A physical therapy private practice’s success is dependent on the owner knowing what they need to do and when they need to do it. There is no time in business where your actions as an owner are more critical than when you open your first office or expand into your next location. Maintaining viability while experiencing steady growth is what makes for a successful practice and less stressed owner which is what most private practice owners we work with are ultimately seeking.
As you begin planning your practice’s expansion, take a look at your practice now. The four factors below that start on the inside of your current four walls with the staff you currently employ.
The status of your current clinical office
If you have not achieved maximum clinical efficiency in your existing location, then you may still have work to do before you to consider expanding.
How do you know? You know based on your company metrics and your employee stats. If, as an owner, you understand what the 64 key statistics are and the practice metrics or KPI’s (key performance indicators), then you have what you need to measure your practice’s performance by. Every position (or post) within your company should have an established product that he/she is responsible for attaining. Each employee’s performance is measured by their statistics, which ultimately ensures that are achieving their product. Statistics allow the owner to manage his/her staff by performance and not by personality. They also allow the owner to keep a pulse on the overall performance of the clinic.
Personnel Training
The key members should be professionally enhanced and their performance tracked based on their key statistics each week. These stats should be plotted and graphed so that it is clear to all if they are trending up or down. When it comes to opening your second office, you’ll want to do that with your “A team.” Don’t take your newest hires and stick them out there in the new office and expect them to outperform your best players that already have a proven track record of success. Take your A-Team players such as your existing Office Manager, and Clinical Director and ship them out to your new office as your establishment team. Once the office is up and stable, they can be brought back to the home office if need be. In this process, promotions can be considered, however, do not assume a pay raise. If a promotion is given, refrain from raising their pay, it is more important that you train them for success, and as soon as they are winning at the new position you adjust their compensation.
Market Study
Consider your market and practice environment so that you are setting yourself up for success. Look at the traffic patterns during rush hour. What do the ingress and egress look like? What is the type of community you are opening in: rural, urban or suburb? Is the population at least 5,000 people within 5-10 mile radius? Do you have adequate parking of at least 4 spaces per 1,000 sqft of office space? Is the clinic size in that ideal range of 1200 to 2500 sq feet in size and is your rent going to be less than 10% of your total GI? These are considerations you need to look at when doing your market study.
Well Executed Plans
Don’t consider opening your second office if you do not have a business strategic plan. Where do you want to be in 6, 12, 18 months? Once you have that, you create a cash flow summary (money needed), and the first year annual marketing plan that incorporates internal, external, and staff marketing efforts. You start working these marketing campaigns 2 months prior to opening your doors. If you are not doing 15-20 patient visits the first week, then you’ve missed something.
Keep in mind that the most important element to your success if every member of your staff is properly trained and execute patient care advocacy every day.
Timing is everything when it comes to successfully expanding your practice. But if these four factors aren’t in place as you start to execute your expansion plan, chances are your second office will not succeed the way you are hoping it will. So if you’re looking for information on how to expand your practice, schedule a free live DEMO of our expansion program within MEG Academy or a free practice assessment call to discuss how your current expansion plan can be improved for ultimate success.
Brian Gallagher, PT is the founder and CEO of MEG Business Management, LLC. He has more than 27 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation and 19 years in business and specializes in Physical Therapy practice management and executive coaching nationwide. As a licensed business management consultant, Brian has helped hundreds of business owners nationwide improve their business operations through proper restructuring to achieve improved systems of efficiency and productivity as well as marketing and sales with effective public relations which have proven results for double-digit growth year-over-year with businesses around the country.
