Recovery Room - NZ

While Xero takes care of the financial side of things and the Gensolve practice management suite does a great job of handling day to day operations, owner of popular Dunedin (NZ) physiotherapy clinic Recovery Room, Matt Carrington, realised there was an information gap. Just how was his company performing day to day, month to month?

With the introduction of ‘reporting for the small business’ Reportabl. to his information systems, Carrington today enjoys instant access to all the metrics tracking performance, profitability and more from a single dashboard, contributing to improved management and even helping his therapists structure their days and work/life balance better.Located on Dunedin’s Crawford Street, Recovery Room Physiotherapy & Performance  is a musculoskeletal physiotherapy private practice treating active people who have sustained injuries and are looking to get back into their sport. With between 8 and 10 practitioners working out of facilities which include a rehabilitation gym, Recovery Room is widely recognised as a leading regional provider of quality physiotherapy services including body work, dry needling/acupuncture, massage and muscle release therapy, exercise therapy, return to sport rehabilitation, and movement analysis. Recovery Room provides physiotherapy to organisations including the DRFC Sharks, Otago Boys High School, Otago Gold Rush, the Otago Nuggets, the Otago Touch Association, and the University of Otago Rugby team.

Situation

Accomplished physiotherapist Carrington says Recovery Room has long used the popular Gensolve practice management suite, while also relying on Xero for the accounting side of things. “We once ran the reporting from Gensolve, but it was hard to get a complete view of all the metrics that mattered to me in one place,” he says.

With financial information in a different system, gaining insights on the metrics that really matter was further complicated, Carrington adds. “The information that is important…well, the big ones are things like revenue generated per therapist, overall revenue generated monthly for the clinic, and average number of appointments per therapist per month and total appointments per month. This information gives a good idea about how many people are coming into the clinic, and it affects planning and how many therapists we need on duty. This is really the stuff we need to keep a close eye on the business so we’re doing the best we can.”

Solution

While New Zealand is famous for its ‘two degrees of separation’, it still came as a minor surprise that a Dunedin company had developed ‘just the thing’ Carrington needed for better reporting. While not actively looking for a solution, word of mouth brought enterprise business intelligence specialist Flock Consulting to his attention and the revelation that it had developed Reportabl. for businesses just like his own. Intrigued, he sought more information and quickly realised Reportabl. could provide the insights and information he wanted for more precision in his practice. With pricing starting at just $99 a month, there was no barrier to giving it a go, either.

“Now I’m good at physiotherapy but a real beginner at IT,” laughs Carrington, “And even so, signing up and setting up is ridiculously easy. You just provide API access to your Gensolve and Xero so Reportabl. can access the data at the back end, and that’s about it. It really isn’t complicated and there’s no hands-on required at all other than providing your logins.”

Reports from Reportabl. are accessible within hours, and provide insights and analysis of Revenue Expenses, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, GST, Executive Summary, Profit and Loss, and Budget versus Actual. Specific to practice management, additional reports include Appointments, Revenue, Retention, Did Not Attend, Cancellations, Productivity, and Clinician and Patient Analysis.

Results

Better information where and when required means better decision-making, says Carrington. “The big thing is decisions aren’t made on gut feel or the most recent events on the day or in the week. With Reportabl. it is easy to go back and analyse what’s happening in longer periods, tracking trends and having the ability to know with certainty.”

As an example (and as a business owner who takes a keen interest in staff wellbeing), he says if someone needs time off ‘here or there’, he can instantly assess their contributions over time and make concessions. “If someone’s been working really hard, I can give them a few hours with no effect on the business – there’s no need for instinct or guesswork.”

And when a therapist wanted a 4-day work week, he had all the information available to assess whether a 32-hour structure or 40-hour would work best for the individual’s preferred work/life balance. “The revenue reports immediately showed the options available to the clinician; Reportabl. helped show that in a 32-hour week, she was performing at the same level as 40, so we went with that option.”

With Reportabl. Carrington says the charts and dashboarding is simple and rapid, with all key metrics presented in an easily understood format. “In a glance I can see how we’ve gone month on month. I can see trends across the year, so we know when to take holidays and when we need all hands on deck. And the information is there to recognise individual contributions and to see if my staff are OK and following key actions that help make Recovery Room what it is.”

He has no hesitation recommending Reportabl. “The reports give a concrete place from which to start leading your team well, making better up to date decisions with more accurate information. And the best IT stuff should just work – and this really does.”