NovaCare building up company by building up clients
Chris Zanke and Michelle Kubistek envision a healthy outlook for NovaCare.
Physical therapist Karen Harvey of Peters Township assists Dan CiCio of Canonsburg with his exercises.
NovaCare has been a shining star.
“We represent 25 percent of all physical and occupational therapy services in the United States,” said Chris Zanke, vice president of operations for the Pennsylvania-based company.
NovaCare Rehabilitation has about 1,600 facilities in 46 states and the District of Columbia. They include 87 in Western Pennsylvania, with three more planned to be in operation by the end of March 2017. (A Donegal location is the only one of the three approved thus far.)
The company, part of Select Medical Holdings Corp., has been growing through acquisitions over the past 20 years, Zanke said. Some clinics have retained their previous names because of strong local identities, but are under the NovaCare umbrella.
Now NovaCare has a bigger umbrella – and power base. In February, Select Medical purchased Physiotherapy Associates and its Keystone Physical Therapy facilities for more than $400 million, and rebranded Keystone into NovaCare. It was a merger of longtime PT/OT rivals into, what should become, a more formidable entity.
“We took two reputable companies that should be a lot stronger together, and the main beneficiaries will be the public,” said Michelle Kubistek, regional director of clinical operations.
Kubistek was a soccer star at Peters Township High School years ago, when she was Michelle Guna. She is now a physical therapist and regional director who likes to kick around the idea that NovaCare offers individuals a local alternative to traditional health-care giants UPMC and Allegheny Health Network.
NovaCare is, according to Zanke, the largest provider of OT and PT in Western Pennsylvania.
The company has a significant presence in Washington County, with six locations: two each in Washington and Peters, and one each in Bentleyville and Monongahela. The Charleroi location closed because of mold issues, but clients there generally go to NovaCare in Bentleyville or the Belle Vernon, Westmoreland County.
There also is a facility on East High Street in Waynesburg, and one in Uniontown.
Being an independent rehabilitation company, not tied to a health system, presents challenges, Zanke said.
“We have to survive on customer service and clinical service,” he said. “We have to search for business. We don’t have things handed to us.”
Kubistek, of Peters, and Zanke, a North Strabane resident, met with a reporter at one of the Waterdam Road locations last week. During a mini-tour, they met a client, Dan DiCio of Canonsburg, exercising under the auspices of physical therapist Karen Harvey, also of Peters. He likes the place.
“It’s a terrific operation, I can tell you,” DiCio said.
Though Keystone has a new name, Zanke assures clients of those facilities that “nothing changes with therapists.”
NovaCare also provides athletic training services in 22 regional school districts. Locally, they are Bentworth, Bethlehem-Center, California, McGuffey, Monessen and Southeastern Greene.
There was a time, of course, when physical and occupational therapy services were not as prevalent, not utilized as often. “Fifteen or 20 years ago, physical therapy was not voodoo and not mainstream,” Zanke said. “Today, going to physical therapy is like going to a dentist.”
His company offers Direct Access, services that don’t require a physician referral for certain insurances for up to 30 days. It also provides extended hours – early-morning and evening – to accommodate clients and their work schedules.
“We have to adapt,” Zanke said. “Every clinic is different.”
“The advantage of NovaCare,” Kubistek said, “is it’s a national company, but it is locally driven.”
Although NovaCare’s footprint isn’t quite King Kong-sized, it is getting there. Kubistek and Zanke are pleased with what the Keystone acquisition has wrought, and what may still be ahead.
“We’re in a growth mode,” Zanke said.