Founder Letter: Rehab Therapy’s Crystal Ball: The State of Rehab Therapy Report

This year marks the eighth edition of WebPT’s State of Rehab Therapy report, and for me, each year offers a promise of things to come. Sure, the negative data grabs a lot of attention and causes some hand-wringing, and rightly so; we don’t want to ignore what’s wrong in our profession. However, we shouldn’t lose focus on the positives—the things that keep us going year after year in spite of those negatives. Those are the things that give rehab therapists a reason to hope for a better future to come. 

This year’s report will look and feel a little different when it hits your inbox next week. This time around, we set out to tell a story—one about where we are now as a profession and where we think—or hope—to be in the near future. So, to prep the plinthe and get you excited for the upcoming release, here are a few bullet points to set the “treatment” table.

Rehab therapy has a Neverending Story.

No, I am not talking about the '80s children's movie—or the more recent Stranger Things season three finale. I’m talking about the yearly headwinds that appear to be part of a never-ending story. 

Year after year, we see the same pain points at the top of the list of biggest concerns, and this year is no different:

• Steadily declining insurance reimbursements,
• The increasing threat of burnout, and
• Salaries that failed to keep pace with expectations due to the high price of education.

We also see how these three primary concerns impact seemingly every other aspect of the current rehab therapy experience. Declining reimbursements lead to lower wages, which we see reflected in the salary dissatisfaction contributing to provider burnout. 

Don’t discount company culture.

Reimbursement, burnout, and salary were the concerns of all rehab therapists polled in the report —but what about rehab therapists specifically looking to make a career change? While no one appears to be markedly happy with their salary, it’s not the main driver for providers leaving their current place of employment. Instead, respondents more often felt their values were no longer aligned with their employers’, were seeking a new challenge, or were—wait for it—burnt out. In all the responses, salary only rated seventh among the reasons for considering a new job. 

Culture is something that can truly make a difference for any clinic. That’s one reason this year’s Ascend featured speakers like Bryan Wright, PT, DPT, Cert. MDT, OCS, CEO, and founder of Wright Physical Therapy; Josh D’Angelo, PT, DPT, OCS, CEO of MovementX; Fred Gilbert, PT, DPT, Chief People Officer at Movement X; and WebPT’s own Felicia Taylor, Chief People Officer. It seems obvious to say, but we really can’t underestimate how much it matters to people to have a workplace where they can do what they love, feel valued, feel respected, and have a sense of belonging. So, while money matters, it truly can’t buy happiness. 

Positive vibes are coming.

I don’t think these headwinds will be what defines our industry. I think our story is one that is defined by perseverance, virtue to our patients, and a love for the mantra that movement truly is medicine. In response to some of the previously mentioned challenges, industry leader and Director of Awesomeness at PT Revolution, Jason Collin, PT, MPT, CHPC, had this to say:

I believe in realistic optimism. Acknowledge that the odds are stacked against us, and focus on what’s within our control. As therapists, we get to help people return to doing what they love. We get to help people live with less pain and more function. We get to impact people’s lives positively. As leaders, we get to provide an environment that enriches our team’s lives. We get to be a positive, constructive influence in an otherwise chaotic world. It’s amazing what happens when you focus on the good stuff!

This year’s report reflects that sentiment. Between the renewed sense of urgency for advocacy efforts (61% of respondents participated in some form of advocacy last year) to the unyielding entrepreneurial spirit seen in rehab therapy practices, the data reflects an air of optimism that our industry can tackle the challenges ahead while propelling the American healthcare system forward.

Let’s lean into in-person care boosted by technology.

The theme for this year’s State of Rehab Therapy report is “The Practice of the Future.” The name might call to mind the idea of robots and futuristic tech like Meta’s new AR glasses, but what the report helped solidify is something almost every rehab therapist and patient can attest to: the practice of the future must center around in-person care with adjunct possibilities of virtual visits.

What does the future hold for telehealth?

It wasn’t all that long ago when rehab therapy—and the greater healthcare industry—seemed to be all-in on telehealth, partly out of necessity. As the COVID-19 public health emergency faded from view, our report data suggested that telehealth usage was fading with it—at least until this year. Mirroring similar numbers from the 2023 report (30%), 27.6% of respondents reported using telehealth. The report also found that 57% of respondents who do use telehealth plan to keep using it. Perhaps it’s not at the level we expected, but it seems as though telehealth has a spot in the future of the profession, as those who have mastered its integration into normal clinical workflows recognize its long-lasting utility and patient care flexibility.

What does in-person care mean to the therapist—or the patient?

This year's report certainly highlights some of the more exciting technological developments on the horizon for the rehab therapy profession. Still, I want to make it clear that the practice of the future has to remain centered around in-person care. The results of telehealth mirror a greater push I have seen in the industry—and I think many would agree with me. 

Both patients and clinicians have doubled down in the last year or so to demand better care, and while digital care can be a part of that care, it can’t be the main component. Just look at the recent failings of corporate ventures in the healthcare industry—failings that are due in large part to their heavy dependence on digital care. Patients love the flexibility and accessibility of telehealth and remote care options, but most do not view this as a replacement, only an adjunct to deliver optimal care.

That also means that many clinicians are feeling the weight of too much technology in care. In practices where leaders are leveraging three or more platforms, they are creating another layer of administrative burden where in-person care for the clinician means excessive time spent on a computer and less time delivering actual treatment. Due to inefficiencies and increased cost, utilization of disparate systems is falling out of favor, but it is only slowing down adoption as only 28% of respondents reported having full integration of their software programs.  

This is one of the biggest reasons WebPT created the idea of Practice Experience Management. By eliminating digital redundancies with multiple software providers and providing a unified software platform for all facets of care, in-person patient care can excel.

There’s more to see in the report.

I look forward to sharing more results in this year’s State of Rehab Therapy Report—coming next week. We strive to aggregate all of the data points and responses from the survey and combine them alongside other industry resources to create a picture of what the practice of the future might look like. It makes me very excited to think about what the future holds. For those of you who contributed to our survey: THANK YOU! We make a concerted effort to use those insights to help shape the WebPT product to best serve the practice of the future and empower clinicians to achieve Greatness in Practice. So, to quote Doc Brown after finally getting Marty back to 1985 in Back to the Future Part III, “Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one.”