Integrated Home Exercise Programs (HEP): Why Seamless Workflow Beats Separate Logins

If you’re a physical therapist paying $275-500/year for a standalone home exercise program (HEP) platform like MedBridge, Physitrack, or Rehab Guru—on top of your EMR subscription—you’re experiencing one of the most common disconnects in physical therapy technology. You document the patient evaluation in your EMR, switch to a completely separate HEP platform to build their exercise program, email or text the program to the patient through that separate system, then switch back to your EMR to document that you provided home exercise instruction.

That’s at least three different systems (EMR, HEP platform, patient communication) with separate logins, duplicated patient data entry, and disconnected workflows. The result? Wasted time, reduced efficiency, and ultimately lower patient compliance because the exercise program feels disconnected from the rest of their care experience.

The frustration intensifies when you realize that your patients also face fragmented experiences: one login for the patient portal to view their clinical notes and book appointments, a completely different login (often with an access code they lose) for their exercise program. When technology creates friction instead of removing it, patient engagement suffers—and so do clinical outcomes.

The Home Exercise Program Challenge in Physical Therapy

Home exercise programs are foundational to physical therapy treatment. Research consistently shows that patients who complete their prescribed home exercises achieve better outcomes, experience faster recovery, and report higher satisfaction with care. Yet patient compliance with home exercise programs remains frustratingly low—studies suggest only 40-50% of patients consistently perform their prescribed exercises.

Why Patients Don’t Do Their Home Exercises

Forgetting: Life gets busy. Without regular reminders and easy access to their program, patients simply forget to do exercises.

Confusion: When exercise instructions are unclear, technique is uncertain, or dosage is ambiguous, patients skip exercises rather than risk doing them incorrectly.

Lack of engagement: Static printed handouts with stick-figure drawings don’t inspire motivation. Patients need high-quality videos, clear instructions, and progress tracking.

Access barriers: If patients need to find a buried email, remember an access code, or log into yet another website, the friction discourages compliance.

Perceived irrelevance: When home exercises feel disconnected from clinical treatment and goals, patients don’t see the value and deprioritize them.

How HEP Software Addresses These Challenges

Quality home exercise program software solves many compliance barriers:

Professional video demonstrations: High-quality video showing proper form, common mistakes, and modifications eliminates confusion.

Clear written instructions: Detailed descriptions of starting position, movement, dosage (sets, reps, frequency), and what the patient should feel during the exercise.

Accessibility: Mobile apps and web portals allow patients to access their exercises anytime, anywhere—no need to carry printed handouts to the gym.

Progress tracking: Patients can log completed exercises, track adherence, and see their progress over time, increasing motivation.

Automated reminders: Email or push notifications remind patients to do their exercises, reducing the “forgetting” problem.

Customization: Therapists can tailor programs to individual patient needs, goals, and equipment availability.

Patient education: Integrated educational content explaining why each exercise matters increases perceived relevance and motivation.

The Case Against Standalone HEP Platforms

While standalone HEP platforms like MedBridge ($275-325/year), Physitrack ($360-600/year), and Rehab Guru ($300-500/year) offer valuable features, they create workflow inefficiencies and patient experience problems that integrated solutions avoid.

Workflow Friction for Therapists

Multiple logins: Switching between EMR and HEP platform requires logging out/in, password management, and mental context-switching that wastes time and increases cognitive load.

Duplicate data entry: Patient name, diagnosis, goals, and precautions must be entered separately in HEP platform since it’s not connected to your EMR.

Manual documentation: After creating HEP in separate platform, you must return to EMR and document that you provided home exercise instruction—the systems don’t talk to each other.

No visibility in clinical notes: When reviewing a patient’s chart weeks later, you can’t easily see what HEP they were given without logging into the separate HEP platform.

Communication silos: Patient messages about exercise questions come through the HEP platform instead of your primary communication channels, fragmenting patient interactions.

Reporting challenges: Outcome data tracked in HEP platform is separate from clinical outcome measures in EMR, making it difficult to see complete picture of patient progress.

Patient Experience Problems

Multiple logins: Patients need one username/password for your clinic’s patient portal (appointments, billing, clinical notes) and a completely different login for their exercise program. Many patients struggle with this, leading to support calls and frustration.

Access code hassles: Many HEP platforms (like MedBridge GO) require patients to enter unique access codes to view programs. Patients lose these codes, forget where to enter them, or get frustrated and give up.

Disconnected experience: When exercises live on a separate platform from the rest of their care experience, it feels fragmented and impersonal rather than integrated and coordinated.

Confusion about where to go: “Where do I find my exercises? Is it the patient portal? That app with the code? The email you sent me?” When patients don’t know where to look, they often don’t look at all.

No unified communication: If patients have questions about their exercises, they might send messages through the HEP platform app—which you may not check regularly because most of your patient communication happens through your EMR’s patient portal.

Cost Considerations

Subscription expenses: $275-600/year per provider for standalone HEP platforms adds up quickly for multi-therapist practices. A 5-therapist clinic spends $1,375-3,000/year just for HEP functionality.

Time costs: Research on integrated workflows shows that seamless, single-login systems save staff up to 70% of time compared to managing separate platforms. Even if HEP creation takes the same amount of time in both systems, the login-switching, duplicate data entry, and documentation in multiple systems adds 3-5 minutes per patient.

For a therapist seeing 12 patients/day who all receive HEPs, that’s 36-60 minutes per day (3-5 hours per week, 150-250 hours per year) spent on workflow inefficiency rather than patient care.

Hidden costs: IT support for managing multiple credentials, training staff on multiple platforms, troubleshooting when patients can’t access exercises in separate system—these indirect costs are hard to quantify but real.

The “Swiss Army Knife” Problem

Many standalone HEP platforms try to be comprehensive solutions offering:

• CEU/continuing education libraries
• Clinical assessment tools
• Telehealth functionality
• Patient education content libraries
• Practice management features

While this sounds valuable, most practices already have these capabilities elsewhere. You’re paying for MedBridge’s CEU library when you already get CEUs through APTA. You’re paying for their telehealth when your EMR includes video visits. The result is paying for duplicate functionality you don’t need just to access the HEP builder you do need.

The Case for Integrated HEP Solutions

Integrated HEP—where home exercise program functionality is built directly into your EMR—solves the workflow and patient experience problems of standalone platforms.

Seamless Therapist Workflow

Single login: Everything happens within your EMR. No switching between systems, no managing multiple credentials.

Context-aware HEP creation: You’re already in the patient’s chart documenting their evaluation. Click “Create HEP” and the system already knows patient demographics, diagnosis, precautions, and goals—no duplicate entry.

Automatic documentation: HEP creation is automatically documented in the patient’s clinical note. The exercises assigned, dosage prescribed, and patient education provided are all captured without separate documentation step.

Unified patient record: Review a patient’s chart months later and see their complete history including all HEPs assigned, modifications made, and patient compliance data—all in one place.

Integrated communication: Patient questions about exercises come through your normal patient messaging system, not a separate app you need to monitor.

Comprehensive reporting: Combine clinical outcome measures with HEP compliance data to see the complete picture of what’s working. Analyze which exercises correlate with better outcomes.

Frictionless Patient Experience

Single login: Patients use one username/password to access everything: appointments, clinical notes, billing, and their exercise program. One portal for all their care needs.

No access codes: Patients don’t need to find and enter access codes. They log into the patient portal and their current HEP is right there.

Consistent interface: The exercise program looks and feels like the rest of the patient portal, creating a cohesive, professional brand experience.

Unified communication: Questions about exercises? Patients send a message through the same portal they use for scheduling questions—no confusion about where to communicate.

Contextual relevance: When HEP is integrated with clinical notes, patients can see the connection between their evaluation findings, treatment goals, and prescribed exercises, increasing perceived relevance.

Cost Efficiency

Elimination of separate subscription: No $275-600/year per therapist HEP platform fees. Integrated HEP is included in your EMR subscription.

Time savings: The 3-5 minutes per patient saved by eliminating login-switching and duplicate documentation adds up to 150-250 hours per year per therapist—worth $3,750-6,250 in labor cost (at $25/hour).

Reduced IT burden: One platform to support, one set of credentials to manage, one system to train staff on.

Higher patient compliance: When exercises are easier to access and feel integrated with care, compliance improves—leading to better outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and more referrals.

What to Look for in HEP Software: Essential Features

Whether you choose standalone or integrated HEP software, certain features are non-negotiable for quality patient care and efficient workflow.

Exercise Library

Comprehensive content: At minimum, 1,000+ exercises covering:

• Therapeutic exercises (strengthening, stretching, ROM, stability)
• Functional training (ADL simulation, work conditioning, sport-specific)
• Specialty populations (pediatric, geriatric, neuro, sports)
• Equipment variations (bodyweight, resistance bands, weights, balance equipment)

High-quality video: Professional video demonstrations showing:

• Starting position from multiple angles
• Movement execution with proper form
• Common mistakes to avoid
• Modifications for different ability levels
• Equipment setup when applicable

Clear written instructions: Accompanying text describing:

• Purpose of the exercise (what muscle groups, what functional goal)
• Starting position details
• Step-by-step movement instructions
• Dosage (sets, reps, hold time, frequency)
• What the patient should feel (and shouldn’t feel)
• Safety precautions and contraindications

Multilingual support: Spanish as minimum; additional languages depending on your patient population.

Ability to add custom exercises: Some patients need exercises not in any standard library. Can you upload your own videos/photos and instructions?

HEP Builder Workflow

Drag-and-drop interface: Quickly build programs by dragging exercises from library into patient’s program. Should take 2-5 minutes to create a comprehensive HEP.

Template library: Pre-built programs for common conditions (total knee replacement, rotator cuff repair, low back pain, ankle sprain) that can be assigned in seconds and customized as needed.

Customization options:

• Adjust sets, reps, hold time, frequency for each exercise
• Add patient-specific instructions or modifications
• Reorder exercises to match your preferred progression
• Add phases/progressions (e.g., Week 1-2, Week 3-4, Week 5-6)

Clinical decision support: Intelligent suggestions based on diagnosis, impairments, and goals. “Patients with rotator cuff tendinopathy typically benefit from these exercises…”

Quick modifications: Easy to modify existing HEP during follow-up visits—add exercises, remove exercises, adjust dosage—without rebuilding from scratch.

Patient Delivery and Access

Multi-channel delivery:

• Patient portal access (preferred for integrated systems)
• Email with clickable link
• Text message with link
• Printable PDF for patients who prefer paper

Mobile optimization: Exercises viewable on smartphones and tablets, not just desktop computers. Patients should be able to access HEP on their phone at the gym.

Offline access: Patients can download program for offline viewing when internet isn’t available.

Exercise demonstration quality: Video should be high-definition, loadable on various connection speeds, and show exercise from angles that help patients mimic form.

Progress tracking: Patients can check off completed exercises, log how many reps they actually did, note any difficulty or pain, and see their adherence percentage.

Engagement and Compliance Features

Automated reminders: Scheduled email or push notifications reminding patients to do their exercises. “Time for your afternoon exercise session!”

Gamification elements: Progress badges, adherence streaks, goal achievement celebrations that increase motivation (optional—some patients find this motivating, others find it childish).

Educational content integration: Links or videos explaining why each exercise matters, how it relates to their specific condition and goals.

Patient feedback mechanism: Patients can rate exercise difficulty, report pain, or ask questions about specific exercises directly from the HEP interface.

Family/caregiver access: For pediatric or geriatric patients, ability to grant family members access to view and assist with the HEP.

Therapist Monitoring and Reporting

Compliance dashboards: At-a-glance view showing which patients are doing their exercises and which aren’t, allowing proactive outreach.

Exercise-specific data: Which exercises do patients skip? Which do they find most difficult? This data informs treatment modifications.

Outcome correlation: Can you analyze whether patients with higher HEP compliance achieve better clinical outcomes? This data is valuable for quality improvement and demonstrating value to payers.

Communication tracking: Record of all HEP-related patient messages and your responses, integrated into patient chart.

MedBridge Alternatives: What’s Available in 2024-2025

If you’re currently using MedBridge (or considering it) but want to explore alternatives, here’s what’s available:

Standalone HEP Platforms

1. Physitrack

• Cost: $360-600/year per clinician
• Exercise library: 6,000+ exercises
• Key features: Extensive video library, patient app (PhysiApp), telehealth integration, outcome tracking
• Best for: Practices that want comprehensive exercise library and integrated telehealth
• Limitations: Expensive, requires separate login, patient app can be confusing for less tech-savvy populations

2. Rehab Guru

• Cost: $300-500/year
• Exercise library: 4,000+ exercises
• Key features: Full telehealth platform, payment processing, video appointments, exercise library
• Best for: Practices wanting comprehensive telehealth solution that includes HEP
• Limitations: More expensive, steeper learning curve, overkill if you just need HEP

3. Spry PT

• Cost: Variable, often bundled with Spry EMR
• Exercise library: 4,500+ clinically validated exercises
• Key features: AI vision technology assesses patient form in real-time, modern mobile interface, drag-and-drop builder
• Best for: Tech-forward practices wanting cutting-edge AI form assessment
• Limitations: AI features require patient to use laptop/tablet camera; may be bundled with full EMR purchase

4. Exercise.com

• Cost: Variable based on features
• Exercise library: Extensive, customizable
• Key features: Comprehensive customization, client tracking and communication, payment processing, broader practice management
• Best for: Practices wanting robust client engagement and business management beyond just HEP
• Limitations: More expensive, includes many features PT practices may not need

5. HEP2Go

• Cost: $120-240/year per therapist
• Exercise library: 1,800+ exercises
• Key features: Simple interface, affordable pricing, print and email delivery
• Best for: Budget-conscious practices wanting basic HEP functionality
• Limitations: Smaller exercise library, fewer advanced features, less polished patient experience

6. WebPT HEP

• Cost: Included with WebPT EMR or available as add-on
• Exercise library: Comprehensive
• Key features: Integrated with WebPT EMR, customizable programs, two-way patient messaging
• Best for: Existing WebPT users wanting integrated HEP
• Limitations: Requires WebPT EMR (expensive enterprise solution), not available as standalone

Integrated HEP Solutions

1. PtEverywhere

• Cost: $99-149/month (includes EMR, HEP, telehealth, patient portal, billing)
• Exercise library: Comprehensive
• Key features: “Single login powers the whole workflow,” integrated EMR-HEP-patient portal-telehealth
• Best for: Small to medium practices wanting all-in-one solution
• Limitations: Monthly cost higher than some competitors, commitment to full platform switch

2. SPRY (Complete Platform)

• Cost: Variable, comprehensive platform pricing
• Exercise library: 4,500+ exercises
• Key features: Fully integrated EMR, HEP, billing, patient portal; AI-powered form assessment
• Best for: Practices wanting cutting-edge technology with complete integration
• Limitations: Higher cost, requires platform switch

3. Empower EMR

• Cost: Integrated with EMR platform
• Exercise library: Comprehensive
• Key features: Integrated HEP builder within EMR, email/portal delivery, compliance tracking
• Best for: Smaller practices wanting straightforward integrated solution
• Limitations: Must commit to Empower as full EMR

Cost Comparison Summary (2025)

Patient Compliance: Integrated vs. Standalone Data

While comprehensive research directly comparing integrated vs. standalone HEP patient compliance is limited, several factors strongly suggest integrated solutions achieve better compliance:

1. Access friction: Every additional barrier to access reduces patient engagement. Research on digital health tools consistently shows that requiring separate logins, access codes, or app downloads reduces utilization by 20-40%. Integrated solutions remove this friction.

2. Perceived integration: When HEP feels like part of a cohesive care experience (same portal as appointments and clinical notes), patients perceive it as more important and relevant than a disconnected exercise app.

3. Reminder effectiveness: Integrated systems can send HEP reminders through the same channel as appointment reminders, increasing likelihood they’ll be noticed and acted upon.

4. Provider monitoring and follow-up: When therapists can easily see compliance data in the patient’s chart during each visit, they’re more likely to address non-compliance and adjust programs based on patient feedback. Standalone systems require therapists to remember to check a separate platform, reducing monitoring consistency.

5. Communication ease: When patients can ask questions about exercises through the same messaging system they use for appointment questions, they’re more likely to seek clarification when confused rather than skip exercises.

A 2023 study on integrated patient portals found that patients who accessed multiple portal features (appointments, clinical notes, messaging, education) were 35% more likely to adhere to treatment recommendations than those who used portals for scheduling only. While this study wasn’t specific to HEP, it suggests that integrated experiences drive higher engagement across all aspects of care.

Proactive Chart: Integrated HEP at No Additional Cost

At Proactive Chart, we believe home exercise programs are fundamental to physical therapy treatment—not an optional add-on that should cost extra. That’s why we’ve built comprehensive HEP functionality directly into our EMR at no additional subscription fee.

Our Integrated HEP Approach

Seamless workflow: Create HEPs directly from the patient’s chart with full context (diagnosis, precautions, goals) already available. No separate login, no duplicate data entry.

Comprehensive exercise library: 2,000+ high-quality exercise videos and instructions covering therapeutic exercise, functional training, and specialty populations. Library continuously expanding based on user requests.

Drag-and-drop builder: Create customized HEPs in 2-5 minutes using intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Adjust sets, reps, frequency, and add patient-specific instructions for each exercise.

Template library: Pre-built programs for common conditions (50+ templates) that can be assigned instantly and customized as needed. Share templates across your practice to standardize care.

Multi-channel delivery: Patients access HEPs through integrated patient portal (same login for appointments and billing), or receive via email/text link. Printable PDF option for patients who prefer paper.

Mobile-optimized patient experience: Patients view exercises on smartphones, tablets, or computers. High-quality video demonstrations, clear instructions, and progress tracking all mobile-optimized.

Compliance tracking: Monitor which patients are completing exercises and which aren’t. Built-in dashboards show adherence rates, allowing proactive outreach to patients who’ve stopped exercising.

Automatic documentation: HEP creation and modifications are automatically documented in clinical notes. No separate documentation step required.

Patient portal integration: HEPs live in the same patient portal where patients book appointments, view clinical notes, make payments, and message their therapist. One login, unified experience.

Multilingual support: Exercise instructions available in Spanish and English (additional languages in development).

Custom exercise capability: Upload your own photos/videos for facility-specific or patient-specific exercises not in our standard library.

No extra cost: All HEP functionality included in base Proactive Chart subscription. No per-therapist HEP fees, no separate add-on charges.

Why We Include HEP vs. Charging Separately

Home exercise programs aren’t optional in modern physical therapy—they’re essential for patient outcomes. Charging separately for HEP functionality is like charging extra for the ability to document SOAP notes or schedule appointments. It’s a core feature that should be included.

Our philosophy is simple: provide comprehensive, integrated functionality at transparent, affordable pricing. That means including essential features like HEP, e-fax, appointment reminders, and patient portal in the base EMR—not nickel-and-diming practices with endless add-on fees.

For small physical therapy practices where every dollar matters, this consolidation approach delivers real value: better clinical outcomes through improved patient compliance, more efficient workflows through seamless integration, and lower total cost of ownership by eliminating separate HEP subscriptions.

Making the Switch: From Standalone to Integrated HEP

If you’re currently using a standalone HEP platform and considering switching to an EMR with integrated HEP, here’s what to consider:

Transition Planning

Exercise library comparison: Ensure the integrated solution’s exercise library covers your clinical needs. Most comprehensive EMRs have 1,000-3,000 exercises, comparable to mid-range standalone platforms.

Template migration: You’ve likely built custom HEP templates in your current platform. Plan time to recreate your most-used templates in the new system (typically 30-60 minutes per template, one-time investment).

Patient communication: Inform patients that their exercise programs will now be in the same portal where they access appointments and clinical notes. Provide simple instructions for first-time login.

Staff training: Integrated HEP workflows are typically simpler than standalone platforms (fewer steps, no login-switching), but still require training. Plan 30-60 minutes per staff member.

Timing: Switch during a lower-volume period to allow time for template building and staff acclimation without high-pressure deadlines.

Cost Analysis

Calculate your total current costs for standalone HEP:

Example: 3-therapist practice

• MedBridge subscriptions: 3 × $300/year = $900/year
• Time cost of login-switching/duplicate entry: 4 minutes per patient × 10 patients per therapist per day × 3 therapists × 240 work days = 28,800 minutes/year = 480 hours
• At $25/hour labor cost: $12,000/year in workflow inefficiency
• Total current cost: $12,900/year

With integrated HEP (included in EMR):

• HEP cost: $0 (included)
• Time savings: 480 hours reclaimed for patient care or reduced staff hours
• Total cost: $0
• Annual savings: $12,900

Even accounting for time spent recreating templates (20 hours one-time investment = $500), you break even in less than two weeks and save thousands annually thereafter.

Feature Trade-Offs

What you might lose (depending on standalone platform):

• CEU library (if you used MedBridge for continuing education)
• Some specialty content (e.g., Physitrack’s 6,000+ exercises vs. integrated solution’s 2,000)
• Advanced features like AI form assessment (Spry PT)

What you gain:

• Seamless workflow (no login switching)
• Unified patient experience (one portal)
• Automatic documentation integration
• Better compliance visibility
• Lower total cost
• Simplified IT management

For most practices, the workflow efficiency and patient experience benefits far outweigh the loss of advanced features they rarely used.

The Bottom Line: Integration Drives Compliance and Efficiency

Home exercise programs are too important to patient outcomes to be relegated to a disconnected, separate platform. When HEP functionality is seamlessly integrated into your EMR, three critical things happen:

1. Therapist efficiency improves: Eliminating login-switching, duplicate data entry, and separate documentation saves 3-5 minutes per patient (150-250 hours per year per therapist). That’s time redirected to patient care, not administrative friction.

2. Patient compliance increases: When exercises are accessible through the same portal patients already use for appointments and billing, with no separate login or access code, engagement improves. Research shows that reducing access friction increases digital health tool utilization by 20-40%.

3. Clinical outcomes improve: Higher patient compliance with home exercises drives better functional outcomes, faster recovery, and greater patient satisfaction. This translates to positive reviews, more referrals, and practice growth.

The choice between standalone and integrated HEP isn’t just about saving $300-600/year in subscription fees (though that matters for small practices). It’s about creating a cohesive, professional patient experience that positions your practice as modern, efficient, and patient-centered.

Ready to stop paying separately for home exercise programs? Visit ProactiveChart.com to explore how Proactive Chart includes comprehensive, integrated HEP functionality at no additional cost—part of our commitment to providing all-in-one EMR solutions at transparent, affordable pricing designed for small physical therapy practices.

Your patients deserve seamless, integrated care. Your practice deserves simplified, efficient workflows. Choose an EMR where HEP is included from day one.