Matt Mastenbrook, DPT, clinic manager and treating physical therapist at Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation, says one of his first goals as a manager was to set his clinic apart from the many others in the area. And leading-edge technology would be a key change agent.
THE PROBLEM
Mastenbrook decided to advance and optimize Baylor’s use of the CogPT platform, developed by vendor Academy Medtech Ventures. He wanted his clinic to be on the forefront of optimizing patient outcomes – and to be a place patients look forward to coming to.
“Often, patients feel a lack of engagement with physical therapy and dread coming in to exercise or move in ways they find boring,” Mastenbrook explained. “Additionally, many patients lack follow-through with home exercise compliance.
“Aspects of traditional physical therapy often feel vanilla, cookie-cutter and lacking personalization,” he continued. “There have been times when I’ve seen PT patients who were clearly quite bored in sessions from doing the same kinds of exercises.”
Using technology that streamlines therapists’ workflow and brings a cognitive element into PT sessions would allow for improved patient engagement, he suggested.
“I knew there was greater value to be seen by my clinic and provided to my patients by introducing new and different challenges while training the body to improve strength, balance, endurance and more,” he said.
PROPOSAL
In connecting with the team at AMV in a collaborative manner, it was clear their technology encompassed all the key capabilities and functionalities Mastenbrook needed to take his clinic to the next level in terms of better engaging patients, optimizing their rehabilitation outcomes and boosting the success of the clinic as a result of these improvements, he said.
“CogPT stands for AMV’s Operating System of Cognition,” he explained. “The technology was built to harness the untapped potential of the brain for human optimization in rehabilitative settings, and the technology bridges the gap for clinicians in being able to do so.
“The platform transcends conventional boundaries in neurocognitive assessment and training to accommodate the therapeutic goals of rehabilitative clinicians, offering an easy to use clinician interface for seamless deployment,” he continued.
“Fueled by AI and refined by our own clinical expertise, CogPT could address the core domains of cognitive function and support the delivery of holistic patient care through features like in-clinic modality, web-based data portal, admin portal and the companion app.”
Using this technology, it was expected clinicians could better engage patients through neurocognitive assessments and training modules, and patient outcomes measures would enable clinicians to effectively tailor care plans for improved cognitive and/or physical function, he added.
“By integrating this kind of technology into my workflows and clinic, I knew I’d be able to deliver higher-value care with higher efficiency and make patients excited about rehabbing – and see greater outcomes,” he said.
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
As a practicing clinician, Mastenbrook was using the technology in caring for his patients. One key application for him, for example, was tapping into the dual-tasking feature of CogPT. That functionality has been transformative in care delivery at the practice in challenging patients to increase load, he noted.
“For example, instead of having my patient simply perform tandem balance for one minute waiting for the timer to finally go off, I now have them perform a CogPT dual task so a patient is completing a brain engagement module while also being instructed to maintain physical balance,” he explained.
“Having a platform that allows me to facilitate training the brain and body together promotes better functional outcomes for the patient as we are rarely ever doing just one thing at a time,” he said. “It increases patient compliance, engagement and satisfaction scores, while it reduces commonly seen boredom and increases our practice’s attendance rate.”
Additionally, the technology has enabled Mastenbrook to train patients in cognitive priming before completing a physical rehab exercise.
For example, if he has someone lift heavier than they have been before or perform a new exercise, he uses the cognitive priming platform feature to help engage patients mentally first to improve movement quality and better focus on the upcoming movement.
“I did this with a patient s/p ACL reconstruction before going under the squat bar for the first time to help ensure proper form and technique, and their performance was much improved,” he recalled.
RESULTS
For Mastenbrook’s clinic with Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation, using the technology has significantly improved the practice in several ways: promoting better functional outcomes, patient compliance and increased attendance rates.
Since implementation in September 2023, Mastenbrook’s patients’ satisfaction scores, arrival rates and financial returns per visit are consistently near, if not at the top, of all the clinics in his region, he reported.
“During the initial rollout, we assessed metrics of those that used and had not used the CogPT platform and saw great differences,” he said. “For those who used it at the clinic, our net promoter score increased by 3.27%, patient reported outcomes-efficiency improved by 12.3%, and the 123 Dropout Rate (referring to patients who drop out of rehabilitative care after one, two or three visits) was 26.8% less.
“The bottom line financial impact for users versus non-users was up 3-5%, and in my usage, gross revenue per visit went up 4.3% as a result of increased clinic efficiency and productivity,” he continued. “This is great considering reimbursements did not change over that period, and Medicare reimbursement actually decreased in 2024.”
An average solo clinician-run PT clinic has approximately 200 visits per month and $300 revenue per visit, which totals around $60,000 gross revenue per month, he added. Based on the revenue per visit increase the technology has enabled, Mastenbrook estimates the platform has delivered an $1,800-$3,000 uptick in gross revenue since rollout – and climbing.
“Using CogPT in the clinic helps me make better use of my time in terms of gained productivity and efficiency thanks to improved workflows and patient care,” Mastenbrook said. “Often in outpatient, therapists end up double-booked or sometimes seeing two or more patients during the same time.
“While this is largely standard and manageable because patients aren’t typically actively exercising all at once or are unable to exercise for the standard hour-long treatment session, it doesn’t allow me to use my time or my patients’ time optimally,” he continued.
“With the platform, I’m able to better utilize the full one-hour session for my patients by keeping them engaged, instructed and assisted while I work with another patient, and also providing functional benefits while they take a needed break from physical exercise.”
This has allowed Mastenbrook to provide more skilled services and value, and in turn bill for these enhancements, increasing his units billed per visit by .05 units.
ADVICE FOR OTHERS
“Find what you feel is right for you and your clinic’s goals,” Mastenbrook advised. “The amount of technology available for healthcare is growing at a rapid pace, and there is so much that can help make things easier and improve the quality of care.
“Using AI-powered technology can ease the burden of what we do so we can better focus on the patients,” he added. “At a time when clinicians’ needs to extend their reach as much as possible, the ability to augment and enhance care delivery is immensely important and valuable.”
If one has any hesitation, give it a trial run and see what it can do, he went on.
“Whether we like it or not, this is the direction we are going, so we might as well be on the forefront of what is to come,” he concluded. “That way, as new technology comes out, we can have a better knowledge base of what it may add, or detract, from what we need it to help with.”
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