The future of physical therapy with 3 Providence clinics set to close in January

Providence St. Peter’s Hospital will close three outpatient Physical Therapy (PT) clinics in mid-January: Chehalis, Tumwater Valley and Sleater Kinney.

This change impacts many patients, 55 therapists, and the referral patterns of area physicians.  I will share insight gleaned from interviews with three key players to inform and assist readers in navigating the upcoming changes.  

Providence chief executive 

For Darin Goss, Chief Executive of South Puget Sound Providence Swedish, making this decision was agonizing. It was particularly difficult to inform the excellent therapists that they would be losing their jobs.

To Providence’s credit, they gave staff three months head’s up, human sesources’ assistance with job opportunities and a severance package. The inpatient therapy and rehabilitation units will continue as essential hospital services.  

Goss shared that the local organization must prioritize St. Peter’s Hospital services. It needs to focus on capital improvements in the operating room and emergency department, plus more robustly support cancer care and obstetrics and gynecology.

The hospital maintains a commitment to the following services despite operating at a financial loss: sexual assault support, mental health and chemical dependency, mobile outreach and primary care. Primary care is a strategic priority for the hospital to grow.  

Goss believes that community PT clinics are better prepared to provide therapy services. Patients seen in the clinics received a letter notifying them of the closure along with a comprehensive list of therapy clinics in the tri-county area, which includes 29 in Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater alone.  

Olympia Orthopedics weighs in

Ben R. Shah, CEO of Olympia Orthopedics and Dr. Chris Henderson, DPT Therapy Clinic Director, spoke to me in their Eastside Clinic (one of their two, the other located in their Westside Clinic) about the impact of this change on services.  

First, they shared that access to PT in our county is tight. Their therapy clinics treat only "Oly Ortho" patients and can accommodate but a fraction of the 120-plus daily therapy referrals from their doctors. They robustly refer out and will feel the crunch on both fronts.  

Second, they see this change as an opportunity to expand services, though currently they are confined by staffing and space. Hiring therapists in the Olympia area has been historically difficult. One cause is a shortage of PTs in the Pacific Northwest due to limited training programs in our area.

Henderson, a clinical instructor and faculty member at Eastern Washington University, is happy that four new therapy training schools are starting up. Despite education delays (it takes time to educate these highly skilled specialists in the musculoskeletal system), this will increase the supply of therapists as graduates typically stay close to their training location.

For now, their hope with the Providence therapists' availability is to reduce their dependence on traveling therapists who garner steep salaries. So far, they have hired a few of the Providence therapists to balance the needs of their clinics with therapists’ desire to bring along some of their current patients.  

Space is their other issue. Although they have explored expanding into new spaces, so far nothing has met their needs. Their new facility in Hawks Prairie is due to open in May 2026 and will include another therapy site.  

Their PT clinics are not owned by Olympia Orthopedics. They are owned and operated by Integrity Rehabilitation Group (IRG), a division of Upstream Rehabilitation. IRG staffs and operates therapy clinics in physician offices.  Upstream, the parent company, manages 1,200-plus clinics in 28 states and is owned by three private equity investors. The local therapists are employed by IRG.  

Inspire Physical Therapy co-owner adds his perspective 

Sean Sipe, DPT is co-owner of four Inspire Physical and Hand Therapy clinics, one each in Lacey and Tumwater plus two in Yelm. He has already seen an uptick in phone calls from patients since Providence’s announcement.

His clinics can accommodate some of those patients, plus an additional physical therapist at each site. Though he has interviewed several Providence therapists, none have signed on to date.  

He says the need for physical therapy services is at an all-time high with baby boomers aging and valuing the importance of staying fit. He sees this increased need persisting for at least a decade.  

Staffing remains a bottleneck for his clinic and others. With the loss of therapists since the COVID-19 pandemic, many local clinics have been using travelers. Even before the pandemic, there has been a shortage of PTs for years.

Sipe agrees that the additional schools will help, though the high cost of training has been a deterrent and burdensome to new therapists.

My niece covered the cost of her physical therapy education by enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, for instance. Educational debt drives employment choices, as it does for physicians, not always to the benefit of patients or private clinics.

That said, Sipe feels the upcoming change and higher demand will offer opportunities for therapists. With the closing of Providence PT clinics, therapy will be less siloed and patients will have more options. 

Corporatization is happening strongly in rehabilitation therapy, as in all aspects of health care. Only four local PT organizations are privately owned: Inspire Physical, Proactive, Olympia Rehabilitation and Industrial PT, and Steamboat PT.

The others have sold out to larger national corporations. Patients have the right to ask about ownership and choose therapy based on their values, though choice may be tight in the short run.  

Sipe is optimistic that the current rehabilitation clinics can accommodate this change, Providence staff will be absorbed and when the dust settles, we will be OK. Until then, he foresees some interruption of care and longer wait times.  

My two cents  

The pendulum is swinging away from health care colonization. Fifty years ago, hospitals thought it was in their best interest to "consolidate horizontally and vertical" by buying up physician offices and physical therapy clinics.  

Now that this is no longer profitable, divestment is happening. Here, St. Peter’s Hospital is turning physical therapy back to the therapists.

The increased availability of physical therapists from Providence will hopefully reduce local dependence on traveling PTs, benefiting the viability and patient continuity of those clinics.

Most of us do not like change even if it is for the better. Pushback and resistance are common. Goss is feeling it. Existing PT clinics are feeling it. The community is feeling it.  

It will take time for all stakeholders to adjust to the pendulum swing. I applaud hospitals focusing on being the best hospitals, rather than seeking to have their hands in the bigger complex health care pie.  

Hopefully, adjustment will happen quickly. There are many of us seeking care to remain active, as well as to recover from injuries.

Patients and therapists will need to weather loss of continuity, gaps in care and longer waits in the short haul. Physicians will be finding new referral sources for their patients in this transition.  

Advocate for yourself  

• Find a new therapist if you need to continue care. Do it sooner than later.
  

• Ask your doctor to make a new therapy referral if necessary.
  

• Choose your new therapist and clinic according to your values as the clinic and your therapist must be a fit. A trusting relationship will aid compliance and thus your recovery. 
  

• Be patient; this transition will take time.
  

• Bottom line: do your home PT program even if you are losing your therapist. Regular practice and strength-building are required for recovery. 

May your holidays be merry, healthy, injury-free and bright!