Patient Care in the Digital Age: How Summit Physical Therapy uses MoveHealth

Objective testing has become a major player in modern rehabilitation practice, but collecting data is only useful if the results can be communicated effectively. When supported by digital health, those results can be easily shared and understood by the therapist, physician and patient, supporting aligned care and better outcomes.

As practitioners, we know how to deliver a quality service with minimal equipment or technology. However, integrating ForceDecks and DynaMo into our practice has been one of our most valuable clinical and business decisions.

Objective measurement has integrated naturally into our existing workflows, providing meaningful data to support clinical decision-making while giving patients a clear way to see and track their progress over time. This visibility has strengthened patient engagement and buy-in, while supporting our business in several ways, including:

• Greater patient retention and visit numbers
• Improved communication with referring providers
• Better adherence to existing home exercise program (HEP) workflows

Additionally, platforms such as MoveHealth give our practitioners, patients and physicians access to the same information in a format that is easy to understand and use.

Simple Technology Gets Used

Technology and personalized biometric data have become incredibly popular among the active adults we commonly see. Activity trackers and sleep scores are being shown to our therapists daily as objective indicators of changes in patient capacity. As a small business, it is our duty to meet our patients’ expectations with similar and equally powerful insights from the data we collect.

Testing and data delivery have become seamless in our practice. Simple assessments of strength, power and stability on systems like ForceDecks or DynaMo are already integrated into our daily treatments and evaluations. Practitioners can set up tests from their phone, and data is automatically sent to our patients through the MoveHealth app.

…our therapists typically see 12 to 16 patients each day, so any technology we use must fit within a fast-paced clinical environment.

As an in-network physical therapy practice, our therapists typically see 12 to 16 patients each day, so any technology we use must fit within a fast-paced clinical environment. Most of our testing and result sharing happens directly from each practitioner's phone, with VALD Hub available when we need more detailed analysis. That flexibility has made objective testing practical enough to use routinely across our clinic rather than only for complex cases.

MoveHealth Becomes a Patient’s Digital Health Wallet

The biggest impact technology has had in our practice actually occurs outside the clinic. We think of MoveHealth as a digital health wallet for a patient’s physical performance.

We think of MoveHealth as a digital health wallet for a patient’s physical performance.

As an in-network organization, we are constantly trying to improve our reputation and how we present to referring providers. By giving patients simple data in a user-friendly format, they can show up to doctor’s appointments and checkups with their testing data in hand. Not only does this help our business present itself as a professional organization, but it also helps patients advocate for themselves by showing areas where they are improving and areas where they still need assistance.

As practitioners, we are all busy, and we know that reading every progress note is unrealistic for a physician to fit into their daily routine. Having a patient show their doctor their progress through simple visualizations of objective data is one of the best ways we have to improve our reputation in our area. Using patient-facing apps such as MoveHealth has been great for referrals and word of mouth.

Better Patient Engagement Through Objective Progress

Every practitioner has experienced the patient who says they feel better and wonders whether they still need therapy. At the same time, we have all seen patients who feel like they are making no progress despite significant improvements occurring beneath the surface. Objective testing and data delivery have helped us retain patients on both ends of the spectrum.

Objective testing gives patients a clear picture of how they are progressing beyond changes in pain alone. Improvements in strength, asymmetry and performance create meaningful milestones throughout rehabilitation and help patients understand where they are in the recovery process.

Objective testing gives patients a clear picture of how they are progressing beyond changes in pain alone.

We have found that many patients continue rehabilitation after their symptoms improve because they can see objective deficits that still need addressing. Rather than focusing solely on pain resolution, conversations shift toward restoring physical capacity and helping patients return with greater confidence. This can support patient retention, increase visit numbers and ultimately contribute to the bottom line.

Technology as Part of the Patient Experience

Objective testing has become part of the experience our patients expect from our clinic. Platforms like VALD Hub and MoveHealth have helped strengthen communication with patients and referring providers while reinforcing the objective, data-driven approach that differentiates our practice.

That accessibility has changed how our clinic communicates. Patients leave with a clear understanding of their progress, referring providers receive objective information in an easy-to-interpret format and the technology becomes part of the overall patient experience rather than something that stays within the medical record.

As an in-network, higher-volume practice, that has become a genuine point of difference. The ability to perform objective testing efficiently, review results from a phone and give patients a digital record of their rehabilitation reinforces the quality of care we provide while helping establish our clinic as a trusted destination for rehabilitation.

To learn more about how MoveHealth can help you share objective data with patients, improve engagement and strengthen communication with referring providers, get in touch with our team.