Today customers looking for healthcare providers that will meet their physical needs as well as fit into their busy schedules.
These conditions and changing consumer demands have made it necessary to come up with a new physical therapy business model for both the inpatient and outpatient delivery of physical therapy business services.
However, this new physical therapy business model would need to be different for inpatient and outpatient services and yet ultimately meet the needs of the community. This physical therapy business model would have to take into account a range of treatment options, ageing concerns, staffing work schedules, commuting times, family and personal commitments and at the same time ensure patient satisfaction.
Utilization of services and consumer satisfaction is the ultimate measure of success for any physical therapy business model.
The typical structure of a physical therapy business has the owner at the top with employees hired as therapists to provide the actual service.
Various support or clerical staff is hired for carrying out administrative functions. However, most often, actual care of the patient is sacrificed in favor of paperwork, rules and policies.
However, a new outpatient model has the physical therapists as the owners as well. The new structure has multiple owners in the form of therapists instead of a single owner who in most cases would not be involved with the actual physical therapy services. In this new business model, the owner-therapists now have a financial, personal and professional reason to meet the customers’ needs through their physical therapy business. Eventually, as the business model matures, there is a need to expand the owners-therapists group so that the business can spread to more than one location.
At this point, the billing, marketing, accounting and other business related aspects would need to be brought under a central controlling structure to help the business expand in an efficient manner.
The second physical therapy business model is an inpatient model.
This model is focused on the patient and the physical therapist’s facility. This physical therapy business model provides the expertise of a large physical therapy company and yet remains flexible enough to respond to the needs of customers. A management services company provides various management services that could range from handling just the documentation aspect to a full contract service.
The management systems are usually developed in collaboration with the staff of the physical therapy facility. The management services company provides training to the staff of the physical therapy facility as well as monthly and quarterly result reports.
