Be an Educated Physical Therapy Practice Buyer

​I meet physical therapists each year who are looking to buy an existing physical therapy practice.  Of those, I would estimate that 30% have done any research on what is involved in buying a practice. Of those 30%, none of them know the beginning to end process of buying a physical therapy practice.  While I can’t cover all the steps in this article, I can give you some guidance on where to start and what steps to take before buying a practice.
 
The very first recommendation I have is that you should be at least 2 years out of school.  I have seen physical therapists buy a practice right out of school, but I’ve seen the majority of them struggle for two years until they finally figured things out.  Now that I’ve got that out of the way, here are your steps:
 

1.  Contact a bank that finances physical therapy practice acquisitions and make sure you can qualify for a good loan.  Banks now require decent credit scores, cash in the bank, and in some cases a current associateship.  Try to avoid SBA loans if you can as they can be expensive with early payment penalties.
2. The next step is to understand a little bit about physical therapy practice valuations.  You don’t want to go into a sale not knowing if the practice is worth the price listed or not.  A “rule of thumb” is that a practice is typically worth between 65% and 75% of its’ last 12 months production.  Remember, that’s a rule of thumb.  I’ve seen practices go for as high as 110% of production and as low as 50% of production.  For a book on physical therapy Practice Valuations, contact me and I’ll send it to you.
3. Think about where you want to practice.  You’re probably going to be there a while, so you might as well like the area.   Also, research demographics.  There are excellent demographic sites that sell great physical therapy demographic information for about $500.  It will tell you where the best locations to practice are.
4. Put together a good team.  Get referrals for a good physical therapy attorney, a good physical therapy broker and a good accountant.  They’ll help you analyze the Physical therapy practice, do the legal work and help you find a practice.
5. Study up on practice management and physical therapy financial ratios.  You should know that lab fees should not be any higher than 10% of the practice production.  Or, that staff expense should be 20% to 25% of production.  Be an informed buyer.
6. Be prepared for your due diligence.  You need to know what to look for when you do get to the point of buying a physical therapy practice.  Is it an older physical therapist selling that hasn’t done much treatment in the last 5 years?  (buyer beware) or Is it a conveyor belt physical therapist that has done very spec of physical therapy medicine, and then some, on all the patients, so there’s none left for you.  Know how to spot these things.
7. Finally, spend some time with a physical therapy broker before you go look at the practice.  Understand what the practice you are looking at is all about.  Does the broker think it’s honestly a good practice?  Why?  Once you’re comfortable with the numbers, then go take a look at the practice.

By being an informed buyer, you will avoid a lot of headaches and potential problems down the road.  There are practices that are gold mines and practices that you should not touch.  Being educated and knowing the difference is critical in your physical therapy practice acquisition success.