Productivity in an Aquatic Therapy Enviroment

Vision Aquatics Therapy Pool

Aquatic therapy as a preferred modality for physical therapy is not new. Paths to build a profitable segment of your therapy business are undergoing significant changes, though, and understanding the productivity of an aquatic therapy pool as investment is taking new shape.

Productivity is defined as the measure of outcomes relative to the investment required to produce those outcomes. In the world of aquatic therapy, these can be measured both by clinical outcomes and financial outcomes. Both are important in measuring effectiveness and to providing an investment foundation.

Most aquatic therapy reimbursement requirements are based on a ratio of one therapist to one patient, while aquatic fitness and exercise can support one leader to many customers. So, the productivity of the therapist to patient is similar from one aquatic therapy pool type to another (although the efficiency of the therapist in one pool design may vary from that of another). Most clinical productivity, then, will depend on the breadth or degree of aquatic therapy that is supported by each pool design. The greater the number of differentiated clinical workstations in a pool, the better the propulsion system, and the more user-friendly the pool is, the greater will be its clinical productivity.

Business productivity in an aquatic therapy pool stems more from dividing the total investment required to purchase, install and operate a pool into the number of patient visits the pool will support over a period of time. Factors impacting this equation include the overall size of the pool (always measure as water surface area), the size of the pool bottom that is flat (where patients can be comfortable when not using a workstation), the number of available workstations, the number of patients that can receive individualized therapy (important for reimbursement acceptance), and other factors. Figure a minimum of 25 square feet per patient. When determining the number of patients that can simultaneously use a pool, we suggest using your own calculations instead of relying on manufacturer data.

Our experience indicates that properly managed programs using a Vision Aquatics therapy pool most often will repay the sum of the cost of the pool, the cost of installation, and the costs of staffing and maintaining the pool in less than one year. This is true due to the high productivity designed into each Vision Aquatics therapy and fitness pool.

The productivity of your investment into aquatic therapy is important. We know of no other pool on the market that comes close to the productivity achieved in Vision Aquatics pools. Of course, there is a long list of other compelling reasons to invest in a Vision Aquatics aquatic therapy pool that you may want to check out. These state of the art aquatic therapy pools can be viewed at www.visionaquatics.com. Or for more information, you may contact Doug Gregory either at doug@visionaquatics.com or at 616.957.4819.