Getting patients in the door of your physical therapy clinic and providing excellent care is fantastic. However, it is not enough. You must retain those patients, and simply treating them is not enough to bring patients back to your facility. Therefore, establishing a patient retention program is key to the continued growth of your practice. Here are some patient retention ideas.
3 Ways To Increase Retention at Your Physical Therapy Practice
Decrease Early Patient Drop Out
When patients drop out of physical therapy before completing their course of treatment, the results are less than optimal. Worse still, they will blame their treatment failure on the physical therapy clinic. Keep patients engaged until completion, and you can increase positive outcomes.
The churn rate is the measure of patient dropout. Calculate the churn rate at your physical therapy clinic. For each client, identify the number of sessions attended and divide the number by the number of sessions recommended. Multiply the quantity by 100 to find the churn rate as a percentage. Average all percentages together to get the churn rate of the entire practice. To lower the churn rate and increase patient retention, try these:
- Make a fantastic first impression
- Offer enhanced care
- Know your competition
- Listen to patients
- Teach patients
- Build loyalty
Educate Clients
Many physical therapy patients view physical therapy treatment as a doctor writing a prescription and your clinic filling it. There is no understanding of how physical therapy works. So, it is up to you and your team to educate your patients about the services you provide. Explain how modalities work and educate them about the long-term benefits of therapy. Patient education tactics might include:
- Send out a newsletter
- Have printed materials available
- Provide advance information
- Check on past patients
Your goal goes beyond providing physical therapy that solves the acute needs of a patient. Through education, you hope to promote ongoing health, mobility, pain management, and injury prevention. Additionally, educate patients about the services you offer and help them understand how a relationship will benefit them.
Appointment Reminders and Satisfaction Surveys
A no-show patient means wasted time, patients remaining on waiting lists, and the no-show patient’s therapy interruption. Help your patients and yourself by reminding them of appointments. Use a mixture of phone calls, emails, and text messages.
A satisfaction questionnaire is a great way to increase patient retention as well. A written survey will elicit more factual information and by offering it, you will make patients feel important. In addition, the data will allow you to make changes to improve your practice. How patients view your facility is essential to your business success, so make the necessary changes.
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