A patient asking about a visit and a referring office contacting your practice may need different instructions. Your physical therapy website should make each starting point clear.
Explain the services your practice offers. Then connect provider information, referral instructions and visit requests to the office responsible for handling them.
What a physical therapy visitor looks for
Give the service a plain description using the practice's approved scope. Keep the provider details and contact route beside it.
The American Physical Therapy Association's visit preparation guide encourages patients to prepare questions for their physical therapist. Your page can give those questions a clear route to the practice.
The things the site must show
The services your practice offers
Write the service explanation from information the practice supplies and approves. A visitor should be able to recognize what they can ask the office about.
Keep provider details connected to that explanation. Read the heading, service description and contact instructions together. Each should stay within the work the practice has approved for the page.
Leave decisions about a patient's care with the practice. The website's role is to explain the service and how someone begins a conversation.
Referral instructions with an office contact
Use the referral instructions your practice provides. Make them easy to find from the service page, with a clear way for referring offices to contact you.
Answer the referral questions your office has approved. Keep those answers tied to your own process so the website does not leave visitors interpreting general guidance.
Compare the instructions with what the receiving office needs. A clear heading is useful only when the details beneath it explain how to make contact.
A visit request a patient can understand
Ask for the information your practice needs to receive a visit request. Give patients a way to contact the office when they have questions about the instructions.
Keep the phone number readable beside the request. The button and the message after submission should describe the same action.
Check that the appointment wording matches the practice's process. A request should not appear to confirm arrangements the office has not made.
The mistake to check for
Look for referral instructions that have become the only explanation of how to contact the practice. A patient reading the service page still needs a clear way to ask about a visit.
Follow the patient route and the referring office route separately. Check the headings, questions and destination against the practice's approved instructions.
What that gap can cost you
Unclear contact instructions can leave patients unsure where their question belongs. Referring offices may also have to ask for information the page was meant to explain.
Clear directions give each conversation a useful beginning while keeping the clinical decisions with the practice.
The next step
Open a physical therapy service page on your phone. Find the visit request and referral instructions, then compare them with the office process.
Related: Physical therapy websites
If you want an outside look at how patients and referring offices reach your practice, start with the free check.