofpractice.
And then we'll also havepatients who will have gone in
and saw someone who, out oftheir scope of practice, would
be diagnosing a musculoskeletalissue, may say, hey, my X, y and
(30:17):
Z told me that this is what Ihave going on at it because
technically that's not their jobrequirement.
So a little bit of thatunderstanding the space of care
is a little bit.
I wouldn't say it's an issue,but it's a little bit of an
ever-evolving kind of conundrum,if you will all right, davis,
(30:43):
thank you so much for your timethis afternoon.
Dr Andrew Greenland (30:44):
It's been a really interesting conversation
.
Thank you so much for your timethis afternoon.
It's been a really interestingconversation.
Thank you for your honesty andgiving us some insights into
what you do, how you make yourexperience a wow experience by
providing such excellent careand the reason why you're
uncommon in inverted commas.
But I really appreciate yourtime this afternoon, so thank
you so much.
David Bradley (31:00):
Thank you so much , Andrew.
Dr Andrew Greenland (31:02):
Thank you.
Okay, so welcome back to Voices in Health
and Wellness.
This is the show where we speakwith bold clinic owners and
health innovators who arereshaping care delivery from the
ground up.
Today's guest is Davis Bradley,a licensed physical therapist
and the founder of UncommonPhysical Therapy in North
Carolina.
Davis has built his clinicaround simple but powerful
belief that success inhealthcare comes from doing
(00:23):
common things with uncommonstandards.
At Uncommon PT, he and his teamare challenging the norms of
traditional physical therapywith a patient-first,
values-driven approach that cutsthrough red tape and focuses on
results.
Davis, I'm really grateful foryour time this afternoon.
Thank you very much for joining.
Are you in Carolina at themoment?
David Bradley (00:42):
Yes, andrew, presently in Charlotte, north
Carolina.
My wife and I moved up herefrom Charleston, south Carolina,
a few years ago and opened upUncommon Physical Therapy in
January of 2024.
So we've been cracking on foralmost a year and a half now, I
guess.
Dr Andrew Greenland (01:02):
Okay, so could you maybe start by telling
us a little bit about yourjourney and how Uncommon
Physical Therapy came to be?
David Bradley (01:09):
Yeah, absolutely so.
It's a little bit of aninteresting story where when I
was in physical therapy school,I did an internship with a
clinician in Charleston who wasa private practice owner and had
a couple private practiceshimself, and I kind of took a
leap of faith after school andwanted to work with him just to
(01:32):
learn about the business ofphysical therapy, ultimately
thinking that down the road Iwould want to potentially own my
own office With him at ImaginePhysical Therapy in Charleston.
I was actually able to partnerand we opened up an office
together where I was a partowner and his guidance was kind
(01:52):
of invaluable, if you will.
He actually graduated physicaltherapy school the year I was
born, so he'd been doing it fora little while, and so I managed
that practice with him foreight years and really got to
understand and build thefoundation, based on some of his
(02:13):
beliefs and successes that he'dhad over the years, of what
uncommon physical therapy wouldcome to be.
We were really patient focusedthere in Charleston, putting
their needs above kind of thenorms of business at times.
And then my wife had anopportunity up in Charlotte and
we took the leap of faith andshe said to me wouldn't it be
(02:36):
fun to start all over again andopen up your own office.
And I said, boy, does thatsound fun.
So we did that back in January,again with that basis that I'd
kind of grown to know over those10 years or so in Charleston.
And that was just that.
Despite what everything lookslike on the outside, if you're
(03:00):
in control, you can kind of makethe decisions based on how you
want your practice to look.
And I'm very much a passionateperson about the care that our
patients receive.
And that's where kind of thebasis for Uncommon started.
Of course we want to be thebest physical therapists that we
(03:24):
can be and provide the bestcare.
But the experience overall inhealth care sometimes is what
you hear people have the biggesttroubles with, and so our
experience stems from our firsttouch point with the patient how
they're integrated into meetingus, how they're integrated into
(03:45):
meeting us, how they'reintegrated into getting their
forms before the appointment.
We call them within 30 minutesof receiving the referral.
Sometimes they haven't evenleft the doctor's office and you
know they're kind of amazed bythat.
So it all kind of boils downjust to this level of care.
(04:06):
If you will, I think about howwe're a service industry at the
basis of what we do, and ourservice just happens to be
physical therapy, be physicaltherapy.
(04:30):
So when I'm out in the worldI'm constantly evaluating what
things make me feel good, rightas an experience through a
service, whether it's at arestaurant or getting my oil
changed or going to the drycleaner and seeing what sorts of
things we can incorporate intoour business.
That alludes that same sort offeeling.
So that's kind of where we'vetaken some of that, you know,
(04:52):
non-medical approach to thebusiness.
Dr Andrew Greenland (04:56):
Nice.
And when you say uncommon, ifsomebody picks up the phone and
say, oh, so what's uncommonabout what you do?
What would you kind of pin downas your kind of main headlines,
as the uncommon?
David Bradley (05:07):
So it would be that kind of what I was alluding
to is is.
You'll get a call the same day.
We'll schedule you within acouple of days.
You'll get to see yourtherapist for an hour, one on
one.
We're not going to pass you offto other practitioners to try
to lighten the load.
(05:27):
We're not trying to just pushvolume through our office.
We're going to be successfulthrough the level of care.
Our patients are going tofinish their kind of care
prescription because of theservice that they get.
They're not going to show up ontheir third visit and go oh,
(05:49):
I'm seeing someone totallydifferent who knows nothing
about me, and they just sit hereand watch me do exercises.
You really build a relationshipwith the person who's working
with you.
I think that matters immensely.
I'd say that some of ourpatients, if not all of our
patients, know more about us andwe know more about them at
(06:11):
times than we do with some ofour friends because we get to
just spend that level of timewith them.
I think in medical practicesthat's uncommon, right, and so I
think that kind of stems fromit.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe the specific treatment that
we're doing with someone.
(06:33):
People in physical therapy a lotof times talk about you know
what your niche is, right, areyou a sports medicine specialist
?
Are you the best vestibulartreating practitioner?
I would say that our niche isthe care, and then the physical
therapy comes with it.
Right, we do simple things, asyou know all of our therapists,
(06:58):
when we walk through the waitingroom, we say hello to everybody
, right, and it's just.
It just creates this atmosphereof enjoyment and, again, I
think that's uncommon.
There can be a patient in ourwaiting room that one of my
therapists has never worked withand they've said hey to him 15
times, and then that patient,through chance, has a scheduling
(07:22):
conflict and they need toschedule on someone else's
schedule and they already feellike they know the person.
So it's no, it's no challenge.
Um, they go, I'm happy to workwith them, um, which, again,
just isn't always the case.
So again, that's kind of ourdefinition of uncommon.
It's the simple things that wecan do, almost unrelated to the
(07:45):
true physical therapy.
Dr Andrew Greenland (07:47):
Brilliant.
So what does a typical day looklike for you?
At the moment, I don't know howmuch time you spend in sort of
practice versus being thebusiness owner, the clinic owner
, and I suppose no day istypical.
But what does a typical daylook like?
David Bradley (08:01):
So a typical day for me is I'm probably spending
60% of my time still treating,right, I don't think there's
ever a time where I get out oftreating.
We also don't want to be thelast people to jump on the trend
(08:27):
if science backs it and so,being evidence-based in the way
that we approach our actualphysical therapy, I don't think
there's a time where I'm justcompletely out of treating.
You have to kind of keep thoseskills, keep that mentality of
you know one foot in front ofthe other.
(08:48):
We kind of are saying is ifwe're doing everything exactly
the same that we are now, in acouple years we're probably
doing it wrong, but if we'redoing everything completely
different in a year, we're alsoprobably doing it wrong.
So there's a little bit ofevolution of how you know the
treatment side goes.
And then on the business side,I'm trying to spend time
(09:13):
mentoring my therapists.
We have a couple youngtherapists as far as when they
graduated from school, so wehave it set up in our kind of
program, if you will, to spendspecific time mentoring, making
(09:33):
sure that they're supported infeeling welcomed and comfortable
with their treatment,practicing skills, having time
to read evidence and then tryingto build relationships around
town with referring providers orpatient pools where we may kind
(09:53):
of expand to.
So it's a little bit ofeverything.
Dr Andrew Greenland (09:56):
Nice, and one of the big themes we're
hearing from other clinic ownersin this space is the increasing
pressure from insurance andinsurance and regulation.
David Bradley (10:06):
just wondered how that's playing out in your
world yeah, so, um, I actuallylistened to your other podcast
with christian on who runs thebilling company, and I happen to
really agree with a lot of thethings that he was saying in
that podcast.
(10:26):
As of right now, you know, myperspective is that the
reimbursement is there.
It's on the clinic side ofunderstanding the back end of it
and making sure that you aregetting the most out of your
visits, your approach to billingand reimbursement and working
(10:48):
the claims.
I've kind of accepted thatinsurance will be an
ever-changing challenge and wejust need to be able to evolve
efficiently with that.
I think the way that weapproach it is realistically.
Our patients who have insurancewould want to use their
(11:12):
insurance at this point in timebecause the cost per visit to
them is going to be less, and so, if we can still figure out a
way for that to be beneficialfor the clinic, that's the way
that we want to do it.
Patients deserve to use theirinsurance if they have it,
(11:33):
especially if they have goodinsurance.
I think we would be limitingour patient pool at this point
if we just went to a strictlycash-based option point.
If we just went to a strictlycash based option.
We have some patients who havegreat insurance and they pay
fifteen dollars, you know, andand they don't have visit limits
.
And so for us again, thatuncommon level of care means we
(11:56):
get to see you ten times for onehundred and fifty dollars and
you're better because you're notlimited in the amount of time
that we get to spend with you.
So that's kind of how weapproach it.
We take it as it's ourresponsibility to make sure that
it's worth it for us, not thepatient's responsibility to kind
of pay us what we need.
Dr Andrew Greenland (12:16):
And do you think you've nailed the
insurance side of things?
And I only say that becauseI've spoken with lots of people,
not just in physical fitnessspace but across the health
niches, and it's one of theirbottlenecks, it's one of their
major problems.
You seem a little bit morechilled about it.
I just wondered if you'vemanaged to crack it.
David Bradley (12:35):
I don't know that , it's crackable.
I think I've managed to wrap myhead around what it is right
and knowing that we're going tohave to be flexible and change,
Knowing that this year what therequirements are for certain
insurances for us to get paid,if you will, may be different
the next year.
(12:55):
Right, and as long as theeffort and time of doing those
things still equates for thebest experience for the patient,
then I think we do that,because it only again allows us
to build our brand, if you will,of being this uncommon level of
(13:16):
care.
Right, If we're one of the onlysmall clinics in town who's
still taking insurance andproviding great care, that opens
us up to a huge patientpopulation, because not everyone
can afford to go out of networkor to pay a cash-based price.
So until we can't do it, ourgoal is to do it.
Dr Andrew Greenland (13:36):
Brilliant.
What about patient expectationsin terms of things that you're
seeing?
So, do patients find itsurprising your approach?
You do this uncommon thingwhere you give such a high level
of service.
Does that sort of surprisepatients?
Are they more expecting to seethe high volume models that our
other clinics are doing?
David Bradley (13:57):
I.
I think that that's one of themost interesting things, andrew,
and and honestly, one of themost um complimentary things
sometimes is when we havesomeone who has been to therapy
and they say you know, I don'tknow if this is going to work,
but my doctor, my friend,recommended that I come and see
you guys.
I did therapy before and it wasokay.
(14:18):
One of our first questions isokay, great, tell us a little
bit about your experience.
What did you guys do?
What worked for you, whatdidn't work for you?
And almost always it is notwhat we do here.
It's kind of what you describedof a higher volume.
I felt like I could do some ofthe things that they gave me to
(14:39):
do at home.
I didn't feel like I got greatone-on-one attention.
You know, I always ask patientsa lot of times when they come to
an office like mine.
You know they've got some sortof big musculoskeletal
irritability or a knot or atrigger point if you will
somewhere and I say, hey, didanybody ever lay their hands on
(14:59):
you or stretch on that, ormassage on that, or you know?
And they say no, and I go oh mygosh, how did?
Well, of course stuff didn'twork.
You didn't, you weren't gettingthe best care did.
Well, of course, stuff didn'twork right, you didn't get, you
weren't getting the best care.
And so in a visit or two, theythey almost always go oh, this
(15:20):
is different, I, I like this iskind of what they say.
I like your approach to this.
That isn't a promise that willget them better, right, but
their overall feeling about theway that they're being
approached is different and theyreally enjoy that.
So great.
Dr Andrew Greenland (15:36):
It sounds like you provide a wow
experience, which is veryimpressive we try to yeah, what
do you think is the biggestmisunderstanding about what it
takes to run a sustainableprivate practice today?
Because a lot of people lookingin at these things think it
must be an easy ride.
But what do you think is thebiggest misunderstanding that
people might have about runningsomething which is clearly as
successful as what you do?
David Bradley (15:57):
um, I think that the biggest misunderstanding
probably is that there's nomagic formula.
Um, I think in my perception, Isee a lot of almost like quick
fix marketing out there in thePT world, especially in the US,
of if you do these seven things,then we'll 10 times your
(16:19):
revenue, sort of deal.
I think the sustainability inprivate practice really comes
from understanding what yourgoals are as a clinic owner,
understanding where you want tosee your clinic go and then
honestly just taking one step infront of the other towards
(16:41):
those goals.
There's no quick fix, there'sno magic pill.
If you can do the things thatmatter to you really well, um I
I think over time, you can besuccessful.
Um, I think it's just kind offor lack of a better term
outlasting other people.
(17:02):
Um, and if you're passionateabout it and you're really proud
of what you're going to do,you're going to do that it and
you're really proud of whatyou're going to do, you're going
to do that.
Um.
I think being honest withyourself matters too as far as
where you're moving, what yourgoals are, how it's going, being
willing to pivot but also beingwilling to just be consistent
(17:25):
great um.
Dr Andrew Greenland (17:27):
so what's been working really well for you
in terms of growth or patientoutcomes, in terms of the things
that you do and obviously youmentioned some of them already
in terms of creating this wowexperience?
But is there anything else inthere?
David Bradley (17:40):
Yeah, so honestly for us as far as patient
outcomes, we try to do a reallygood job from the beginning of
being honest with patients.
We try to do a really good jobfrom the beginning of being
honest with patients.
One of the hardest things inphysical therapy is we're fixers
.
Right, Our goal is to fixpeople.
We try to be honest with ourpatients and say if we're
(18:07):
consistent with what we do andyou're consistent with what we
ask you to do, very rarely do wehave people who don't make some
progress.
Right, some better is alwaysbetter than no better.
But I never promise anyone thatwe'll go from a 10 out of 10
pain to zero out of 10 pain.
I say that would be wonderful.
That's always my hope.
But we're just honest.
And when you set that honestexpectation, when you are making
(18:29):
that progress, the patientunderstands.
And when you set that honestexpectation, when you are making
that progress, the patientunderstands.
And if you do have a plateau,then you can be honest with them
and say, hey, we're doing allof the right things that we need
to be doing.
There's nothing about your carethat needs to change, but maybe
it's a referral back to yourphysician.
Let's see if something else isgoing on.
So we try to just be reallytruthful and honest, not
(18:52):
salesman like and going, hey, ifyou give me 10 more visits then
I promise it'll get better andthen as far as kind of I think
your other question was, youknow, the growth of the clinic
we try and be really genuinewhen we meet with potential
referring partners about who weare and the experience that we
(19:15):
provide and then hope that inturn we're fortunate enough to
receive a couple of theirpatients and we treat them like
we are an extension of thatpractice.
Our goal is for the patient togo back to the practice and say,
oh my gosh, thank you so muchfor sending me there.
(19:36):
You were right.
Right, it has nothing to dowith us.
It's the doctor who referredthem, made the best decision for
the patient.
We just happen to be thatextension of the doctor and then
the patients turn into yourbiggest cheerleaders and it all
kind of reinforces itself.
Dr Andrew Greenland (19:54):
And what's felt like the most persistent or
frustrating challenge that youhave to kind of deal with
recently.
David Bradley (20:03):
Honestly, being patient with growth you know I
mentioned that my office here isabout a year and a half old.
You know I mentioned that myoffice here is about a year and
a half old being driven andexcited about what we're doing.
We're receiving wonderful,generous feedback from the
(20:27):
patients that we've been able totouch and the doctors that
we've been working with.
Being patient and just makingsure that you don't get ahead of
yourself, expand yourself toofast or too quickly, that
changes the level of care thatyou give, because ultimately
that's going to be what definesus.
I think in the industry, one ofthe things that we deal with are
(20:48):
there's more need for PT thanthere are PTs.
So finding those exceptionalpeople who share the same values
in a process of growth for anoffice like mine is always going
to be a challenge.
You know I'd be.
I'm willing to do 10 interviewsand hire no one if it doesn't
(21:10):
fit for our, our office Um.
But when you find the rightperson, you also have to be
willing to pull the trigger,maybe before you have the need
for them.
So kind of playing that game ofum.
You know, fulfilling the needfor a clinic like mine with
great people that's kind of whatI tell people when we're
interviewing for a position.
(21:30):
I say I'm always looking forgreat people.
We can become great physicaltherapists.
Dr Andrew Greenland (21:35):
So you're kind of always recruiting at
some level always looking outfor people.
Yeah, got it.
David Bradley (21:41):
Yep, because if you find the right person,
andrew, they'll create the need.
Is the way that I approach itright.
They'll buy into the philosophy.
Here at Uncommon, the patientswill go.
You know what?
I don't want to see Davis.
I want to see somebody elsebecause I had a great experience
with them.
I had a friend ask me one timewhen I know that I think I've
(22:08):
been successful and I kind ofsat back and thought about it
for a minute and I think thisoffice will be successful when
I'm considered the least besttherapist therapist I've.
(22:31):
I've given everyone else whatthey need to become excellent
therapists, excellent people.
Um, and it's never been aboutme, and at that point it'll
definitely not be about me um,it'll be purely about um
uncommon.
So brilliant.
Dr Andrew Greenland (22:45):
Are there any um metrics or signals that
you keep a close eye on in yourbusiness, whether those are
clinical indicators or businessfocused ones, things you kind of
use to get a thermometer ofyour business?
David Bradley (23:09):
going back to Christian again.
We track a lot of data as faras our insurance what we're
receiving based on per visit.
We track the codes that we'rebilling and how viable the
reimbursement of those codes is.
We track we have a standard, ifyou will, that we track for we
call a full day for ourtherapists, so we work an
eight-hour day.
We call a full day seven and ahalf visits a day.
(23:32):
Obviously you can't have a halfa visit, but that's the
standard of.
We want to keep the schedulerelatively full.
When we keep the schedule fulland we bill correctly, it allows
us to keep our patient volumerelatively low.
That then transitions to lessburnout of our therapists.
Right?
(23:53):
Our therapists take no noteshome at the end of the day
they're done.
So you know that's a prettygood work-life balance, if you
will.
So we track all sorts of thingslike that.
We track how quickly we reachout to patients after we receive
their referral.
If we don't get them the firsttime we call, we track when we
(24:16):
call them the next time.
That's usually within anotherday or two.
If we don't get in touch withthem after three times, we let
their doctor know that wereached out to them a couple
times in touch with them.
After three times we let theirdoctor know that we reached out
to them a couple times again.
So kind of all just thisexperience, if you will, of how
do we make this whole thingenjoyable for everyone and it
(24:38):
comes down through tounderstanding kind of those
metrics that make it possiblethank you and if you could, um,
I was say where do you want tobe in six to 12 months time?
Dr Andrew Greenland (24:48):
You kind of indicated you're always trying
to grow and recruit good people,but where would you like the
Uncommon PT to be in six 12months from now?
David Bradley (24:57):
So six to 12 months from now and I think
we're on the road there of Ireally want us to be synonymous
with one of the best privatepractices in Charlotte.
I want our name to be known asyou go here if you need PT,
(25:19):
because of the experience thatyou'll get.
And then down the line fromthat, I think one of our core
goals is people always ask meyou know what happens if you get
too busy?
Do you find a new space andgrow bigger?
And I think that that actuallychanges the perception of the
office.
(25:42):
Two years, one year, who knows,maybe we're replicating this in
another part of town to providethat same level of service in
an area that maybe isn't seeingus currently because it's a 20
minute drive or something likethat is there a?
Dr Andrew Greenland (26:02):
is this going to be organic growth or is
there anything that you'reworking on to try and get that
level of growth that you'relooking for?
David Bradley (26:12):
What would you mean by organic growth?
Dr Andrew Greenland (26:14):
So just the natural thing of you know, word
of mouth, referrals and moreand more inquiries, or is there
anything you're actively tryingto do to grow the business?
David Bradley (26:24):
Yeah, so some of both.
We keep in active word of mouthand for all there are the best,
they're the biggest compliment.
We try and create relationshipswith local doctors,
orthopedists, primary carephysicians.
We'll set up lunches, if we can, with them and introduce
(26:45):
ourselves again, just trying tobe really genuine.
You know, we're kind of open toall of it and not being super
specific in any of it, if youwill, we kind of let the patient
population drive where we gowith some of this, drive where
(27:11):
we go with some of this.
We've done some classes at alocal YMCA where we've talked to
55 plus age adults just topractice talking about physical
therapy, nothing other than that, and then we happened to
receive a couple patients fromit.
You know we're willing toworkshop with people if we need
to, but nothing totally specific.
(27:33):
As far as you know, creating agame plan of this is how we're
going to drive the patients inand in the future.
A little bit of all of it seemsto work best.
Again, when our niche is kindof just this level of care,
right, we maybe target practiceswho we know get to spend a
(27:55):
significant amount of time withtheir patients, because then
their patients expect that levelof care.
Dr Andrew Greenland (28:02):
Amazing.
And if you could wave a magicwand and remove one obstacle or
roadblock, whether that's aninternal thing or an
industry-wide thing, what wouldthat be?
David Bradley (28:10):
currently goes back to the insurance and the
inability of patients who havemedicare you know, government
(28:42):
issued insurance they alwayshave to have a doctor's referral
before they can be seen inclinic.
So even a patient who's been aprevious patient of ours who
says you know, I've got the sameshoulder pain that I had a year
ago Davis fixed it and made itfeel great for a year I'd love
to go in and have a touch upthey need to refer back to their
doctor before they can come andsee me, which that's just a
little road bump.
Again, we, if we received thatcall from the patient, we'll
(29:05):
actually reach out to the doctorfor them and try and make that
request.
So it's not on their shoulders,but that's a little road bump,
and the expanse of care is evergrowing that at times patients
(29:29):
get confused on who is theappropriate person to answer
their questions, if you will,and so practitioners or
healthcare individuals, personaltrainers, yoga instructors,
doctors, kind of helping educatepatients as far as where their
(29:55):
kind of clinical expertise liesand falls.
We'll have patients who come inand ask us medication questions,
and that's out of our scope ofpractice.
And then we'll also havepatients who will have gone in
and saw someone who, out oftheir scope of practice, would
be diagnosing a musculoskeletalissue, may say, hey, my X, y and
(30:17):
Z told me that this is what Ihave going on at it because
technically that's not their jobrequirement.
So a little bit of thatunderstanding the space of care
is a little bit.
I wouldn't say it's an issue,but it's a little bit of an
ever-evolving kind of conundrum,if you will all right, davis,
(30:43):
thank you so much for your timethis afternoon.
Dr Andrew Greenland (30:44):
It's been a really interesting conversation
.
Thank you so much for your timethis afternoon.
It's been a really interestingconversation.
Thank you for your honesty andgiving us some insights into
what you do, how you make yourexperience a wow experience by
providing such excellent careand the reason why you're
uncommon in inverted commas.
But I really appreciate yourtime this afternoon, so thank
you so much.
David Bradley (31:00):
Thank you so much , Andrew.
Dr Andrew Greenland (31:02):
Thank you.
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