It’s often not long before passionate physical therapists start thinking about how they can operate a business of their own.
It’s an incredible journey that we love leading new owners through as they lean into our practice management training and coaching. One of the first things we have to address is: What kind of business do you want to be?
While this question can carry a lot of weight in terms of vision, values and even size and services, it also is seeking to address what area of physical therapy you will focus on.
Will you run a general practice or niche into a specific area of practice?
The American Board of Physical Therapy Specialists (ABPTS) reports that over 30,000 therapists have chosen to niche and received a specialist certification for their practice in one of these nine categories:
- Cardiovascular and pulmonary
- Clinical electrophysiology
- Geriatrics
- Neurology
- Oncology
- Orthopaedics
- Pediatrics
- Sports
- Women’s health
Why Go Niche With Your Physical Therapy Practice?
“If you try to be everything for everyone you end up being nothing for nobody.”
This business quote suggests that by offering the broadest range of services and products possible, you water down your business and come across so vague that potential customers end up finding their specific need from your competition’s offerings instead.
Alternatively, you can just build your business around what you do best and stay focused on that. In Physical Therapy, this means being specific about the type of patient you have the expertise, programs and tools to treat effectively and then building out your offerings and services to stand out amongst the competition.
Typically, we see owners go niche for one of these three reasons:
- To create a powerful differentiator with the local competition (or seize an untapped market opportunity)
- To leverage a deep expertise, experience and passion for this specific niche
- To create an organizing principle around all brand strategies and appeal to a specific market
How to Create a Niche Physical Therapy Private Practice:
So, if you’re still feeling the itch to niche, then we suggest you take the time to do some more reflection and research before launching your new practice.
You’re effectively transforming a passion into a business, so you need to ensure this is the path you’re happy to walk for the foreseeable future. If you’re passionate about working with athletes, then sports therapy should come naturally. If you’re empathetic and take joy in helping the elderly restore the functions necessary to stay independent for as long as possible, then geriatric care is the right place for your skills.
But passion is just half the battle – it won’t make business sense if you don’t do the market research necessary to prove this is needed in the marketplace. You must carefully assess your location and services to ensure they will support your niched practice.
For instance, you don’t want to operate a pediatric clinic in a retirement community.
Here are some critical considerations for location and services related to your niche:
- Are you in a Direct Access state?
- Do you understand all the tax implications for the clinic?
- What are the key demographics for your location?
- Within the community, how many could potentially become patients?
- How many competitors are in the area?
- How many are advertising the same niche as you?
- What pricing is common to the area?
- What are the compliance requirements for your location and niche?
- What is the standard reimbursement rate for the area?
- Could you become a preferred provider for payers in the area?
Get Motivated to Operate the Best Niche Practice Possible
MEG Business is made up of practice management consultants and coaches who have designed a robust MEG Academy program that covers every aspect of private practice, giving you the eLearning videos, tutorials and handouts you need to solve every area of your business, including operations, environment, personnel, leadership, what to outsource and more.
Contact us today for a free assessment with a MEG Business coach to discuss the best path for you and your private practice!
