| If you want to advance your physical practice, you need information about how your own practice compares to other practices (PP 07/2016, page 13 f.). Against this background, the tax consulting company ETL ADVISION and the publishing house for prevention & health GmbH have published a key data study (see further information). Unsurprisingly, the study is a reflection of the entire healthcare system. There is still room for improvement when it comes to digitization. |
Classification of the study compared to similar publications
Unlike in the WIdO report (PP 03/2023, page 3 ff.) or in the BARMER remedy report (PP 04/2023, page 3 ff.) the key data study is not interested in the prescription for therapeutic products, but in the economic situation of physiopractices. The study does not use any health database from statutory health insurance, but is based on interviews with physiotherapeutic institutions. However, she does not provide any information on the number of interviewees, the period of investigation and the method of evaluation. The figures should therefore be interpreted with caution. Since the facilities surveyed are not further differentiated (e.g. according to medical practices, rehabilitation centers or hospitals), the term “practices” is used below for the sake of simplicity – as far as information from the respondents is concerned.
Physiotherapeutic practices in Germany
Since the number of physiotherapeutic facilities in Germany is not recorded centrally, there is different information on this: the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds lists 40,113 facilities, the professional association for health and welfare 49,405 (each as of April 30, 2022). The WIdO report 2021 mentions a number of 42,671 institutions (PP 03/2023, page 3 ff.)
According to the Federal Statistical Office, 200,000 physiotherapists were employed nationwide in 2021, 166,000 of whom were subject to social security contributions and 34,000 marginally.
87.2 percent of the practices surveyed are sole proprietorships (e.g. freelancers), 11.8 percent partnerships (e.g. GbR) and 1 percent corporations (e.g. GmbH). 70 percent of the practices surveyed were founded after 2000, and the practices have been in the market for an average of 17.4 years.
practice rooms
A good third of the practice rooms (37.4 percent) are owned by the practice owner, almost two thirds (62.6 percent) are rented. The average rent is 8.63 euros/sqm, with an average area of a physiotherapy practice of 152.4 sqm, this results in rent excluding bills of 1,315 euros/month.
self-pay offer
69.6 percent of the practices surveyed offer self-pay services in addition to prescribed medical treatments.
An average of 41.3 members trained in the facilities with a training therapy area, 33.8 of whom paid for themselves (82 percent). The average monthly fee was 36.65 euros (price range 19 to 65 euros).
opening hours
The practices surveyed are open an average of 4.9 days per week. 60 percent of them are only open all day, 1.1 percent only half-day and 38.9 percent all-day and half-day, no practice has opening hours around the clock (“24/7”). The average opening time is 47.8 hours per week. It usually opens between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., and usually closes between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. 48 percent of those surveyed only have opening hours by appointment.
practice team
1 to 20 employees work in the practices surveyed, an average of 5.6 people, of whom 26.8 percent are men and 73.2 percent are women. 8.6 percent of the practices are one-person businesses, around two thirds (65.2 percent) of the practices employ 3 to 20 people. The proportion of employees with an academic degree is 4.6 percent. The starting salaries are between 1,500 and 3,700 euros gross (average: 2,606 euros gross).
57.6 of the practices surveyed still have vacancies, and they lack an average of 1.3 skilled workers. The most common methods for recruiting are the Internet (51.4 percent), print media (47.6 percent), word of mouth (32.0 percent), job centers (30.6 percent) and Facebook (18.4 percent). The respondents used two search media on average.
In order to retain skilled workers, 87.8 percent of those surveyed offer their employees further training opportunities, followed by vouchers (51.3 percent), old-age provision (50.9 percent), discounts on food/drinks (38.7 percent) and Holiday and Christmas bonuses (36.0 percent).
turnover and investments
29 percent of those surveyed commented on the amount of their annual turnover: 68.5 percent of them generated up to 250,000 euros, 31.5 percent between 250,000 euros and 1 million euros in sales per year. The average annual turnover is 241,844 euros, the average turnover per employee is 43,186 euros.
Half (50.6 percent) of those surveyed will have made investments in their practice in 2022. The investments had an average value of 17,807 euros. A projection of the planned investments for 2023 gives the following picture:
81 percent of those surveyed commented on the financing of the planned investments: 79.5 percent of them only invest equity, 17.6 percent invest equity with a loan component and 2.6 percent only use a loan.
Facebook & Co.
Among social media, only Facebook (used by 39 percent of respondents), Instagram (27.2 percent) and YouTube (8 percent) are important for physiotherapists.
Software and Billing
Four out of five practices surveyed (81 percent) use practice software. The providers Theorg (23.3 percent), Optica Viva (12.5 percent), Thera Plus (8.7 percent), Starke Praxis (6.3 percent) and iPrax (5.5 percent) are used most frequently. The 19 percent who do not use any software at all are smaller practices with an average of 3.5 employees.
A good 70 percent of the practices delegate billing to a service provider – most frequently to Optica (28.6 percent), Noventi (18.8 percent), opta data (9.0 percent), RZH (4.0 percent) and DZH ( 3.6 percent). 28.6 percent do their own accounting. This practice category has an average of 4.1 employees.
Digitization and TI connection
The practice owners were also asked about the status of digitization in their practice, to be rated on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very high). Most frequently (40.8 percent) the value 3 (average) was given, the mean is 3.03.
- Practices most frequently obtain information about digitization from associations (72.7 percent of those surveyed), the Internet (48.3 percent), specialist magazines (47.3 percent), at trade fairs (34.1 percent) and from clubs (16, 0 percent) and various providers (10.8 percent).
- As far as participation in the Telematics Infrastructure (TI) is concerned,
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- only 3 percent of those surveyed ordered or set up a connection,
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- A good half (54.4 percent) have already obtained information on the subject. Only 7.2 percent of those who have already informed themselves want to connect their practice to the TI by 2024,
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- 42.6 percent of those surveyed do not want a connection. They justify this with a lack of added value for practice (47.9 percent), too high costs (12.4 percent), missing information (10.7 percent) or lack of time (10.1 percent).
- When it comes to further digitization, most practices are rather reluctant: only 29 percent of those surveyed wanted to expand or partially expand their digitization, 61.6 percent do not want that or rather not and 9.4 percent are still undecided.
- Innovative practices want to expand digitization in the following areas: billing (88.3 percent), practice organization (81.4 percent), online appointments (50.3 percent) and video treatments (11 percent).
- Only 4 percent of those surveyed already use video therapy at least occasionally or want to plan it for 2023, the remaining 96 percent justify their attitude with a lack of personnel and time.
Further information
- ETL ADVISION and publishing house for prevention and health GmbH (ed.) Berlin, Willstätt, April 2023. To download the study free of charge, you must first register online at iww.de/s8022 to register. You will then receive an email from ETL ADVISION with a personal download link.
- WIdO report 2022/2023: after the pandemic year, double-digit growth rates for medicinal products (PP 03/2023, page 3 ff.)
- BARMER remedy report 2022 – two exciting things, but also illuminating things about back pain (PP 04/2023, page 3 ff.)