The market for physical therapy has grown by a third in the past ten years as Baby Boomers enter their retirement years and the demand for it has increased. Physical therapists may create their own clinics to improve patients’ quality of life, get a piece of the $40 billion industry, and earn a great livelihood while doing what they love.
You will need to learn how to navigate bureaucracy and start your own business because physical therapy schools don’t often offer many business-related skills. The good news is that this step-by-step manual has all the information you require to start and operate a successful physical therapy clinic.
Step 1: Find Out if this is the Right Business for You?
Before choosing if it’s suitable for you, weigh the benefits and drawbacks of starting a physical therapy firm.
Positives Vs Negatives
| Enhance Lives – Assist individuals in leading healthier, more fulfilling lives a sizable market, as demand increases because to the aging US population Gaining $100 every session is a good deal of money. | Insurance complications – deal with bills and various insurance providers A license from the state and strict requirements for education |
Industry Trends
- Size of the industry and historical growth rates: The US physical therapy market is expected to reach $40.1 billion in 2022, up 33% over the previous ten years.
- Physical therapy is expected to rise by 4.7% in the US in 2022, according to growth projections.
- In the US, there will be 122,254 physical therapy enterprises in operation in 2022.
- 503,918 people will be employed by the physical therapy sector in the US in 2022.
Cost of Starting Physical Therapy Business
A physical therapy clinic may be opened costing anywhere between $12,000 and $30,000. Renting and furnishing the clinic facility is the major expense. If you start out as a mobile and virtual physical therapist, traveling to your clients and delivering therapy online to establish a name, you might save money if you have more restricted funding. You would be able to transport a smaller quantity of equipment to your patients’ homes, but you would save $5,000 to $10,000 in setup costs.
You’ll need malpractice insurance in any case. The American Physical Therapy Association offers information on how to become a physical therapist if you are not already one.
You need to complete a physical therapist education program that is certified by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education, receive a doctor of physical therapy degree, and pass a state licensing test before you can work as a physical therapist in the US. A bachelor’s degree is normally required for the three-year programs.
Investment Items:
- Wooden slats serve as treatment tables.
- adjustment-friendly treatment tables
- desk mat
- Exercise stairs with adjustable height
- ladder stools
- on wheels for therapists
- wide range of bolsters, wedges, and supports
- Accessories for mobilization
- Pant belt
- A range of assistive technologies
- resources for taping
- Orthotics
- Material for splinting
- Goniometers
- measuring tape
- Hand dynamometer
- Muscle dynamometer for manual testing
- Rapid-fire hammer
- testing equipment for the nervous system
- the blood pressure cuff
- Stethoscope
- Thermometer
- Tools and software for video analysis
- tools or systems for FCE testing
Is Physical Therapy Business Profitable?
Physical therapy sessions last for an hour and cost, on average, $100. If you open a small clinic and operate alone at first, your profit margin after rent and expenses need to be around 50%.
25 sessions per week and $130,000 in yearly sales are possible in the first two years after starting your business. Using the 50% margin as an assumption, this would result in a profit of $65,000. As your company expands, your clinic may start offering 80 sessions each week. At this point, hiring employees, such as more physical therapists, would reduce your profit margin to about 20%. You’d generate a respectable profit of around $84,000 with $416,000 in yearly revenue.
Entry Barriers
A physical treatment facility faces a few obstacles on its path. You’ll face the following difficulties:
- Knowledge and authorization
- Making an impression in a cutthroat field
- Getting approved by insurance providers
Step 2: Create a Strategy
Identify a Gap
Look for local physical therapy practices online to compare their offerings, costs, and client ratings. You’re trying to find a market hole to plug. For instance, perhaps there isn’t a sports medicine clinic, an athletic training clinic, or an electrical stimulation treatment clinic in the neighborhood. This can kick-start your word-of-mouth advertising and bring in customers straight now.
Solutions
- Therapeutic Exercise
- Techniques for Manual Therapy
- Surgical Care, Both Before and After
- Rehab for athletes
- Checking for injuries
- Music Therapy in Dance
- Conditioning/hardening of the work
- Movement Analysis
- Treating Balance Issues
Pricing
A physical treatment session costs $100 on average per hour. When you’re operating alone, you should strive for a profit margin of roughly 50% after your overhead and rent expenses.
The Step By Step Profit Margin Calculator may be used to calculate your markup and final price points once you have an understanding of your expenditures. Do not forget that the prices you employ at launch should be flexible if the market requires it.
Target Market
You’ll have a wide target market. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok should all be a part of your broader marketing strategy. To obtain references, you should further strive to collaborate with private practice medical professionals. You can call them immediately if you can locate them on Google, Yelp, or on LinkedIn, or if you can connect with them there.
Location
You’ll require renting a place for your clinic unless you first operate from home. Find a location that is both central and practical, such a major business center or a hospital sector.
You could also want to take into account the closeness of complementary companies, such as chiropractors or orthopedic clinics, depending on the kind of physical therapy clinic you intend to open.
You may start a profitable and effective physical therapy clinic that offers patients high-quality medical services and distinguishes out from rivals by carefully selecting the proper site.
On websites like Craigslist, Crexi, and Instant Offices, you may locate business space for rent in your neighborhood.
You might wish to abide by these general guidelines while selecting a commercial space:
- Accessible by public transportation in a central location
- With plenty of natural light and ventilation
- As your firm expands, your lease might be made more accommodating.
- A facility that is ready to use and doesn’t require any substantial upgrades or repairs
Step 3: Write a Business Plan
Every organization requires a plan. This will serve as a manual to help you launch your firm and stay focused on your major objectives. A business plan also aids in the comprehension of your company’s mission by possible investors and partners:
- A concise executive summary of the full business plan should be created when it has been completed.
- Business overview: A description of the organization’s vision, purpose, ownership, and goals.
- Please include a detailed description of your products and services.
- SWOT analysis and market analysis are two ways to analyze market trends, including differences in demand and development potential.
- Competitive Analysis: Examine your top rivals, identifying their strong points and areas for improvement. Then, outline the benefits of your offerings.
- Sales and marketing: Consider your firms’ USPs when you create sales, marketing, and promotional plans.
- Overview of the management team, including a description of each member’s responsibilities and history in the business.
- Operations Plan: Your company’s operational plan covers logistics, office location, essential assets, and other information like purchasing.
- Financial Plan: A three-year financial plan that includes initial expenses, break-even calculations, projected profits and losses, cash flow, and a balance sheet.
- Add any extra financial or business-related papers to the appendix.
It might be a daunting undertaking if you’ve never written a business strategy. To build an outstanding business plan for you, you can think about hiring a business plan expert.
Step 4: Create a Marketing Plan
You should still spend in digital marketing even though some of your customers will be passing byers or internet visitors. For new firms, spreading the word is crucial since it will increase brand and client recognition.
Once it’s up and running, connect your social media accounts to your website and vice versa. Social media is a fantastic tool for company promotion since you can make interesting postings that promote your goods:
- Facebook is a fantastic paid advertising tool since it lets you target particular demographics, such as males under 50 in the Cleveland region.
- Instagram offers the same advantages as Facebook, but with distinct target markets.
- Website: SEO will make your website more visible at the top of relevant search results, which is essential for boosting sales. Make sure to optimize your website’s calls to action. To significantly increase purchases, play around with the language, color, size, and placement of calls to action like “Schedule Now.”
- Google and Yelp: For companies that depend on local clients, listing on Google My Business and Yelp might be essential to attracting attention and clients.
- signs – Install striking signs at your clinic and on your website.
- Personal sales – Present your physical therapy services to nearby doctors.
- Send consumers and prospects regular emails as part of your email marketing and newsletter strategy. Personalize them.
- begin a blog – Create a blog and publish frequently. Adapt your material and post it on several websites.
- Paid social media advertisements: Use sites that can help you contact your target audience and run focused advertising.
- Use Google AdWords for pay-per-click marketing to rank higher in search results. Do some keyword research beforehand.
- Share client testimonials describing how your physical therapy benefitted them.