Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Velsmid.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Few people know that I am an Eagle Scout, but that early experience and leadership training has shaped my life. I spent too many years searching for a noble profession that allowed me to serve others and lead.
After 7 years in college and graduate school at the University of MA, I found that path and earned acceptance into a physical therapy program at Simmons College. With a Veteran’s Administration academic scholarship paying my way, I served in my first job as a physical therapist at the VA hospital in Jamaica Plain.
Four years later, I started a small one location physical therapy clinic in Allston at 556 Cambridge Street in 1999. In that tiny little office with 400 square feet, seven-foot ceilings, in a basement, with no windows, I established a reputation among referring physicians and patients to provide outstanding customer service and outcomes. I also developed expertise in aquatic rehabilitation with my community partners at the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA.
In less than two years, the demand exceeded my capacity, so I opened two additional offices, one in Watertown and the other in Somerville, to reach more people around Boston. In 2001, we became Boston Sports Medicine with three locations and several employees built on a solid pillar of customer satisfaction. Our customers were the patient, the referring doctors, and the insurance companies. As the practice grew, we realized that we had a fourth customer and needed to add another pillar of support to our business. That was the employee and the pillar of employee satisfaction.
Our brand gained strength and our reputation for outstanding care from loyal, happy and committed employees, became known and more visible. We continued to add staff who built upon the diversity of care and attention to our clients. We needed to add additional offices to serve the high demand for physical therapy services. In 2007, we built our aquatic therapy center in Allston at enormous expense and risk to increase patient access to that incredibly effective therapy. We built it and they came, just as stated in “Field of Dreams.”
In 2015, we added our Fenway office in the heart of Boston and made our first venture out of the metro Boston area to Marblehead. Since I started practicing as a physical therapist, my staff and I have helped enough people to fill the Boston Garden twice. We look forward to continued expansion and the duty to do our best to help other people at all times.
Has it been a smooth road?
No, in order to succeed in this business, you must be an expert or seek the expertise in three businesses. One is patient care. You need to be at the top. A great physical therapist not only has the credentials (doctorate degree, state license, and insurance credentials) and knows their trade, but is able to realize that they are a service provider and they must serve and satisfy a customer. Not all healthcare providers are able to think from that perspective.
The other business is billing and collections. Our customers do not pay at the time that service is provided. Compensation for services rendered often comes from more than one party. You need to be extremely proficient in collecting the payment due for services rendered.
The third business is marketing and promotion. You can be the best at what you do, but if nobody knows you exist, you will not be able to help those who need you.
Aside from that, running a business with so many employees, locations, and such demand requires extreme organization, discipline, and foresight. There are serious financial considerations and consequences to decisions. This is not part of physical therapy academic preparation.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We provide a diverse array of physical therapy care that includes: sports injury rehabilitation, post-surgical rehabilitation, recovering from work injuries, rehabilitation of injured dancers, recovery from accidents, aquatic therapy, women’s health, and adolescents with injuries. We work with active people of all ages.
I am most proud of the letters and reviews we receive from our patients, thanking us for our help in achieving their goals, returning them to the things they love, restoring their quality of life, and freeing them from pain and lost mobility.
What sets us apart is that our company is entirely built on two pillars, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. Those two pillars have the strength to carry anything that you can pile on top of it.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The city is a very difficult place for a new physical therapy business to start. The costs of rent and real estate and the wages demand that a high volume is achieved very quickly before you are consumed by expenses. The contracted rates of insurance carriers are very low and do not allow for excess funds to fuel rapid growth to address demand.
The regulations appropriately set a high standard for physical therapy facilities that require establishment in a sanitary, code compliant, and safe environment. There is no inexpensive place that meets those requirements in the city. The city may be able to provide some incentives to landlords or tenants to support the private physical therapy practitioner.
Contact Info:
- Address: 54 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA 02445
Braintree Street Allston, MA 02134 - Website: www.bostonsportsmed.com
- Phone: 800-346-9153, 617-787-8700
- Email: info@bostonsportsmed.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bostonsportsmed/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BostonSportsMed
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/boston-sports-medicine-boston-6
- Other: https://www.yelp.com/biz/boston-sports-medicine-boston-3
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
