How to Get More Direct Access Physical Therapy Patients in 2024

Since every state has some level of direct access, you’re now in the driver’s seat when it comes to attracting new patients. Attracting direct access patients has its benefits:

• Grow your practice
• Increase your revenue
• Skip the need for physician referrals
• You create the initial plan of care for direct access patients
• Combat declining reimbursements
• Improve physician networks by referring patients to them
• Improve your reputation in the medical community

So, how can you get more direct access to patients? It all starts by being prevalent in the places where potential patients are looking for health and wellness information. In today’s techie world, most patients are online, so it’s imperative your website, search ranking, and reviews are solid. Once you master those things, you can take it to the next level with paid ads to attract direct access patients to your physical therapy practice.

Here are some tips:

Improve Your SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of putting content on your business website that improves your site’s visibility to search engines—like Google—and search engine users. If Google determines your website content is relevant to a user’s search, it will place you in a higher ranking on the search engine results page, making it easier and more likely for the user to click and visit your website.

This is a FREE way to market yourself with Google or any other search engine! There is no cost to appear on organic search engine results pages, and no one can pay for a better ranking spot. The more you focus on optimizing your website to provide clear, relevant, descriptive content, the more likely your website will appear higher on search results pages and increase visits to your website. Click here to learn how to effectively use SEO.

Improve Your Review Ranking

Good reviews and bad reviews can equally impact your reputation since 76% of consumers "regularly" read online reviews when browsing for local businesses, and 85% of consumers used Google to evaluate local businesses in 2022, up from 81% in 2021. 

Encourage your happy patients to leave you reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook, and/or Healthgrades. If you have any existing negative reviews, be sure to respond in a positive way because future readers will see your response and appreciate that you took the time to address it.

Utilize Paid Ads

Using paid ads will allow you to target direct access patients and generate leads. You can use PPC (pay-per-click) and social media ads where appropriate.

For example, Google’s “AdWords” is Google’s PPC advertising solution. PPC is a type of paid online advertisement that appears next to similar searches and other places on the web. You only pay for your ad if someone clicks on it to visit your website or contact your practice. Click here to learn how to use PPC ads.

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Looking for even more ways to attract new patients? Download this free tip sheet to discover 14 Ways to Generate More Referrals and Grow Your Business.

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