June 10, 2021 | Net Health
4 min read
Boost Your Profits: 4 Proven Physical Therapy Revenue-Driving Strategies
Physical therapists spend so much time promoting patient health that we often forget to promote our own physical therapy business. Yet, with a roster of talented physical therapists at the helm of each practice, there are several ways rehab therapy environments can begin to maximize revenue and improve patient care.
After all, when your business thrives, your patients thrive — especially when you can identify untapped opportunities for additional beneficial services.
In the quest to help your patients restore their health and vitality, take a look at four proven strategies to boost your business and bring in more physical therapy revenue.
Strategies for Boosting Physical Therapy Revenue
1. Discover Where Referrals Are Coming From (And Why)
It’s no secret that referrals are one of the biggest sources of physical therapy revenue. On average, the rate of primary care physician referrals for all musculoskeletal-related appointments is 42.9/1000 visits, totaling more than 5.1 million referrals each year.¹
If you’re on the receiving end of these referrals, you may be surprised to learn that the first way you can optimize your physical therapy revenue is by analyzing exactly where these referrals are coming from.
Consider a physical therapy business that receives a majority of their referrals for shoulder-related injuries. However, the practice also specializes in increasing mobility following hip or knee surgery.
Check out this article on ICD-10 Codes for Total Knee Replacement
If all referrals are pointing to shoulder-related therapies, the practice could be missing out on revenue potential for specialties that aren’t being fully utilized. It’s key for the physical therapy business to discover why they’re only receiving referrals for one service and not another.
For example, the reasoning could be that the practice is only receiving referrals from a small group of physicians, narrowing down the potential for additional services.
Alternatively, referring physicians may not be aware of the practice’s additional services. It’s crucial to cross-check referrals against the practice management software to identify where referrals are coming from (and why) to locate room for growth.
2. Utilize the Data from Your Physical Therapy Business
As you cross-check referrals against your therapy practice management software, take the time to also dig into additional trends. Your rehab therapy software can reveal which areas of care you service the most and which areas are neglected — especially when it comes to your marketing efforts.
For instance, if a physical therapy business is spending 80% of its time working with patients with hip issues, and only 20% of the time with patients with shoulder issues, they should push marketing and referrals for shoulder care.
Therapy practice management software can also work to improve patient retention rates. Therapy software can act as a central location to share patient goals, healthcare analytics, outcomes management, and other patient-centric data, so clinicians can have more meaningful, data-driven conversations.
This asset can help engage patients in their care process, encouraging them to complete their plan of care and continue to return for additional treatment.
3. Become a Pundit for Your Brand
Physical therapy business owners know their subject matter like the back of their hand. Why not take advantage of this knowledge and become a pundit? A pundit is a type of thought leader who has extensive expertise in a particular subject matter.
In recent years, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, pundits have been looked to as a trustworthy source of knowledge across traditional and digital media.
Read more about changes to telehealth post-pandemic
It’s wise for business owners to take on a pundit role to both educate and show value to clients. By becoming a trusted leader in the physical therapy space, your credibility will organically lead to other parties perceiving you as a reliable source of improved care.
This naturally leads to ‘upsell’ opportunities, or a window to market the services you’d like to draw more attention to. Physical therapy business owners can even consider establishing partnerships with non-medical affiliated partners, such as runners clubs and retail environments, to become an advocate for their brand.
4. Train Staff to Build Meaningful Relationships
Last but not certainly not least, the most organic way to open the door to additional service offerings — and improved care — is to establish meaningful relationships with patients. An impactful relationship builds credibility and helps therapists and front-of-house staff better understand patient needs.
Staff should be encouraged to get to know patients on a deeper level and suggest additional opportunities for care should they bring them up. This will help your physical therapy business, and certainly increase overall physical therapy revenue.
Conclusion: Increasing Rehab Therapy Revenue
At the end of the day, the primary goal of a physical therapy business is to help patients feel like an improved version of themselves. By digging into data trends and getting to learn a patient’s personal pain points, staff can make meaningful suggestions for improved care.
Discover how physical therapy management software can help providers benefit patients and organically boost revenue by scheduling a demo today.
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Maximize your revenue while delivering high-quality care.
References:
¹ Journal of General Internal Medicine, “Primary Care Physician Referral to Physical Therapy for Musculoskeletal Conditions,” April 5, 2018.