From a student, to a physical therapist and clinic director, to her current role as a compliance officer; Alicia Dulaney, PT, DPT, NCS, has continued to learn and grow at Spooner Physical Therapy to get to where she’s at today. Join us as we sit down with Alicia to learn about her journey and what it takes to be a compliance officer at Spooner Physical Therapy!
Did you always want to be a PT?
I actually wanted to be a surgeon when I was in undergrad. However, after realizing that 90% of my interactions with patients would be when they were unconscious, I started looking for other options.
During my undergrad studies, I had the opportunity to spend some observation hours in (Mike Stratton’s) physical therapy clinic, and from that point on I knew that physical therapy was the route I wanted to go.
How did you react when you got accepted into Physical Therapy School?
Well, I honestly didn’t think I would get into PT school on the first try. I graduated a year early from Arizona State University, so I planned on having a year off to gain a little more life experience before getting accepted into PT school. When I found out I made it in to Northern Arizona University’s (NAU) Physical Therapy Program, I was pretty shocked and was scrambling last minute to wrap my head around everything. I was only 20 years old at the time, so I was definitely the “baby” of my class.
What was your PT school experience like?
Nothing too out of the ordinary. I worked hard, I studied hard. Some of the topics that challenged me back then still challenge me to this day.
I had 3 clinical rotations during school. The first two were at facilities that mainly treated neurological disorders. My third rotation was at Spooner Physical Therapy in their Scottsdale location.
How was your rotation at Spooner?
Because I enjoyed my first two clinical rotations doing neurological rehab so much, I didn’t think being at a place like Spooner Physical Therapy was going to be for me. In fact, on my very first day I told our clinic director, Torrey Foster, that outpatient orthopedics wasn’t for me and I was interested in getting this rotation done as soon as possible. When he asked me what my goals and aspirations were, I said, “This ain’t it…”
I realized there is this whole area where neurological and orthopedic treatment overlap, and a lot of therapists kind of treat one or the other. Spooner was the first place I saw them take both aspects into consideration when helping a patient recover.
It took me about 5-6 weeks of working at Spooner and with my clinical instructor, Jeff Foucrier, to realize that this was the setting I wanted to work in. I wanted to be a therapist who had the encouragement and freedom to look at the big picture and treat a patient’s whole body and mind, and Spooner allowed me to do that.
How did the transition to Spooner take place?
Towards the end of my rotation, my clinical instructor was transferring clinics. Because of this, the Spooner Scottsdale clinic was looking to hire his replacement right as I was preparing for graduation from PT school. I applied for the position, and then interviewed with Torrey and he was like, “I thought you couldn’t wait to get out of here…?”
I probably had the smoothest transition possible. I had been a student there for 10 weeks, so I already knew many of the patients when I was hired. Nothing really changed except I was getting paid and was able to graduate out of an NAU polo and into my Spooner Polo!
My last clinical rotation was at Spooner Physical Therapy, and I never left.
A few years later you became the Clinic Director at the Spooner Sun Lakes location, what was that experience like?
I was about 25-26 years old at the time. For the entire 2 years, I was pretty much the youngest therapist in our clinic. Because of this, I welcomed and appreciated the experience and input of my entire team.
I learned a lot of communication skills and a lot about how to approach certain situations with different personalities. Everyone thinks and views things differently, so knowing how to work with those differing mindsets is very important.
I also had to learn how to delegate. I’m very much a “do it all myself” type of person, and that’s just not possible as a clinic director. You have to bring your entire team together and leverage their strengths to help the team be successful. That was really hard for me to learn.
Alicia Dulaney, PT, DPT, NCS
Compliance Officer at Spooner Physical Therapy
How did you go from being a clinic director to a compliance officer? That seems like a big shift.
I am constantly looking for the next big challenge. When the position opened up, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it; however, after re-reading the job description a few times, I realized this job fits me to a T. This position requires a lot of learning, short-term and ongoing projects, self-driven reading and tasks. There is a lot of things I’m constantly absorbing, reviewing, and implementing which really appeals to me. I get bored easily, so that structure of always having a new big project to work on is something I really enjoy.
What does the role of a compliance officer involve?
At times, the role of a compliance officer looks a lot like the role of a student – constantly learning, reading, developing new resources, and working on various projects. At other times, I take on the role of a teacher – promoting integrity and company-wide awareness of standards and codes of conduct, answering questions, giving advice, and structuring programs to help our team members achieve excellence in their position with confidence.
In short, I make sure our employees are acting in a way that upholds our company values, legal standards, and the best interest of our patients, our employees, and our company as a whole.
You’ve been in the position for 4 months. What are your most and least favorite things?
Least Favorite – Having to ask our clinic directors for anything. I have been in their shoes, and I know how busy they are. Every time I have to send an email reminding them to do something I’m in a constant state of, “I feel bad because I know what your day looks like, but I also need you to get this done.”
Favorite – I have said a number of times that if I won the lottery, I’d go back to school. No joke. This job is the closest thing to getting paid to go to school because it’s a constant stream of new information to learn and new projects to work on.
What attributes make for a good compliance officer?
Organization and being self-driven to learn are probably the 2 most important things. There are a lot of moving pieces associated with being a compliance officer, so being able to stay organized and keep track of everything that is going on across 22 clinics is crucial.
In the last few months, I’ve joined the Healthcare Compliance Association and started to work towards a certificate in healthcare compliance. There are so many areas of compliance that I have to learn about. So that self-driven learning is one of the most important things.
There are very few people in the compliance world that have a clinical background. In that respect, I’m in a very unique position. I’ve been a tech, a therapist, and a clinic director. Having that background is very valuable because if I’m going to sit in my office and say that changes need to happen in the clinics, I need to understand how that affects each employee. Having that clinical experience allows me to do that.
Who has been the biggest influence in your career?
This is going to sound super cheesy, but my mom. My mom is my sounding board and my influencer. My mom was a director of HR for the entire city of Peoria before she retired, so she had hundreds and hundreds of people reporting to her. She’s the person I call when I need a brain to pick or want to bounce around ideas on how to best handle certain situations. I call my mom at least twice a week to check in and get her advice. She is now a contract HR consultant, so I was like, “Well mom, you can consult me for free…”
If you could go back and give yourself any advice, what would you say?
The advice I would give myself would be to slow down and enjoy what you’re doing in the moment without constantly looking for “what’s next.” Also, figure out what truly is the “right fit” for you. Take it easy and don’t feel like you don’t need to jump into the next big thing right away, rather figure out what will be best for you and your current situation as well as what will bring you the most happiness.
Interested in joining the team at Spooner? View our open positions here.