When EBITDA Becomes the Mission

If you've worked inside a healthcare organization you've probably heard the question:“What's the EBITDA impact?”But what happens when a financial reporting metric slowly becomes the mission of the entire organization?In this conversation, Jimmy McKay and Larry Benz unpack: • What EBITDA actually measures • How "Adjusted EBITDA" becomes a fiction contest • Why chasing the metric can distort clinical care • The Soviet nail factory problem in healthcare • What a healthier dashboard for PT organizations should look likeLarry also explains the four pillars every physical therapy organization should measure instead of obsessing over EBITDA.If you lead a healthcare organization, this conversation will challenge how you think about metrics, culture, and what actually drives sustainable performance.Chapters 00:00 The phrase every healthcare leader hears 00:40 EBITDA explained simply 02:40 When the tool becomes the mission 03:20 The “Adjusted EBITDA fiction contest” 05:40 How metrics change behavior 07:40 Why clinicians are the real business 10:20 The Soviet nail factory story 13:30 What healthcare should measure instead 14:00 Larry’s four pillar dashboard 18:00 Culture is the engine of EBITDA