Healthwell PT reduces cancellation rate by 40% with Penciled
Healthwell PT partnered with Penciled to automate waitlist management, plan of care scheduling, and patient communication—eliminating phone tag and dramatically improving show rates.
Overview
Healthwell Physical Therapy, a 3-provider practice in San Francisco on WebPT, reduced their cancellation/no-show rate by 40.5% while dramatically reducing manual scheduling work. By implementing Penciled's automated waitlist, plan of care scheduling, and provider groups feature, Healthwell keeps schedules full and patients correctly matched to providers—without constant phone outreach.
At a glance
- Organization: Healthwell Physical Therapy
- Region: San Francisco
- Team: 3 providers
- EMR: WebPT
- Core operational challenge: filling schedules without constant phone outreach
- Primary goals: automate waitlist, reduce admin time, improve patient show rates
- Results:
- 40.5% reduction in cancellation/no-show rate (36.8% → 21.9%)
- 100+ visits booked through Penciled in first full month
- 24/7 patient self-scheduling access
- Automatic provider matching for specialty cases
About Healthwell PT
Healthwell Physical Therapy is a boutique physical therapy practice in San Francisco led by Dr. Sonam Patel. With 3 providers, the practice focuses on delivering personalized care while managing the operational realities of running a lean team.
Before Penciled, Healthwell relied on traditional phone-based scheduling—a time-intensive approach that required constant outreach to fill cancellations and keep the schedule optimized.
The core challenge: old-school phone calls couldn't keep up
Like many PT practices, Healthwell's primary objective was keeping the schedule full. But their strategy for achieving it was labor-intensive: old-school phone calls.
"Before Penciled, what was most important was filling up the schedule. Our existing strategy was old-school phone calls."
This approach had obvious limitations:
- Staff time spent on repetitive outreach instead of patient care
- Patients not answering calls or returning voicemails
- Gaps in the schedule that couldn't be filled fast enough
- No way for patients to self-schedule outside business hours
How Healthwell discovered Penciled
Sonam first learned about Penciled through a post on LinkedIn and was immediately curious about what an automated booking platform could do for her practice.
"I had seen a post on LinkedIn by Shawn, so I got curious. After learning about Penciled, I would have described it to a friend as an automated booking platform."
What captured her attention during the first call was the waitlist functionality—a direct solution to one of WebPT's biggest gaps.
"After our first discovery call, what stuck was the waitlist being filled. That captured my attention and made me want to keep talking."
Why Healthwell signed up: WebPT integration and ease of use
The decision to move forward came down to two factors: seamless integration with WebPT and a simple implementation process.
"What made me sign up was that it integrated with WebPT and was easy to use."
The waitlist automation solved an immediate pain point, replacing manual tracking and outreach with an automated system that worked around the clock.
Implementation: hands-on support made the difference
Getting the front desk team to adopt Penciled required initial effort, but Healthwell found the Penciled team's hands-on approach made all the difference.
"We had to push front desk to book appointments through Penciled initially. Shawn was very hands-on with the implementation process and closely monitoring progress with consistent feedback to my admin team. It's now running very efficiently."
One early challenge was managing patients who booked with the wrong therapist for their condition. Healthwell had two groups of therapists treating different specialties—one group specialized in hypermobility and EDS cases, while the other focused on general orthopedic conditions.
"We had two groups of therapists that treated certain conditions. If we saw a patient book on a wrong therapist, we'd call and change them."
Provider Groups: a feature built for Healthwell's needs
After hearing this feedback, Penciled developed a new feature specifically to solve this problem: Provider Groups.
Provider Groups allows practices to create groups of providers and automatically assign patients to the appropriate group based on their treating provider. For Healthwell, this meant:
Hypermobility/EDS Group
- Primary PTs: Hon Cheng, Sonam Patel
- Treating providers: Hon Cheng, Sonam Patel, Emily Zhang
General Orthopedic Group
- Primary PT: Cheryl Buringrud
- Treating providers: Cheryl Buringrud, Emily Zhang, Hon Cheng
The system works automatically: when a patient's initial exam is completed by a provider in a specific group, Penciled automatically restricts that patient's future scheduling to only the providers in that group. This eliminated the need for staff to manually review and correct mismatched appointments.
Key benefits of Provider Groups:
- Automatic assignment: Patients are assigned to provider groups based on their initial evaluating therapist
- No manual intervention: Staff no longer need to call patients to reschedule when they book with the wrong provider
- Future-proof: If new providers are added to a group later, Penciled automatically updates scheduling options for all affected patients
- Specialty protection: Ensures patients with complex conditions like hypermobility/EDS are always seen by appropriately trained providers
Since implementing Provider Groups, Healthwell has had zero instances of patients booking with inappropriate providers—a problem that previously required regular staff intervention to correct.
Results: dramatic improvement in show rates and admin efficiency
40.5% reduction in cancellation/no-show rate
Healthwell saw their cancellation and no-show rate drop significantly after implementing Penciled:
From December through February, the CXL/NS rate improved from 36.8% to 21.9%—a 40.5% reduction. This means more patients showing up for their appointments, better care continuity, and protected revenue.
Consistent visit volume through Penciled
Healthwell quickly ramped up to over 100 visits booked through Penciled per month:
The combination of plan of care scheduling and waitlist automation ensures that both routine follow-ups and last-minute cancellation fills happen automatically.
Dramatic reduction in manual scheduling work
Perhaps the most significant operational shift: Healthwell dramatically reduced the manual effort required to fill schedule gaps.
"Ease of booking patients without admin support helps a lot. Through Penciled it's available and accessible at any time. Save admin time—almost like no cold calling patients to grab appointments."
What made Healthwell confident Penciled was worth it
The milestone that proved ROI was clear and early.
"When we had first 100 visits booked in a month, we thought it was paying for itself at that point."
Beyond the numbers, what stood out was the Penciled team's genuine investment in their success.
"Shawn and his team were amazing and always there helping us. Their support meant a lot. The CEO being on top of it—he cares deeply about the product and wants to see not just Penciled but your clinic grow as well. It's not one of those 'you bought it and now you're on your own' situations."
Impact on WebPT decision
Healthwell was considering leaving WebPT before discovering Penciled. The integration changed that calculus.
"I was about to leave WebPT but stayed just for Penciled."
For practices frustrated with their EMR's scheduling limitations, Penciled provides the automation layer that makes staying on WebPT viable.
What matters most in an AI technology partner
When asked what mattered most in choosing a technology partner, Sonam highlighted two factors: team quality and ROI.
"Good team and support mattered the most to us, followed by pricing. ROI on Penciled was great!"
The hands-on implementation support and responsive team made the technology investment feel less like a software purchase and more like a partnership.
Looking ahead: phone calls and intake automation
Healthwell is excited about Penciled's roadmap, particularly around phone automation and intake workflows.
"The phone call system would be great, and also implementation of intake process along with insurance."
As AI continues to mature in healthcare operations, Sonam sees automation taking on more manual tasks.
"It's going to be extremely efficient and will take away a lot of manual tasks, just like Penciled did."
Advice for other PT practices
Sonam's recommendation to peers is straightforward: Penciled is worth trying, and it might even make WebPT worth keeping.
"Try Penciled—you won't regret it! It's worth giving WebPT a second shot just for Penciled!"
Was it worth it?
"Every penny was worth it! I want Penciled to succeed and it's truly deserving of it! Absolutely yes, and I also refer friends!"
Healthwell has already recommended Penciled to other practice owners, including one with two practices and 10 therapists.
"Penciled alone makes WebPT worth it. It consistently fills scheduling gaps, takes productivity stress off the table, and delivers incredible ROI. The team is hands-on, supportive, and genuinely cares about your success. Easily the best platform I've used."
