Physical therapy firm Pivot continues rapid growth in Md., region

By Morgan Eichensehr | Read online at BizJournals.com/Baltimore [btx_image image_id=”2556″ link=”/” position=”right”][/btx_image]

Pivot Health Solutions is looking to keep up a pace of adding about 30 new locations to its inventory of physical therapy clinics per year, armed with growing brand recognition and an aggressive merger and acquisition strategy.

The Towson company specializes in both physical therapy and occupational health, serving clients ranging from college athletes who require treatment after a concussion event, to people who were injured on the job and are trying to get back to work.

CEO Harris Thompson said by the end of 2018, Pivot will have opened more than 30 new locations this year, with plans to open at least 30 more next year. The locations are concentrated among Maryland — there are 67 locations in-state — Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. He said Pivot locations currently log about 2 million patient visits per year.

The company was founded in 2000, and Thompson said in the past five years alone, Pivot has grown from about 50 locations and 350 employees, to more than 300 locations and 2,500 employees. Revenue growth was not disclosed.

“We’re very proud of our growth, and I think it shows what we’re doing is resonating with the market,” Thompson said. “As long as there’ growing demand, we want to keep growing to meet it.”

As part of its growth strategy, Pivot has made about 30 acquisitions in the past several years of other outpatient physical therapy and occupational health care providers throughout the region. It has acquired ProCare Physical Therapy, Dynamic Physical Therapy, Tidewater Physical Therapy, WorkPro Occupational & Employee Health and Onsite Innovations, among others.

Thompson said in many cases, it is mutually beneficial for Pivot and other therapy companies already in the market to merge. It helps smaller businesses in the market gain more traction with the backing of a larger firm, he said, and allows Pivot to enter a new market by absorbing an operation-ready business that already has a local presence and client base.

Pivot also provides on-site occupational health services for larger firms, at distribution and manufacturing sites, as well as on-site athletic training services for collegiate and high school athletic teams, including at St. Mary’s College, Wilmington University, and several public schools in Carroll and Howard counties.

Thompson said he hopes to continue substantial growth in region market, but doesn’t haven’t plans to expand westward yet.

“We want to stay pretty concentrated and be first-in-class in the markets we are already in,” he said. “If we do choose to expand our footprint at some point, we’d want to wait until we can do it at same level and scale as our previous markets.”

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