How Physical Therapy Technology Improves Patient Satisfaction

We’re in this for the patients. 

When I first opened my private practice, the goal was to put “care” back into healthcare. Too many providers were putting patients through the same programs and interventions despite different ailments or diagnoses. 

I quickly found that “personalization” leads to patient satisfaction. Crafting custom plans of care that addressed unique and changing patient needs. Making the customer happy or satisfied should be central to the mission for any business, especially a physical therapy practice where you are trusted to improve the health and wellness of everyone who walks through the door. 

Plus, this commitment to patient care and satisfaction can pay dividends for your referrals and business bottom line. 

The Good News: Leveraging the right physical therapy technology is one of the easiest ways to increase patient satisfaction and ensure their needs are being met.

The Issue with Patient Satisfaction in Physical Therapy

When patients turn to a physical therapist for treatment and relief, we have a huge role to play.

An APTA position paper put it this way:

​​“As essential members of the health care team, physical therapists play an important role in the prevention and management of pain; chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, stroke, long Covid, and obesity; and their impact on an individual’s quality of life and ability to work in his or her community.”

Nevertheless, the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy shows that there aren’t currently enough physical therapists to meet the demands of a hurting public, estimating that the U.S. needs to add 27,000 more PTs by 2025. 

WebPT’s own research shows that 20% of patients will drop out of their physical therapy program within the first three visits, and 70% fail to complete their full plan of care.

What’s causing these high attrition rates?

Why Patient Satisfaction Matters for Positive Outcomes

Failure with patient satisfaction should concern any physical therapy practice owner, and it typically stems from two outcomes:  Unmet expectations and issues in reinforcement.

Unmet expectations carry a lot of influence on patient satisfaction because they want results quickly and can get discouraged if the recovery process is too difficult or too long. If progress is not apparent, a patient can grow disillusioned. 

In the same way, if patients are expecting the therapy to do all the work without them, then they are set up to fail. Our programs must reinforce their key role in the rehab. They must be putting the work in outside of the clinic and, by doing so, they can expect better results.

But it’s not always so black and white. Marquette University’s whitepaper entitled “Predictors of Retention in Physical Therapy: Client-, Disease-, and Treatment-related Factors” explains that patients who drop out of their program are likely to be experiencing greater physical pain and functional limitations than those who complete therapy.

With these challenges in mind, we should consider how physical therapy technology can play an essential role in maintaining patient satisfaction and reducing burnout and frustration.

How Physical Therapy Technology Can Make a Difference

If patient satisfaction is directly related to getting faster positive results from their therapy, then the right physical therapy technology must play an active role in any plan of care. As the patient’s satisfaction level keeps a continual high, it’s more likely that the recovery process will be much more efficient and ultimately more successful for them and your physical therapy service. 

When Competitive Edge Performance polled our patient population to measure their satisfaction with our operations, clinicians and environment – three areas were identified as the top reasons our patients keep coming back and completing their programs:

1. The technology suites for training and recovery
2. The cleanliness of the clinic (and the air)
3. The knowledge and friendliness of our staff

With the right training and the right aesthetic, you can create a friendly, clean environment – but it takes research and investments to solve for the tech side of this industry. Luckily, NeuPTtech has done that research and testing for you.

The Physical Therapy Technology Improving Patient Care

While using tech like teleconferencing or virtual receptions for your systems and operations can be an important step in improving the patient experience and keeping them on track for performing their at-home exercises, we will focus on the patient-facing tech that is revolutionizing patient care in the physical therapy industry.

“As care providers, we need to be able to deliver that ‘aha factor’ in the first or second session in order to be able to show value for each patient’s time and effort to get to us.”

-Jason Waz

The Physical Therapy Tools Positively Impacting Programs and Outcomes:

NEUBIE Device Therapy is an e-stim therapy that your clinic can easily integrate into your physical therapy programs to help treat neuro issues that are limiting mobility or training. A NEUBIE device can measure and treat the neurological functions of a patient in real-time, giving you immediate options for better, faster recovery.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Therapy utilizes real-time biofeedback to show a patient’s overall health at the moment of the assessment. This non-invasive 5-minute diagnostic procedure assesses a patient’s nervous system state to see if it is in “fight or flight” or “rest and relax.” This proves invaluable in the recovery process by helping PTs model a program to match the patients current abilities or limitations.

Lastly, immediate results can close the satisfaction gap for patients through Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) Therapy. This non-invasive physical therapy technology can help your patients recover faster, reduce soreness and improve blood circulation after a physical therapy session, allowing them to feel the overall satisfaction of their progress without the heavy physical toll on their bodies.

Getting Started with Physical Therapy Technology

NeuPTtech can help align your clinic with the physical therapy technologies that will provide positive outcomes and feelings of progress for your physical therapy patients. Since a dissatisfied patient may walk away from a program and give up on themselves, finding the right technology-based solution is the best path forward to giving them the pain-free life they deserve.

Contact NeuPTtech to discuss how the right physical therapy technology can improve your patient care and keep them coming back until their goals are achieved.