Behind the Business: Elliott Physical Therapy
Every local organization has a story — and we’re here to tell it. In this edition of Behind the Business, we caught up with Darryl and Patti Elliott, co-founders of Elliott Physical Therapy, to talk about how it all began, the lessons learned along the way, and what keeps them inspired to serve the South Shore community.
What inspired you to start your business?
In 2014, we saw the “Mom & Pop” physical therapy landscape changing. We wanted to stay autonomous and create a unique physical therapy experience that reflected our values.
How would you describe your business to someone new?
Elliott Physical Therapy is a privately-owned, outpatient physical therapy business located in nine communities in Boston and south of Boston.
What has been your biggest challenge as business owners?
Staying competitive with salaries to attract the very best talent to our company with flat or declining health insurance reimbursement. We try our very best to support our teams with continuing education, equipment, advances in technology and benefits.
What are you most proud of in your business journey?
The teams or people who work with us. We have very dedicated clinicians and administrators who work tirelessly to meet the movement needs of our communities. They go above and beyond with outreach and education - keeping people moving and active.
How has the local community influenced your business?
We have nine brick-and-mortar locations and five satellite clinics now and though each community is unique, one thing is universal, we all want to preserve our independence as we age. We all have a standard or quality of life that we want to maintain. Whether it's a high school athlete who has pain while running, or a grandparent who wants to lift their grandchild onto a swing we have movement goals and maintaining our strength is critical.
What sets your business apart from others in the area?
At Elliott Physical Therapy we follow clinical research and updates in the medical field. Over the years the research has confirmed that strengthening gets the best outcomes. There are many tools that can make us feel better but they should be used to aid in strengthening weak muscles or injured tissue.
Movement really is the medicine. We also utilize normative testing with our patients, not just subjective feedback, and this helps reduce our re-injury rates. You can start to feel better but completing your prescriptive plan of care is critical to achieve long-lasting results.
Who has helped or mentored you along the way?
We have had many mentors within the profession of physical therapy and outside the industry. Next month we will travel to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Private Practice Section which is our national conference in Orlando. It is great because we are surrounded with physical therapy business owners from around the country who face similar challenges and we get to meet and learn from each other. It's our Super Bowl. We look forward to it every year for the courses, but also for the connections and friendships.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Our day-to-day schedule is primarily comprised of meetings. We follow a system called EOS that was developed by Gino Wickman. It's an acronym for Entrepreneurial Operating System. We use this system to identify challenges and problem-solve solutions. I think the system appeals to us because that is what we would do as therapists.
What trends are you seeing in your industry right now?
There is a lot of consolidation in the industry now. Larger organizations backed by private equity money are acquiring small privately owned clinics. This can be both positive and negative for the industry. We have seen this happen with the pharmacy industry and even primary care so we just want to ensure the quality of care is maintained and autonomy of practice is upheld.
Technology is also improving the patient experience across the field of physical therapy. From AI-assisted intake paperwork which curates personalized questions based on the patients' responses, to clinical note-taking software that allows our PTs to focus 100% on their patient care, rather than their computer - these advancements reduce administrative burden for both the patient and the healthcare team.
One last exciting advancement is Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (or RTM) which allows your physical therapist to monitor your progress daily outside of the clinic walls, which we are able to do via the Elliott PT app. This technology allows your therapist to gamify and monitor your engagement with your home exercise program, answer questions you might have in real time, and hold you accountable so you reach your goals.