Our new patient referrals per week more than doubled in just 4 months!

In December of 2004, I received a flyer from Measurable Solutions about learning to run your PT practice better so as to “have a life.” Man, they were talking directly to me. I was frustrated by our slow growth and the long hours I had worked for years. I was ready for some help.

I attended an introductory course in Orlando, Florida one Thursday evening in January. That night, I met Shaun Kirk (PT, Co-founder of Measurable Solutions, Inc.), Ruben Gramajo (Service Consultant), Jim Bowe, and Steve Ryland (both PTs and practice owners). It seemed I had finally met some people who knew what I had been going through and also knew the way to move forward from where I was. When they told me about the New Patient Course I just asked them to show me the dotted line.

Initially I did not have the staff or the resources to even begin the New Patient Course program. I couldn’t imagine handling any more new patients when we did not even have an organization in place to handle more work. But I gave up the home care that I had been doing and committed to move forward with building my practice. My husband volunteered to help, which was great. Without his “free” help, it would have been difficult at first.

We hired our VP of Public Relations in June 2005. Our new patient referrals per week more than doubled in just 4 months. We averaged 10 to 12 new patients a week prior to the program, but by October we were averaging 20 to 25. Our all-time high has been 40. Now, if referrals drop to 20, we quickly implement changes to get them back up again.

Our staff total is now 17 employees. We need another full time therapist and a VP of Operations, but otherwise staffing is adequate for our current growth. I know there will always be obstacles and challenges; the wonder is how much more effectively these are now approached and handled. Our growth in the past year has been phenomenal. We now see an average of 1200-1300 patients per month. I am still a PT in the practice and work almost every day in patient care as well as running the business.

-- Beth Hicks