Physical therapy has long been the low-cost, high return part of the local hospital. Buy a few tables, bands, and some free weights and you have a clinic. Better yet, throw up some plaster on the walls of an under-used storage basement and boom you have a revenue source. Not the owner of a hospital? No problem! Find a warehouse space, buy some tables and a squat rack and you are good to go. Mobile physical therapy has not been an option historically.
This is the overwhelming experience when a typical patient gets a typical PT referral in Anytown, USA. Always has been, always will be. Right?
Why Are PTs Ditching Brick And Mortar For Mobile Physical Therapy?
Another less well-known driver is the overwhelming research the physical therapy profession has produced in the past 20 years. Providers and patients are realizing that to really produce top level clinical outcomes, there needs to be more time to focus on the patient’s problem and synthesize all of the new research. With reimbursement going down and rent going up, there is not a recipe for more patient-provider time in the local PT clinic.
Many PTs are seeing the downsides of brick-and-mortar clinic ownership, and searching for a better way to practice at the top of their license while making enough money to get a slice of the American dream.
How Mobile Physical Therapy Can Help
Enter mobile physical therapy. With a provider’s own car, a portable table, and a Rubbermaid container full of the essential tools the mobile physical therapist can come directly to a patients home and provide as-good or better care than they could get going through their insurance at the local clinic.
Patients are realizing that for slightly more than their copay (which can be $80 or more) they can get one-on-one time with a DPT. The provider can see how they interact with that tall garden step, or how their garage is a little difficult to navigate with the lighting. What’s more, athletes can do return to sport drills on an actual field, not dodging cars in a strip mall parking lot. Mobile physical therapy patients can schedule an appointment between zoom calls, or while their newborn naps.
A Return To Quality and the Patient-Provider Relationship
Most importantly, mobile physical therapy is a much more comprehensive way to treat patients. Instead of asking about the steps into a home, the patient can practice on them. Areas of the home that patients are afraid to navigate can now be navigated with someone by their side, coaching and correcting. Athletes can now get out on a field, in cleats, with a ball – not simulated on a rug in tennis shoes. With mobile physical therapy the possibilities for training are endless.
The best and most seasoned clinicians are flocking to mobile physical therapy in droves. After a while, you start to cost more to the company than you can bring in at today’s insurance rates. After about 15 years, most staff therapists are told to see more patients, or move into management. The ones that just want to do best by their patients are left with their career ceiling at age 40. Because of this, you are very unlikely to find an experienced PT nowadays who works only in insurance-based patient care.
Conclusion
For patient and provider, the mobile physical therapy model is a better deal. While it currently is still a premium-quality service, many who need skilled care but have seen what is on offer at the local PT clinic absolutely see the value of the price difference. The market is screaming for value, and mobile physical therapists are here to provide that value.
