Profitability in an Aquatic Therapy Program

Physical therapists have to be more concerned about how to drive profits now more than ever.  Everyone knows what is happening to operating costs, cuts in reimbursement rates, and the costs of working with insurance companies.  Just staying in business is hard enough.  Finding ways to increase physical therapy clinical profits is even harder.  Hydrotherapy offers clinics an opportunity to develop substantial profits, when done the right way.

Hydrotherapy, or aquatic therapy, remains a differentiating modality, as most clinics have decided not to invest into a pool for one reason or another.  Many clinics are land-locked, don’t have the internal training / expertise to support hydrotherapy, or don’t yet understand its benefits.  Useful for a number of treatments, patients can often enter therapy sooner in a hydrotherapy pool and require fewer visits to complete therapy.  Warm water therapy relaxes patients, making it easier for them to accept and practice their therapy.

Most clinicians practicing hydrotherapy believe they build patient and referral preference because of the satisfaction their customers feel with the mix of land and aquatic-based therapy.  Building the clinical brand and patient volume is one key area of increasing profits.

In many states, reimbursement rates for hydrotherapy can be as much as 40% higher than for land-based therapy.  While reimbursement rates continue to be cut, hydrotherapy continues to be a great option for increasing profits.

Why not invest into a hydrotherapy pool?  Most will cite the cost of the pool as a major stumbling block to adding this important modality to their practice.  Using the Vision Aquatics Free Cash Flow Analysis tool, it quickly become apparent that the investment into a therapy pool is not an issue.  At just 60 patient visits per week, the most expensive Vision Aquatics pool provides a return on all acquisition, installation and operating costs in under nine (9) months.  Three-year free cash flow is calculated at over $500,000.00.

Need to drive higher profits at your clinic?  Visit www.visionaquatics.com.  For more information and pricing, you may contact Doug Gregory either at doug@visionaquatics.com or at 616.957.4819.