Guides
Physical therapy practices: a reviewer's notes
Named physical therapy practices and the public signals — booking paths, staff pages, job posts, payer lists — that show how each one runs its front desk.
What to take away
- The physical therapy practices named here are studied from what they publish: clinic-page hours, booking paths, staff and clinician pages, job postings and payer lists.
- Each note says what the practice is, who the model suits, and what to read first if you want the system rather than the brand.
- Nothing here is a ranking or an endorsement. Every claim is checkable on the practice's own site, on the state board of physical therapy's public license lookup, or on the CMS therapy services page.
- The traits worth scoring are the same everywhereevaluation slots held in the template, a fee schedule quoted without hesitation, progress notes that leave on schedule, and a payer list that matches the directories.
- Copy the system, not the fee. Your payer mix and your state's rules set what your version should look like.
Why these practices and not a ranking
A ranked list would need revenue, visit volume and margin from each practice. None of that is public, and guessing it would be inventing figures. So the ten below were picked against the twelve traits in the scoring list further down, plus one more: how much of the operation a reader can see from outside.
What is public is the operating surface: how a practice books a new patient, what it charges a self-pay visit, whether it names the supervising therapist on staff pages, and whether its job postings describe the calendar. Those are the decisions an owner copies.
The ten practices below run from chains to health systems to digital programs. Study them the way you would study a competitor, from listings, sites, posted fees and hiring pages. The SBA business guide covers competitor research from public information.
The practices
Only published fees are quoted in these notes. Full self-pay schedules are not public, so most entries stay with what a reader can open and check: what the practice is, who the model suits, and which page to read first.
Practice models at a glance
Athletico
- Model
- Large Midwest chain
- Scale
- 900+ clinics
- Best for
- Multi-site owners
- Look first at
- Clinic page details
Results PT
- Model
- Southeast/Texas chain
- Scale
- Part of Upstream
- Best for
- Single-site owners
- Look first at
- Booking path
Ivy Rehab
- Model
- Franchise network
- Scale
- 500+ locations
- Best for
- Partnership/exit
- Look first at
- Partnership terms
USC faculty
- Model
- Academic practice
- Scale
- University-based
- Best for
- Residency pipeline
- Look first at
- Faculty credentials
| Practice | What it is | Who it suits as a model | What to look at first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletico Physical Therapy | Chain founded in 1991 and based in Oak Brook, Illinois, with more than 900 clinics across roughly 25 states, plus hospital and health-system partnerships | Owners planning a second or third site who need a repeatable front-desk template | How each clinic page states hours, services and insurance accepted |
| Results Physiotherapy | Southeast and Texas outpatient chain with a manual-therapy focus, now part of Upstream Rehabilitation | Single-site owners who want a manual-therapy brand without a franchise fee | The booking path: whether real evaluation slots appear before you call |
| Ivy Rehab Network | Franchise and partnership network with more than 500 locations, which buys independent clinics and often keeps the local brand name | Owners weighing a partnership or exit against staying independent | The partnership terms page and what it says about who keeps the brand |
| USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy faculty practice | Academic practice inside the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, tied to its DPT, PhD and residency programs | Anyone building a residency or mentorship pipeline | Faculty pages: how credentials and specializations are stated |
| Cleveland Clinic rehabilitation services | Hospital-employed therapy inside a health system based in Cleveland, Ohio, with referrals routed through the system | Practices negotiating a health-system referral relationship | How the system describes therapy referrals and scheduling |
| One Medical | Membership-based primary care with in-house physical therapy in some markets; membership runs about $199 a year, less for Amazon Prime members, and Amazon has owned it since 2023 | Cash-pay and membership model design | The membership fee page: what is bundled and what is not |
| Confluent Health | Parent company of regional physical therapy brands, including Texas Physical Therapy Specialists, and of residency programs; based in Louisville, Kentucky | Owners considering joining a management services organization | What the MSO takes over and what the clinic keeps |
| Luna On Demand | In-home physical therapy booked through an app, available in a growing list of metros, with cash prices quoted per market | Practices testing home visits without owning a vehicle fleet | The service-area page and how it states therapist availability |
| Hinge Health | Digital musculoskeletal program sold to employers and health plans, publicly listed since 2025, with a motion-sensor kit and a care team | Clinic owners approached by employers about a therapy benefit | How the program describes its clinical model and escalation |
| Sword Health | Digital MSK program sold per employee to employers, with licensed therapists supervising remote sessions | Same as above, for comparison on contract structure | The outcomes page: what it claims and what it does not |
A note on the last two: they are competitors for the same employer contracts a clinic might bid on. Knowing how they describe their model is useful whether you compete with them or refer to them.
What each one shows you
Athletico and Results are the clearest examples of a front desk that owns its own listing. Hours, services and accepted insurance appear on every clinic page, and the phone number is answered by someone who can see the schedule.
That is not a marketing decision. It is a template decision, and it is the first thing to copy if your listings disagree with your door sign.
Athletico, with more than 900 clinics in about 25 states, publishes the same fields on every page. Results, now under Upstream Rehabilitation, sells manual therapy first, so watch whether the booking path shows a real evaluation slot before you call.
Ivy Rehab and Confluent Health sit on the other side of the same question: what does an owner give up to get scale. Ivy Rehab has more than 500 locations and often keeps a local brand after buying a clinic.
Confluent Health, based in Louisville, Kentucky, typically takes over billing, credentialing and HR while the clinic keeps its name on the door. Read both partnership pages next to your own numbers. The pricing and profit guide walks through the fee schedule and payer mix arithmetic you need before that conversation.
USC and Cleveland Clinic show what a referral relationship looks like when the referrer sits in the same building. USC's faculty practice runs inside a research university in Los Angeles and feeds students through its residency programs. Cleveland Clinic routes therapy referrals inside a health system based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Their pages describe therapy as part of a pathway, not as a standalone service. If your referrals come from physicians, that framing is worth studying.
One Medical and Luna show two cash-adjacent models. One Medical bundles therapy into a membership that runs about $199 a year, with a lower rate for Amazon Prime members since Amazon bought the company in 2023.
Luna sends a therapist to the home and quotes cash prices by market. Both publish enough for a reader to see how they price and where their service area ends.
Hinge Health and Sword sell to employers rather than patients. Hinge Health has filed public financial reports since its 2025 listing, and those filings describe the clinical model and escalation rules.
Sword sells per-employee access, with licensed therapists supervising remote sessions. If an employer in your market asks you to bid on a therapy benefit, these two are the comparison they have already seen.
The operations and workflow guide covers the scheduling and no-show rules you would need to write into that contract.
Scheduling is where the models separate. A chain that owns its own listing can hold evaluation slots in the template, an in-home service has to price by market and say where its service area ends, and an employer program books the therapist rather than the patient.
The traits worth scoring
Score any practice, named or not, on these. A trait counts only if you saw it in public.
- Hours posted and accurate on the listing, the site and the door
- A booking path that shows real evaluation slots
- Cash fees stated for self-pay visits
- Services listed match the credentials on the state board of physical therapy's public license lookup
- No outcome promises anywhere in the copy
- Review responses that never confirm anyone was a patient
- A cancellation policy visible before booking
- A first-visit page that says what to bring
- Clinician pages that state supervision structure where assistants work
- A named contact for referring offices
- A payer list that matches the payer directories
- Job postings that describe the calendar, not only a salary
Twelve checks, each answerable from a browser. The state board of physical therapy in each state is where the credential and supervision checks get verified; the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy lists every jurisdiction's board. Keep the sheet and rescore in six months. The marketing and growth guide covers how those checks turn into a referral pipeline, and the licensing and compliance guide covers the credential and supervision questions behind the fourth and ninth checks.
What not to copy
Fees, because they are set against a payer mix and a cost base you cannot see from outside. Staffing ratios, because supervision rules differ by state, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics page on physical therapists describes the profession, not any practice's schedule.
Billing practices, because the rules are the payer's. For Medicare they are on the CMS therapy services page. A practice that appears to do well by them may simply not have been reviewed yet.
Hiring language, because the written role is where supervision rules become an employment question. The hiring and training guide covers what belongs in the posting and what belongs with your attorney.
Common questions
Why are these practices named when the original page refused to name any?
Because a list with no names answers nothing. A reader who wants to see how a booking path or a fee page works needs a real page to open. Every claim above is checkable on the practice's own site.
Are these the best practices in the country?
No, and no public data supports that claim. They are practices whose operating surface is legible enough to learn from. Your market may hold better-run clinics that publish less.
How many should I study?
Enough to see the traits repeat. A handful near you for the market, a handful elsewhere for the model, scored the same way. The pattern shows up quickly.
Can I visit one as a patient to see how it runs?
Not as a pretext. If you need care, choose a practice for your care. Competitor study is done from public pages and from what referrers volunteer about their own experience.
