Designing your PT clinic to be both efficient and growth-oriented can be a challenge. Not only do you want to make sure the current patient experiences Designing your physical therapy (PT) clinic to be both efficient and growth-oriented can be a challenge—it’s reasonable to think growth means more resources are required and different goals are prioritized while efficiency means cuts. Not only do you want to make sure that current patient experiences are top-notch, you also want to plan for future evolution, for yourself, for your staff, and for your clinic as a whole. Finding a balance between those two notions can be easier said than done. But fear not, we’ve singled out five areas that clinics should focus on within their business models to succeed.
The Successful PT Clinic Business Model
A business model encompasses many, many aspects of your practice, and the details will vary widely depending on your current circumstances and goals. A clinic that wants to increase its share of athletes to provide more sports physical therapy will have different goals and a different business plan than one whose main desire is to increase patients who are recovering from neurological conditions like stroke.
Even more broadly, clinics who would like to expand their services to include occupational therapy (OT) or speech-language pathology (SLP) will have different goals than one simply looking to expand its patient base.
Despite the fact that they are highly individual, there are a few areas where your energy would be best spent in your business plan, regardless of your specific goals (unless, of course, you want your clinic to start operating on Mars, in which case, this guide cannot help you). Let’s take a look.
1. Invest in Staff
You know from experience that physical therapy is a service business, which means it needs employees that provide not just quality work, but quality customer care as well. Running a PT operation, much like other service-oriented businesses, requires a lot of hands-on contact with patients, and that’s not even including patient care. From front desk staff to PT techs to physical therapists themselves, staff should be prepared to make the most of every single patient engagement. That means a staff that is knowledgeable, caring, experienced, and productive.
What does that actually mean for how you staff your clinic?
Experience
Experienced staff come into your clinic with an existing history of work in physical therapy. PTs who have seen a lot of cases will be better equipped to handle unique or difficult cases they’ll come across at your clinic. They may have dealt with many cases of a specific type, developing a specialty in dealing with patients with lower back pain or recovering from hip or knee replacement surgery. Experience not only gives PTs the ability to look past red herrings but to also adapt treatment plans as the patient continues.
This doesn’t mean that young PTs are incompetent—in fact, a balance of more experienced staff with younger, newer PTs may be the perfect mix for your clinic. Younger PTs bring new approaches and a fresh enthusiasm for their work. Experienced PTs bring tried-and-true methods and can pass along some of that real-world experience to the younger crop. With the field of physical therapy expected to grow 14% by 2033, much higher than the growth rate across all industries, tapping into the right staff now can make a big difference.
Personality
Sociability is a very helpful, if underappreciated, trait. PTs are face-to-face with patients every day, making their bedside manner a key factor in how well they can do their job. In fact, patients rated their physical therapist’s respect as their highest area of satisfaction in their treatment. Respect, caring, depth of knowledge, and productivity all play a role in how PTs interact with their patients.
Ensuring that patients can feel that you care about not just their pain—though that should absolutely also be a primary concern—but also about their other interests and general wellbeing is key in developing relationships. A bonus to being talkative? You might hear about an experience they had that they believe to be unrelated, but could give you some insight into new symptoms or the progression of their treatment.
Being knowledgeable about and able to explain the why behind treatment decisions and specific exercises, both during your sessions and in their home exercise program, is incredibly helpful to putting patients at ease and communicating effectively. Communication and respect are the foundation of trust and understanding that a PT should foster in their relationship with each patient.
Responsibility
Physical therapists have a lot of work, sometimes seeing over a dozen patients a day. Given that, as we just discussed, PTs should be invested in every patient they can be, there is a lot of responsibility laid on physical therapists (and OTs and SLPs, if your clinic has them). It would be one thing if it just meant engaging with patients during their sessions, but it also means documentation and compliance with all local and federal regulations—and dealing with insurance companies and Medicare for reimbursement purposes.
Having PTs that can handle that responsibility is key not just for patient care and satisfaction, but also for the smooth and successful running of a clinic.
Documentation Just Got Easier
The right tools simplify documentation and compliance
2. Promote Professional Development
Great PT clinics make sure they promote continuing education for their staff. Continuing education means that staff is always equipped to understand new techniques and brush up on the basics. A staff equipped for changing times is a staff built for future growth—which is how your PT clinic goes from good to great. Continuing education also provides career growth opportunities and networking opportunities for staff.
Continuing education provides a lot of helpful information for PTs, but in many states, it’s also required to maintain a license to practice. That means it’s even more important to encourage staff to participate. You can’t have a PT clinic if none of your PTs keep up with their licensing requirements.
Many things constitute continuing education. Conferences, like APTA’s annual Combined Sections Meeting (CSM), are great ways to earn continuing education units (CEUs). Conferences like these usually feature sessions that address upcoming trends, new developments in technique, tips for improving clinic operations, and much more. CEUs can also be earned with online classes, which may be an easy way for busy PTs to stay on top of their continuing education.
3. Differentiate from Your Competitors
What makes your clinic different? How can you set yourself apart from other clinics in the area, especially those of a similar size or who serve the same type of patient? Finding that competitive edge and learning how to use it will be a major factor in growing your clinic.
Maybe you’re the only clinic in the area that serves those who need speech-language pathology services. Maybe you have a top-notch hand specialist who can work wonders on carpal tunnel and tendonitis. Step one is figuring out what this differentiator is. Once you know what to promote, the next step is to promote it.
This is a great place to take social media into account. There are different options for different platforms, and even more traditional communication, like email, can be a great way to highlight those competitive advantages.
Instagram offers an easy way to reach out to local audiences. Instagram can be both personal and professional, so it’s a great place for content like a “meet the therapists” series, with Q&As with your staff and fun photos and videos. It can also be a great place to advertise your space, from the cool Pilates equipment to the never-ending stash of resistance bands.
TikTok
Many small businesses have found a lot of success on TikTok, even outside of their local area. The great thing about TikTok is that while it’s short form, videos of a couple of minutes in length are common. This is a great way to bring some more personality out of your PTs, physical therapy assistants (PTAs), techs, and front desk staff. You can also highlight individual exercises or stretches to show off your staff’s great wealth of knowledge.
Email is by far the most personal of the communication efforts you’ll use to connect with your current and prospective patients. This is a great place to have clinic updates and highlights and, if you offer concierge PT services, to advertise packages or discounted rates. These emails can be themed as well, to up the personality and be a little seasonal, if you’d like.
For all of these forms of connecting with your audience, and we’ve covered far from all of them, keep your differentiators in mind. This will be a great place to bake those into your content. Think of it as your north star when you’re deciding what to post.
4. Look to Software and Technology that Works
It’s 2024—digital is no longer optional. The standard for charting, documentation, and billing is all digital. That’s why electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHRs) are here to stay. But all that documentation takes time and energy from your staff. That’s why EMR systems that make your staff’s job easier are worth their weight in gold, ensuring work is accurate and compliant.
There are many things to look for in an EMR system, but at its core it should serve your needs specific to your therapy clinic. And be aware of your goals here as well. If you’d like to eventually expand to a second location, an EMR that can integrate both practices would be immensely helpful. If you’re a clinic in a hospital, an interface with the hospital system is critical.
Your first priority is great patient care, and it’s impossible to do that without an EMR that makes sure you not only document compliantly, but also can easily access patient notes. Software that helps you build relationships with your patients is the right choice for you.
5. Take Advantage of Digital Marketing
We mentioned social media a bit earlier, but digital marketing doesn’t have to end there. When looking for new businesses, search engines and online ads make up about half of all brand discoveries. That means a massive opportunity for your clinic to draw in new patients in an area you may not have been targeting.
The good news: there’s a lot of help out there to learn how to make the most of digital marketing. If you haven’t already, look into a primer on Google Ads and search engine optimization. Understanding how ads work and how to use them to your benefit can be a key part of your business plan. If you’re looking to bring in more patients with low back pain, ranking for the search term “clinics for lower back pain” means you’re on your way to accomplishing your goals.
Social media ads work well, too. These may be a particularly promising for clinics with multiple locations or networks of clinics under the same system. Whether they’re paid or organic, posting ads on apps like Instagram increases your visibility. You can also post updates on your clinic or industry news and articles.
The best part of digital marketing is that it gives you an opportunity to interact with your audience. They can ask questions that you’re then able to answer, or leave reviews which you can use to adjust your business plan as you go. Not to mention, many people will check a business’s social media and Google reviews before choosing to work with them.
PT Clinics and the Modern Age of Marketing
Elevating your PT clinic from good to great just takes some planning. Investing in your staff, stocking high-quality software, and focusing on a solid marketing strategy will help you reach the next level for your clinic. And the good news is, these tips will work no matter your goals or what you want to do next—so get planning now!
