Defining Private Practice Physical Therapy

By Michelle Collie, PT, DPT, MS, OCS

Over the course of my career, I have had numerous discussions about how to define and message what private practice physical therapy is. Why is it that physicians, nurses, and dentists can easily define what they do, while physical therapists often offer a long-winded and simultaneously vague explanation? How can we expect the public to understand the value of our services—and our role in health care—if we continue to have difficulty defining it?

With this in mind, I am delighted to share the happenings of the Private Practice Section (PPS) Marketing and Public Relations Committee. The committee’s objective is to provide marketing and public relations educational programming and tools for individual members to implement within their communities and with their local media. The committee wants to encourage a grassroots effort where members have the tools and the confidence to comfortably promote their practices and ultimately improve the public’s understanding of what we offer.

This year, a number of this committee’s initiatives have come to fruition. After two years of work, “The Fit Factor” has been launched. This interactive, online survey will increase consumers’ awareness of the scope of private practice physical therapy, drive people to local private practices, and provide a fun opportunity for people to benchmark where their physical health is compared to the rest of the population. Webinars will educate members about how this tool can be used in their promotional campaigns. And this is only the beginning; the Fit Factor website and collateral materials, including educational videos and newsletters, will continue to evolve.

Simultaneously (and in answer to numerous member requests), marketing gurus Lynn Steffes and Scott Wick are producing a wonderful series of videos covering things you need to know when planning your marketing, such as budgeting. They will cover areas such as internal, referral source, consumer, community, and outreach marketing. This series will ensure all members have a basic understanding of marketing and public relations and will improve results when utilizing the tools our committee develops.

This year, we are also excited to offer our membership professionally written monthly press releases. Previously, these press releases were available only to our media corps, a group of 100 practice owners around the country involved with our committee’s public relations campaign.

Finally, we want to hear about your success stories. How did you gain new patients from the Fit Factor? Was your press release picked up? Which of our new marketing strategies resulted in success? Sharing your stories will help other members and strengthen our profession in these changing times.

I am grateful for the leadership of the outgoing chair Don Levine who has developed a committee of dedicated, knowledgeable, and experienced members. I would like to thank Scott Wick, Erica Meloe, and Jessica McKinney for continuing to serve on the committee, and I want to welcome our new members Darren Rodia and Jessica Burchett. We look forward to working together to effectively promote private practice physical therapy—and to help us all speak to our integral role in the health care landscape.