Better Together: What Joining Forces with Clinicient and Keet Means for the Industry

It’s been almost three months since WebPT announced that it acquired Clinicient and Keet and our organizations are still abuzz with activity and change. Frankly, the start of this year has felt like a whirlwind, filled with many first meetings, copious note-taking, and hours-long strategy sessions. Just last week I flew out to Portland to help lead our culture tour at Clinicient’s headquarters and meet the people who I feel privileged to fold into the WebPT family. 

But even though it’s been an exciting and invigorating time for all three of our organizations, I recognize that may not be the case for others in the industry. I won't skirt around the reality of what’s happened: this acquisition was big, and it will affect tens of thousands of rehab therapy professionals, if not the industry as a whole. So, in the interest of remaining transparent and to help dispel some of the fears I've heard percolating in the industry, I want to walk through our motivations and future goals for this union. Let's talk about Clinicient and Keet. 

WebPT acquired Clinicient and Keet to advance our overarching mission.

WebPT is a culture-driven organization that is rooted in Conscious Capitalism principles. Every decision that we make, from major business maneuvers to how we respond to Member questions, is guided by our core values and to drive our mission to help rehab therapists achieve greatness in practice. We strive to meet the needs of our Members in every aspect of an outpatient practice, which is why we have multiple award-winning teams. It’s more than just a business—we are unwaveringly committed to the industry we serve. Beyond providing innovative software and stellar services, WebPT assists with grassroots advocacy efforts to push our industry forward. We promote the PT-PAC, APTA, AOTA, and ASHA—and we’ve even joined forces with APTQI to help broaden and amplify our industry advocacy. 

Throughout our growth over the years, we’ve remained steadfast in our vision to help therapists thrive in a rapidly modernizing healthcare environment. That’s why our North Star, or BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) as we like to call it, is to get the WebPT application in the hands of every rehab therapist and to provide access to a WebPT solution in every person's home. This goal continues to guide us toward sustained improvement, innovation, and growth—and has helped us source the top talent required to help make it all happen.

However lofty it may seem, this acquisition puts us one step (several, really) closer to accomplishing our BHAG and places us all in a better position to help our Members and the industry as a whole. 

Knowing Our Strengths

For more than a decade, WebPT has led the market in cutting-edge patient documentation, patient relationship management, and billing services in the small- to mid-market rehab therapy segments (i.e., EMR, Reach, and Therabill) And since 2018, our company has evolved to meet the needs of the enterprise, large-clinic-chain segment as well (i.e., Revenue Cycle Management, Analytics). Clinicient shone brightest among mid-sized industry players, creating documentation, billing, and reporting solutions that organizations could apply across multi-location practices. And Keet stole the show with its PRM, outcomes and MIPS solution. 

As is evident, we have many varied strengths. And by joining forces, we can effectively solve more problems for more people. Combined, our clinical software and industry expertise will help us make better decisions and ultimately better solutions. That said, we know it's not just each of our products that secured us as trusted business partners—our service levels and open-source educational materials remain top priorities for everyone in the WebPT community. 

Using Our Advocacy Firepower 

WebPT, Keet and Clinicient are industry leaders. We serve a myriad of rehab therapists and we are dedicated to elevating the industry, in part by creating a better, more patient-centered experience. As a combined force, we are truly powerful. And with our collective data and market share, we are a force that legislative bodies and the general media must reckon with. With this heightened level of influence, we can better advocate for our industry and for our Members, and demonstrate our true value within the healthcare continuum.

WebPT has resilient leaders to make this acquisition a success. 

An acquisition of this size will come with new challenges and hurdles to jump—we’ve already started to encounter some of them. But I have full confidence in our leadership team that’s at the helm of this ship—and who will sail us into calmer waters ahead. Recently, WebPT was privileged to welcome aboard CEO Ashley Glover, COO Paul Shuga, CTO Greg Ingino, and CPO Felicia Taylor, to our executive management team. These experienced leaders thrive in challenging environments and made it through WebPT’s rigorous hiring gauntlet, proving that they were a match for our core values and culture. 

Additionally, we were also honored to welcome aboard some very experienced and gifted individuals from Clinicient and Keet. They, too, are driven to help rehab therapists excel in service of their patients. Combined, our leadership firepower is unmatched, and the passion each of these individuals—along with the now 850-plus WebPTers that comprise our team—has for our industry is truly impressive. Rest assured, we are all pulling in the same direction to accomplish our mission, and are well-prepared (not to mention, excited!) for this next leg of the journey. 

Any changes that come down the pipeline will be born of an effort to serve people better. 

Now that you have a better understanding of our motivations and goals, I want to talk specifically about some of the changes you might see as a result of this acquisition. We are fanatical when it comes to improving the Member experience and ultimately the patient experience. Though, these processes will naturally necessitate somes changes and enhancements as a combined platform. We are currently putting the final touches on our updated strategic plan that will be shared during our Ascend conference in Charlotte, North Carolina (May 19-21). Beyond this exciting business update, we have an incredible speaker lineup that will help take your practice to the next level.

However, if you can’t make it, stay tuned to our monthly “Founder Corner” newsletters, which will include updates on our strategic priorities from our CEO (Ashley Glover) and other members of our leadership team.

WebPT Members and Clinicient and Keet Customers

Moving forward, our Members (old and new) will have access to a broader set of solutions. Deep dives into the Clinicient and Keet products are nearly complete with a finalized roadmap on our next steps coming soon. That said, our goal in vetting these solutions remains the same: to bring the best of these products that make sense together and support enhancements to those that perform well on their own. Ultimately, we want our Members to receive the best and most efficient and impactful experience possible. In the meantime, you will continue to receive the highest levels of service on the current suite of products.

At the end of the day, rehab therapy will move forward.

This acquisition has already created some waves throughout the rehab therapy industry. After all, change can be uncomfortable—but it’s also a catalyst for growth. As we consolidate our products and integrate our teams, rehab therapists and clinic leaders will begin to see positive improvement in their ability to:

• Deliver quality patient care,
• Run their businesses effectively regardless of practice size, and 
• Join our industry’s advocacy efforts. 

This acquisition is a big deal. But we wouldn't have done it if the net effect wasn't a positive one for our Members and the industry at large. WebPT (and now Clinicient and Keet) wants to ensure we continue to propel rehab therapists toward reaching their fullest potentials. I’m beyond excited to see how this next chapter unfolds as we move our business and the industry forward together, as one company. 

#WeAreWebPT