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Annie Sullivan

Reflection Paper

KINS 4306 Internship in Public Health

12 April 2024

Reflection Paper

1. Introduction:

PT Solutions is a physical therapy company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Dale Yake

founded PT Solutions in 2003. He started the company in Eufaula, Alabama with only 3 team

members in the whole company. Dale graduated from University of Alabama with a degree in

exercise science as a physical therapist. In 2004, Dale expanded into Acworth, Georgia. By 2020,

PT Solutions expanded to 250 clinics in 25 states in the United States. The mission of PT

Solutions is: We provide transformative care to our community through evidence, experience,

and exceptional service because everyone deserves the chance to be unstoppable.”

I specifically work at the PT Solutions Dunwoody clinic location. The Dunwoody clinic

opened in June 2015. At the time in 2015, Dunwoody was the 16th clinic to open in the state of

Georgia. By 2017 there were 35 clinics in Georgia. As of 2023 there are 64 PT Solutions clinics

in Georgia. The Dunwoody clinic, fully staffed, has 3 physical therapists, a physical therapy aide,

a front office manager, and two patient services coordinators.

The patient population at PT Solutions Dunwoody is vastly diverse. The patients vary

greatly in age, gender, ethnicity, and in social determinants of health. We see many elderly

patients, young children, adolescent and young adults, middle aged adults, and everything in

between. Not only is the population diverse in demographics but also in their reason for physical
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therapy. Patients are seen for general strengthening or balance; some are seen for

growing/developmental conditions, some for sports injuries, and some for post-operative rehab.

2. Description of Experiences:

My role is Patient Services Coordinator at PT Solutions Dunwoody. The Patient Services

Coordinator, or PSC, is a part of the Front Office department of the company. My role as a PSC

is comprehensive. I explain it as I am responsible for the entire patient process beginning to end

fully, except for the actual treatment. My routine varies day to day somewhat but there are things

that I do each day no matter what. As the PSC, I handle patient scheduling, insurance

verification, physician referral management, tracking insurance authorizations, patient payments

and billing records, preparing, and maintaining patient charts in the EMR system and I manage

the clinic email, phone, and voicemail box. The most rewarding part of my job has been

connecting with my patients and seeing their progress. I absolutely love my patients and the

relationships I have created. The most challenging parts of my role were training a new hire and

resolving patient billing questions or issues.

The PSC role has so many responsibilities that it is somewhat difficult to choose one

thing I wish I had done more of or less. One of the reasons I chose to do my project on insurance

authorizations and proving medical necessity is because I want to learn more about billing and

insurance. When thinking about what I wish I did not have to do as often, it is easier. I wish that

in this role and in any role in my future, I would like to do less of calling lists of people. This

happens once per week and once per day as a PSC. Once per week I have to call “lost patients”

who have an active case open, but we have not seen them for at least one week. Once per day, I

call patients whose doctor or referring provider sent a physical therapy order to our clinic
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directly. The reason I do not like this as much is because it feels like cold calls. No matter what, I

cannot make it go any faster, do it any differently, or more efficiently.

3. Perception and Evaluation of the Internship:

This internship met my personal expectations and beyond. This role was everything I

hoped it would be and more. My work environment, patients, colleagues, and mentors were all

amazing and unexpected. I feel very blessed to have the privilege of working with the therapists

and Leslie.

There was much room for creativity and ideas in my role and in the company in general. I

had the pleasure of working with amazing physical therapists and a wonderful clinic director.

Colten, the Dunwoody clinic manager/director is a young, energetic, and dedicated healthcare

provider and leader. Colten as well as my supervisor and manager, Leslie, both encourage

initiative, assertiveness and using creativity in the workplace. I was able to present ideas to

improve the clinic and execute them frequently. For example, I transformed the New Patient

Policies document that patients leave with after their first appointment. The original was three

pages long and redundant. I created a one-sheet page with all the vital information they need

including a fill-in-the-blank section where the physical therapist writes down the patient’s plan of

care (how many times per week and for how many weeks). This document I created is now used

by most all clinics in Metro-Atlanta.

My site supervisor was Leslie, also my Front Office Manager. She was my boss and

manager, so I reported directly to Leslie. Leslie is the Front Office Manager (FOM) of 8 clinics

total, including mine in Dunwoody. She visits each clinic as often as possible, so I saw her about

once per week, sometimes more. We were in contact constantly each day via Teams messaging,

emails, and phone calls. Leslie and I also met formally for a “1:1” one on one meeting once per
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month. These meetings had a structure to them with a template that I had to fill out prior to the

meeting. I wish I could have seen Leslie more face to face, especially when I was training a new

PSC in my clinic this spring. She was and is a very effective manager. In addition, even though

he was not my manager or site supervisor, Colten was an outstanding clinic manager and mentor

to me. I definitely benefited from my relationship with Colten, supplemental to Leslie being my

site supervisor.

My experience in this role was exceptional. I would not change anything about my role,

my environment, or my choice. This role and setting are absolutely something I would

recommend to future interns. I loved being in the clinic setting while also learning the back end

of how a clinic functions. I would highly recommend this site, being any PT Solutions clinic,

especially for someone looking for experience in a clinical environment without having a true

clinical degree.

I never envisioned that I would be working for a physical therapy company, but I am, and

I love it. This internship has completely cemented my goal of working in the healthcare field. I

most enjoy the “hybrid” setting I work in. I get to work in an outpatient clinic, surrounded by

patients and phenomenal physical therapists all day while also getting to work behind the scenes

on the business and administrative side of healthcare. I love my patients and always want to have

some level of patient interaction.

4. Internship Preparedness:

I was very well prepared academically for this role and this site. I am glad that I chose to

take Anatomy and Physiology instead of Anatomy of Human Movement for the major. GCSU

prepared me well by requiring elementary statistics, nutrition, research methods, and medical

terminology outside of the strictly public health major courses.

I felt most prepared for my expectations of the population of patients that my clinic

served. I reflected on a lot of my course learning about health risks at the population level and

social determinants of health. I was least prepared for the amount of knowledge about insurance

and billing that this role required. I was trained very well and comprehensively on health

insurance in physical therapy and all of its extenuating circumstances. I also was not prepared for

how intricate and detailed the EMR (electronic medical record) systems would be.

The courses I found myself leaning on and reflecting on most were Research Methods

and Statistics, Public Health Policy, Epidemiology, Medical Terminology, Intro to Public Health,

and Community Health. The skills I learned from research methods and statistics are useful in

my role frequently. I often analyze the clinic metrics, KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), and

data reports. I use my skills from Epidemiology to understand how to identify patterns in

diagnoses frequency and interpret this information.

Two things come to mind that may better prepare GCSU Public Health students for future

employment and real life applications: first, a course similar to Medical Terminology, being a

one credit course solely focused on health insurance and all types, key terms, and basic structure.

Second, I wish I could have talked to more former students with my same major to ask them

advice on the internship itself and the whole process. The orientation was helpful, but I would

have loved to speak to peers who recently completed their internship in Milledgeville and off

campus.

5. Internship Performance

I gained many new skills and have learned so much due to my role as PSC at PT

Solutions. I have learned about health insurance and insurance specific to physical therapy

extensively. I gained the most knowledge about health insurance due to this being an extremely
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large and vital part of my position. I learned all about the big commercial insurance companies,

the federal insurance providers, and the differences in all of those. I now know how to read and

understand a medical billing report and a prior-authorization approval and denial report. I also

learned how to use a major Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system, Epic. Epic is widespread

in the healthcare industry, and I am proud I have been trained in Epic in regard to my future

career in healthcare. I have slowly gained more knowledge of physical therapy and the human

body by just being in my clinic. I now understand how an outpatient clinic functions from the

back end.

I am not satisfied with my performance on assignments relating to my time management

or meeting deadlines. I missed 4 journals this spring and deeply regret it. Since those missed

journals however, I have not missed a deadline and have been submitting things early when I

can. I did not have efficient time management outside of work. My entire professional life in any

job setting, I have received very positive feedback on my performance and attitude. I thrive in a

structured environment and tend to flounder with no structure. This is exemplified in the contrast

between my on the job performance as a PSC and my performance within this internship and the

assignments.

I think the quality of my work is something I am always proud of. If I had to give myself

a grade for my assignments submitted for this course based on purely the quality, not including

my missed assignments, it would be an A grade. My journals were always thorough, descriptive,

and complete summaries of my work that week including my feelings or opinions on notable

events or company happenings. I tried to always include any accomplishments, failures, lessons

learned, or professional connections in each journal. My work at my site in my role has been

exceptional. I am confident in my work internally but also through the shout outs in monthly
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district update emails, consistent positive feedback from my superiors and my coworkers, and I

have received two handwritten letters from other FOM’s praising my work.

Interestingly, I have identified three areas or skills that I need to improve post-graduation.

First and most importantly is self-discipline. I think working on this will in turn facilitate self-

improvement in other areas. I bought a book recently called The Power of Disciple and have

been reading it in my free time. Time management and radical honestly with myself are two

other areas in my life that I would like to work on. I struggle in non-structured environments, so

self-discipline is vital to my success in life. Post-graduation, I want to be confident that my

academic failures or my patterns and habits that lead to my self-destruction do not transfer to any

other area of my life, professional or personal responsibilities.

6. Personal/Professional Insights/Benefits:

This position opened me up to a world I did not know I could be a part of. I had never

considered physical therapy as a passion of mine or even somewhere I would be working one

day. Working as the PSC in Dunwoody has shown me how much I enjoy working around

physical therapists and working in a clinic setting. I absolutely want to continue with this

company and start my career here. This role has also shown me how I can use my degree to be as

successful as I want to be without having to worry about getting a master’s degree or going to

graduate school at this time.

My experience at PT Solutions has increased my self-confidence, improved my

interpersonal skills, raised my personal productivity, and has provided me the structure I need.

The fast-paced, open concept environment of the clinic creates a structure throughout the day

that leaves little room for procrastination or errors.

I have learned a lot about physical therapy and much about the patients in Dunwoody,

GA. I know that not each PT clinic in the country or even the state of Georgia will look the same.

However, something I am sure is applicable across the country is that every patient needs an

advocate. Whether that advocate is a patient’s family member, caregiver, case manager, home

care nurse, or social worker; this is critical to success as a patient, more specifically senior

patients.