Starting a physical therapy practice comes down to five things: get licensed and set up the legal entity, decide cash-based versus insurance-based, secure a space and equipment, credential with payers if you're billing insurance, and line up your first patients. Budget $15,000–$40,000 for a small cash or mobile practice and $50,000–$150,000+ for a full clinic. Here's the practical sequence, with the credentialing trap most new owners hit.
We build websites and marketing for PT clinics, so we'll be honest about the one part we help with — getting found by patients — and equally honest that you don't need us on day one. Get licensed first.
Active state PT license, an LLC or professional corporation, an NPI number, an EIN, malpractice insurance, and a local business license. This is the non-negotiable foundation, and it's where to spend your first weeks.
Cash-based avoids payer headaches and starts faster but needs you to sell value directly. Insurance-based reaches more patients but means credentialing and billing overhead. Many new clinics start cash or hybrid and add payers as volume justifies the work.
A lease, treatment tables, modalities, exercise equipment, and an EMR like WebPT or Prompt. A mobile or in-home model skips the lease entirely and is the cheapest way in.
Enrolling with Medicare and commercial insurers takes 90 to 180 days. Begin the moment your entity exists. New owners routinely lose months of revenue because they waited to start credentialing until the doors were ready.
Physician referrals, a complete Google Business Profile, reviews, and a website that ranks for "physical therapy near me" and your specialties. Direct-access patient marketing grows more important every year. This is where we come in — but not until the four steps above are done.
A realistic first-year outlay for a small leased clinic:
The runway line matters most: insurance reimbursements lag weeks behind treatment, so you fund payroll and rent before the money lands. Under-budgeting here sinks more new clinics than anything else.
We'd rather you spend your startup cash where it counts. Hold off on hiring a marketing partner if:
We don't post stock testimonials. On a 15-minute call we screen-share the real dashboards behind our own businesses — live leads, rankings, and the exact page that produced each one. See the proof →
Once you're licensed and credentialed, we build the site that ranks and the lead capture that books the eval — from $249/mo, month-to-month, free demo in 48 hours, and you own it all. Read physical therapy website design, physical therapy SEO, PT marketing, or the start-a-business hub.
Send your practice name and city — we'll confirm your market is open and build a working demo within 48 hours. Free, no card, no commitment.
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