Ten questions for the first call with a physical therapy clinic owner

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This is a discovery call for an independent physical therapy, chiropractic or specialty clinic. It is ten questions, in the order that works on a first call, and each one is tied to a number in The State of Independent Physical Therapy Websites 2026, our study of 148 independent clinic sites.

The idea behind the order is simple. A clinic's front desk answers the same questions every day: what it costs, whether a referral is needed, which insurance is taken, what the first visit involves. The study found most sites leave those answers out. Only 18% of the sites show a self-pay price for a visit or session, and the average site answers 4.5 of the nine patient questions the study tests.

So the first call is mostly collection. You ask what the clinic tells patients, and you note where each answer belongs on the site.

Before the call#

Open the clinic's site on a phone. Follow only the menu links. For each question below, note whether the site already answers it. Where it does, skip the question or use it to confirm the wording. Where it does not, the question goes on your list.

That check takes a few minutes, and it means the owner hears questions about their own site, not a template.

The ten questions#

1. "What do you charge a patient who pays for a visit themselves?"

The finding: 82% of sites show no self-pay price. It is the least-answered question in the study. Massage, wellness and pelvic-health sites do best at 41%; sports and orthopedic rehab sites do worst at 4%.

What the answer tells you to build: a rate card. The evaluation, a follow-up visit, and any package, each with its price and length. If the owner says the price depends on the case, ask what the front desk quotes when someone calls. That number is the one to publish.

2. "Can a patient in your state book you without seeing a doctor first?"

The finding: 73% of sites never say whether a referral is needed. Sports and orthopedic rehab sites say so most often, at 50%. Chiropractic sites say so least, at 13%.

What the answer tells you to build: one sentence on the home page and the new-patient page, and a line on any plan that still asks for a referral. Ask the owner to confirm the wording. The study does not judge whether a statement is correct for a state or a plan, and neither should you.

3. "Which insurance plans are you in network with, or are you out of network?"

The finding: 61% of sites name no plan and do not say the clinic is out of network. "We accept most major insurance" does not count in the study, because a patient with a specific card still has to call.

What the answer tells you to build: an insurance page with every plan named, or a plain out-of-network statement with how patients claim back. Link it from the home page.

4. "What happens at the first visit, and how long does it take?"

The finding: 68% of sites do not describe the first visit by its length or what it involves. Outpatient physical therapy sites are the weakest here: 22% describe it.

What the answer tells you to build: a first-visit page. How long the evaluation takes, what happens in it, what to wear and what to bring.

5. "Who sees new patients, and what are their credentials?"

The finding: 33% of sites name no clinician with a credential. Chiropractic sites miss most often: 55% name one, against 83% of outpatient physical therapy sites.

What the answer tells you to build: a team page. Each clinician with a photo, a name, the letters after it (DPT, DC, OCS, LMT) and what they treat.

6. "What hours do you keep, including any early or late sessions?"

The finding: 37% of sites do not show a street address together with opening hours. Specialty clinics miss most often: 44% show both.

What the answer tells you to build: the street address and the hours in the footer of every page, and on the contact page, with the early and late sessions named.

7. "Which scheduling system do you use, and can a new patient book in it?"

The finding: 75% of sites let a patient book or request a visit online. Outpatient physical therapy sites trail at 61%.

What the answer tells you to build: if there is a scheduler, a booking button in the header of every page that opens it. If new patients cannot book in it, an appointment request form instead.

8. "Which problems bring most of your new patients in?"

The finding: this is the best-answered question. 84% of sites name three or more conditions they treat.

What the answer tells you to build: most clinics already list conditions, so this is about depth. Take the three or four the owner names and give each its own page, with what treatment involves and how many visits it usually takes, in the clinic's own words.

9. "Where do your patient reviews live now?"

The finding: 55% of sites show no reviews: none marked up, no review widget and fewer than two quoted testimonials.

What the answer tells you to build: a review widget from the profile the clinic already has, marked up for search engines, near the booking button.

10. "Who built the site, and when did it last change?"

The finding: 91% of sites fail the phone load-time check, 80% fail text contrast, and 78% have no structured data describing the clinic.

What the answer tells you to build: this decides fix or rebuild. A recent site on a sound theme gets a speed and contrast pass and Physiotherapy or MedicalBusiness structured data. An old one that also fails questions 1 to 4 is a rebuild, and the answers you have just collected are its content.

What to send after the call#

Send one page, the same day. List each question the site misses, the answer the owner gave, and where it goes on the site. Mark the two quick fixes the report names (the referral line and the structured data) and the content jobs (the rate card, the first-visit page, the team page).

If the owner did not give a self-pay price, send them the gap in their own terms: the rate card has blanks only they can fill, and it is the question the study found least answered. Do not publish a draft with blanks in it.

The rules behind each finding, and the wording that passed and failed, are in our method note on referral, insurance and price. For a different kind of first conversation, see the talk track for an independent repair shop, which works one objection at a time.

Go to the findingsGet the data