Whether you’re a physical therapy startup or a seasoned physical therapy owner looking for a management expansion plan, there are important ways to improve your strategies and operations to create a high-performing private practice.
For two decades, MEG Business Management has helped physical therapy owners increase ROI and improve the patient experience. Here we share the key pillars of the top 10% of physical therapy clinics.
PILLAR 1. Take Marketing Seriously
Even though every person on your staff (and even your patients) can be considered part of the marketing team for your small business, marketing doesn’t just happen. In order to get results, everything you do should play into your overall marketing strategy.
From your website to your communications to the atmosphere in your clinic – everything represents your brand identity. To learn more about physical therapy marketing strategies, see how we define Internal vs. External Marketing. Next, listen to Brian’s podcast to discover some successful, scalable marketing strategies for physical therapy clinics.
Like most things on this list, marketing is an element of your practice that can be outsourced to the experts to ensure your focus stays with the patient experience.
PILLAR 2. Invest in Your Practice Management
Continuing education is prevalent (and required) in most industries and physical therapists are no exception. How much time have you invested in improving your operations?
Physical therapy owners know that they went to school to be a practicing therapist. They must accept that the business side of their practice needs attention from experts to not only stay compliant, but optimized.
At MEG, we were the first in the industry to create an interactive, virtual physical therapy development program that targets the key behaviors and actions of the top 10% of physical therapists. With programs like the Ethics and Compliance Program for Private Practice and the MEG Academy Master’s Program, participants receive the resources and reporting necessary to hold themselves and their staff accountable while developing a high-performing practice.
PILLAR 3. Stay Compliant or Risk Everything
We’ve noticed that practice owners are often too busy to handle Compliance on top of their daily duties. As we said before, school may have prepared you for how to care for the patient, but did not provide the detailed ins and outs of how to establish a compliance program. For example, if you don’t have a comprehensive Policy & Procedure Manual, you are exposing yourself and your practice to a lot of unnecessary risk.
We recently sat down with Daniel Hirsch, a nationally recognized Compliance expert and DPT and discussed the Dangers of Ignoring Compliance in your Private Practice. Check it out for tips on how to manage the many aspects of your business that open you up to endangering your practice, physical therapy license and freedom.
PILLAR 4. Make Billing and Collections a Priority
This doesn’t mean chasing down every patient the moment they’ve left the practice – it means tying your billing operations to the overall patient experience. How are you communicating with them? Is your billing team and front desk on the same page? How easy is your process from end-to-end?
In our experience, this is one of the most important areas for a practice to get right – which is why we suggest outsourcing this to experts. And by experts, we don’t just mean a billing company – we mean a physical therapy billing company.
There is a lot that can fall through the cracks if it’s not left to specialists. Check out our article that compares physical therapy billing options for your practice to learn more.
PILLAR 5. Don’t Get Knocked Off Track with Credentialing
Along with onboarding and managing personnel, credentialing is considered one of the biggest struggles of physical therapy owners today!
In the pursuit of a more productive, efficient office, the physical therapy credentialing process is a bureaucratic nightmare that can bog your team down indefinitely. This is yet another aspect of your business that we recommend handing off to the experts so you don’t have to worry about the paperwork or following it through the various channels.
MEG’s credentialing program handles the contracting and credentialing process for medicare, state medicaid, commercial insurances and workers compensation companies.
Build a Better Practice Today
There’s a lot that goes into building a successful private practice, but when you find the right partner to mentor and guide you through the process, things get a lot easier (and a lot better) quickly.
Don’t wait too long to access the training and mentorship for areas of your practice that you want to improve. It’s time to meet MEG and receive the resources and peace of mind you need to join the top 10% of physical therapy private practices.
