Physical Therapy Business Tips
November 5, 2024
So you’re a great physical therapist, but you’re always left wondering how to get more physical therapy visits from your clients. Does this sound familiar?
New client evaluations are important for a physical therapy practice to thrive, but when your patients don’t follow through with their treatment plans, they can’t get better. Just as important, fewer visits from each client means fewer visits for your practice overall, which hurts your bottom line.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to keep your clients engaged and help your practice get more visits each week. In this article we’ll outline five strategies to help your patients understand the value of your services, become more connected to your practice, and vouch for your brand.
Five of the most important strategies to get more physical therapy visits from your clients include making a great first impression, educating your patients about why physical therapy is important, offering additional services at your clinic, delivering high-quality care, and using customer satisfaction surveys.
Let’s zoom in on each of these strategies for physical therapists to get more visits from their clients to help you feel more confident with using them.
It should go without saying, but first impressions can have immediate and lasting effects on the relationships you have with your clients. When it comes to strategies on how to get more physical therapy visits, first impressions are of first importance. A good first impression could be the difference between a patient who doesn’t come back and one who becomes a lasting fan.
The most basic way to make a good first impression is to be on time, but looking professional and acting courteous matter, too. Remember to stay attentive to the patient in front of you and speak with confidence – and it never hurts to smile either!
Clinically speaking, this is your opportunity to show your patient a fantastic consultation. Give them a physical therapy exam that outshines anything they’ve had before, even at their primary care doctor’s office, and they’ll want to come back for more visits.
There’s another major factor that most physical therapists miss when brainstorming how to get more physical therapy visits from their clients. That is explaining the why behind their recommendations and plan of care. This means explaining the benefits of physical therapy as a whole and why each piece of a patient’s plan of care is valuable, including returning for follow-up visits.
Start strong by giving your clients resources to explore at home, setting meaningful goals based on their wants and lifestyle, and making it clear (with evidence) why you’ve recommended a specific care plan. Just as important, tell them that you believe in them and that you’re there to help.
To make it easier for your clients to understand the value of physical therapy, you can use ClinicSense’s follow-up emails to encourage appointment booking and send valuable resources at different times.
While physical therapy sessions may be the primary service offered by your practice, they don’t need to be the only service you offer. In fact, offering additional physical therapy services to your clients is a great way to keep them engaged with your practice while also providing additional revenue streams.
Most physical therapists have the training to offer additional physical therapy services, such as telehealth, group exercise classes, and injury screens, to their clients. Of course, if you want to expand your skills to offer something like nutritional counseling, there are plenty of continuing education courses available for you to try something new.
Offering additional services is also a great way for practice owners to start bringing other professionals onto their team. For example, if you have a demand for exercise classes, but don’t have the time to offer them yourself, you can bring in a personal trainer to work with your clients.
Giving patients the best care possible should always be top-of-mind for any practice owner learning how to get more physical therapy visits from their clients, and delivering great care goes beyond the treatments provided in the clinic. Great treatments are just one of the many benefits clients gain from seeing you.
During the first visit with your clients, you’ll want to set expectations by giving them honest answers to their questions about their condition and plan of care. Make sure to leave plenty of time for questions and give your clients your undivided attention. Nobody wants to compete with their doctor’s laptop screen for attention!
Even though the first visit may be the most important, every visit counts. Make sure to talk to your clients about how their plan of care is going, clarify your opinions regarding their progress, and encourage them to ask questions along the way.
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Of course, finding out how to get more physical therapy visits from your clients isn’t always a simple process and it won’t look the same for all practice owners. When you’re looking for more direction, a customer satisfaction survey is a great way to get insight into what your clients want.
On top of getting a general feel for how satisfied your clients are with your practice, you can also get specific feedback on what your clients liked most (and least) about their experience. Armed with this knowledge, you know what to focus on to boost your patient satisfaction and give your clients more reason to come back.
If you’re looking to increase your practice’s visibility, this is also a great opportunity to ask your patients to leave a Google review on their experience. With more positive reviews, new clients will come in with more trust and be more likely to schedule follow-up appointments in advance.
When you’re fine-tuning how to get more physical therapy visits from your clients, it’s important to have as much free time as possible to make their experience a great one. With the right physical therapy practice management software, you can spend less time fighting technical difficulties and more time building relationships with your clients.
The best way to streamline your PT practice is through management software that is built for your profession, such as ClinicSense. ClinicSense’s physical therapy software is a one-stop shop for intuitive SOAP notes, marketing and communication tools, online booking and scheduling, and appointment reminders to give them the best care possible and better understand their needs.
You can get a SOAP notes free trial and a free SOAP notes template right now to start providing a better experience – and that’s the key to how to get more physical therapy visits from your clients.
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