Background
Founded in 1984, this family-owned and operated business now boasts 29 locations across southwestern Pennsylvania and northwestern West Virginia.
As of June 2015, OSPTA employed:
- 56 physical therapists
- 31 physical therapist assistants
- 9 occupational therapists
- 1 occupational therapist assistant
- 3 speech-language pathologists
Challenges
Before OSPTA implemented WebPT, all of its clinics were using paper for documentation. With multiple locations and hundreds of patient files, that system was not conducive to keeping patient files organized and—more importantly—maintaining compliance. The clinic’s biggest compliance challenge: ensuring accurate functional limitation reporting. “It was becoming very difficult to ensure we were reporting accurately,” said Pamela Hudack, the Director of Operations at OSPTA.
Legibility also was an issue, and the sheer number of clinics and therapists made it nearly impossible to manage scheduling and other business tasks on a remote basis.
Solution
Once the leadership at OSPTA determined the practice needed an electronic documentation and scheduling solution, they started looking for a system that would accommodate the needs of a multi-location business. Furthermore, they wanted a “web-based solution” that “was designed specifically for the disciplines we offer,” said Hudack.
To ensure minimal workflow disruption, OSPTA also wanted a solution that was user-friendly, easy to learn, and unintrusive. In other words, they needed a system that would adapt to their business, not the other way around. Finally, they hoped to partner with a company that would provide live, onsite training. WebPT delivered on all fronts:
We selected WebPT as our EMR solution because of the ease of documenting for the therapists.
And the in-person training OSPTA’s staff received made the transition even easier: “Our therapists were able to adapt quickly to the new system primarily due to the onsite training we received,” Hudack continued. “As a large practice, it was very beneficial to have the training in person rather than via webinar.”
The result: A transition that “couldn’t have been smoother.” According to Hudack, WebPT’s onsite trainers spent as much time as necessary answering questions, providing suggestions, and helping individual employees get comfortable with the system. “The customer service we received during training and transition was outstanding,” Hudack said. “WebPT maintains a positive, customer-first culture that is evident through the organization from top to bottom. That same level of service still exists one year later.”
Benefits
In addition to ensuring compliance with insurance regulations—especially Medicare rules—WebPT has helped OSPTA streamline the clinic workflow and claims submission process at each of its locations. “Prior to transitioning to WebPT, our paper process was very slow and labor intensive. We are now able to bill claims five days sooner than we could with our paper system, which has reduced our number of days in accounts receivable,” said Hudack.
Plus, because WebPT is a web-based system, any clinic staff member—from therapists to directors—can access the system anytime, anywhere. That convenience means a lot, especially to Hudack. “One of the biggest benefits from a management perspective has been being able to access information at our various locations—whether it be the schedule, productivity reports, or even our billing personnel needing to access a patient chart—at any time,” she said.
Finally, Hudack lauds WebPT’s exceptional customer service as a true differentiator from other rehab therapy software providers.
“My favorite thing about WebPT is their willingness to work with us to ensure the system is meeting our needs. As a larger practice, our needs are always changing so it is nice to have such a great working relationship.”
Pamela Hudack PTA
Director of Operations
