Understand What Game You’re Playing: Barnes & Noble, AI and the Future of PT

What does Barnes & Noble have to do with the future of physical therapy?

More than you might think.

Barnes & Noble couldn't compete with Amazon by simply offering more books. So the company changed what a bookstore could be: experience, discovery, community, events, gifts, toys, coffee, and local relevance.

That launches Jimmy McKay, Tony Meritato, and Dave Kittle into a much bigger PT Breakfast Club conversation:

What game is physical therapy actually playing?

The guys explore what PT clinics might learn from businesses forced to adapt, including whether clinics need revenue beyond traditional reimbursement, why “selling” remains such an uncomfortable word in physical therapy, and why simply making more people aware of PT may not solve the profession’s problems.

Then things get bigger.

What exactly will a physical therapist be ten years from now?

Tony makes the case that AI and digital healthcare could absorb much of the simpler end of physical therapy. Dave pushes back on how quickly the profession's identity and title will change. Jimmy questions whether our current professional labels, licenses, and marketing strategies help clinicians compete or sometimes constrain them.

The conversation also explores the distinction between PT as a license and DPT as a degree, digital versus human care, AI-assisted clinicians, healthcare consumer behavior, and whether the future belongs not to AI or humans, but to humans who learn how to use AI well.

And underneath all of it is one question:

What game are you actually playing?