Pat Wempe, CEO and physical therapist at ProRehab, might struggle at first to remember a person’s name, but he won’t forget their feet.
The company, aside from general physical and occupational therapy services, provides several specialty programs, like foot orthotics made in ProRehab’s on-site lab. Started in 1999, ProRehab has grown over the years to include 13 locations and two home health divisions in Kentucky and Indiana.
“Physical therapy and occupational therapy in general is still somewhat an unknown piece of the healthcare delivery system to most people, not knowing anything about what we do until they come here by way of an injury,” says Wempe.
For many patients who have something that is not moving properly, it often stops moving properly before it becomes symptomatic. While most patients don’t access physical or occupational therapy services until a physician refers them, Wempe says utilizing ProRehab’s services early can save patients time and money down the road.
In order to make sure they can continue offering specialized services to the community, ProRehab has made changes to the organization of the company, ensuring they can stay competitive and grow. Two years ago, ProRehab combined forces with several other physical therapy companies to form one holding company called Confluent Health, based in Louisville, Kentucky, and which allows the individual operating companies to share resources and services like compliance, continuing education, billing, and accounting to keep overhead costs down.
“We, as a viable company, have to keep making changes to position ourselves so we can keep doing business the way we’re doing it,” says Wempe.
Part of ProRehab’s culture that has remained the same over the years is to stay involved in the day-to-day operations and prioritize patient care, which means Wempe and others like owners Bob Tank, Dan Baumann, and Andrea Baumann, COO and physical therapist, make sure to stay in the trenches with their staff.
“It makes a big difference if we can talk the talk and walk the walk as far as being in there seeing the patients and understanding documentation systems and the nuances of schedules,” says Andrea.
“We didn’t get in the business of physical and occupational therapy to get out of patient care,” says Wempe.
For more information about ProRehab, call 812-476-0409 or visit prorehab-pc.com.
