Soul Physical Therapy fills cancellations on day one and lifts arrival rate 10%
Soul Physical Therapy added Penciled on top of WebPT to automatically fill cancellations, open up 24/7 online self-scheduling, and free the front desk for insurance and authorization work—paying for itself from day one.
Overview
Soul Physical Therapy, an owner-led WebPT practice, layered Penciled on top of their EMR to automatically fill last-minute cancellations, open up around-the-clock patient self-scheduling, and free the front desk from manual outreach. Penciled filled openings the very first day and arrival rate is up 10% since going live.
High-impact features
- Automatic detection and filling of cancellations in WebPT
- 24/7 online self-scheduling for patients—filling a gap WebPT couldn't
- Generative-AI SMS that texts waitlist patients in parallel until a slot is filled
- Plan-of-care scheduling that keeps follow-ups accurate and on cadence
About the team
Soul Physical Therapy is an owner-led practice built around a simple promise—Strength. Movement. Function. Wellness. Founded and run by Andy McLlarky, a physical therapist and the clinic's owner, Soul PT focuses on getting patients out of pain and keeping them there through education, manual therapy, and exercise prescription.
"Before Penciled, what was most important was helping patients achieve their goals—education, manual therapy, and exercise prescription to help individuals get out of pain and prevent recurrence."
Core problem
Like most practices, Soul PT leaned on software to schedule, collect copays, document treatments, and communicate with referring clinicians. But their EMR left two gaps wide open: patients couldn't book online, and there was no way to automatically reach out when an appointment opened up.
That meant every cancellation became a manual scramble, and patients had no way to grab an open slot on their own time.
"WebPT did not allow for online scheduling, which was a frustration. It didn't allow us to text patients about openings—also a frustration point."
Before finding Penciled, Andy had cycled through other tools—Prompt and Weave among them—still looking for something that could close these gaps.
Why they chose Penciled
What captured Andy's attention immediately was the ability to fill cancellations without anyone lifting a finger—and to let patients schedule themselves.
"An AI application to help us schedule patients, remind patients of appointments, and fill cancelled appointments. It allows patients to schedule themselves to save time at the front desk."
After the demo, the decision was fast.
"I saw how it worked very quickly. I knew it was what our company needed. It solved a pain point."
Product
Penciled integrates directly with WebPT to monitor the schedule. When a cancellation is detected, it automatically texts waitlist patients in parallel until someone accepts, then books them straight into the schedule—no portals, logins, or voicemails. At the same time, patients can book themselves online whenever it's convenient.
Through a front-office dashboard, the team can monitor cancellations as they're being filled in real time, see which patients were contacted and which accepted each slot, and read—or manually step into—any individual text conversation to override the AI when needed. Using generative AI-powered SMS, patients reply to the assistant and schedule appointments without any portals, logins, or extra steps.
Onboarding
Penciled started working from the first day—and the early gap Soul PT had to manage was making sure plans of care were accurate, so patients were scheduled at the right cadence.
"It started working immediately, filling openings that day. We also had mostly positive feedback from patients."
Andy's one early concern—that patients might not like getting more texts—resolved quickly once the plans of care were cleaned up.
"Cleaning up the plans of care was really helpful, and knowing it's ok if 5% opt out—that's fine. They can still old-school it, and for the other 95% it's going to make their lives easier to schedule themselves and fill our openings."
Throughout the rollout, the Penciled team stayed close—on-site for onboarding and reachable over Slack.
"Shawn, you have made it super easy on us by coming to us for onboarding, and by putting us at ease with access to you and your team via Slack for questions."
Results
Paid for itself on day one
For Andy, the ROI math was clear before he ever signed—and Penciled hit it immediately.
"I felt it was worth it the day we signed up. As soon as it filled an appointment without us doing anything, I knew it was going to be good—and it has been. I had calculated how many visits it would need to fill to pay for itself, and could tell on Day 1 we were going to get that return and much more."
Arrival rate up 10%
By keeping the schedule full and matching patients to slots they actually want, Soul PT's arrival rate climbed 10% after starting with Penciled—more visits treated per day and per week.
A front desk freed for higher-value work
Because Penciled handles the booking, the front office can focus on the work that protects revenue: verifying insurance and keeping up with authorizations.
"It frees up time at the front desk to make sure insurances are verified and to keep up with authorization, which had been bogging them down."
Self-scheduling that builds trust
Online scheduling turned out to be more than a convenience—it changed how far in advance patients book.
"It's super helpful for patients to be able to schedule online. They can see where we have an opening and see we're not making up how busy we are. Patients are scheduling out further in advance. Time saving is #1."
Discussion
Where the return comes from
For Soul PT, the highest-leverage problem after staffing was simply staying full—maximizing the providers they already have.
"Our biggest barrier to growth was, and is, staffing—having enough clinicians. Our second biggest barrier was making sure we stay fully full each day to maximize the therapists we do have, and Penciled has definitely helped."
Asked whether the spend could have gone toward something with a better return, Andy was direct.
"Ensuring schedules stay busy has a high return. Nothing else likely would have done that."
Making WebPT worth keeping
Penciled filled the exact gaps that had frustrated Andy about WebPT—online scheduling and automated filling of open appointments—making the EMR easier to stay on.
"I would recommend Penciled to people on WebPT—and if you were on other platforms, I would still recommend you."
Advice for other practices
"Go for it. It's natural to be skeptical of something new, but this technology is going to help your business run more smoothly, take away some headaches from admin and front desk staff, and allow patients the freedom to schedule themselves."
When asked what matters most in choosing an AI partner, Andy's answer was short: trust and relationships. And on whether he'd do it again:
"Yes, totally worth it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I would highly recommend Penciled to other PT clinics looking to streamline operations, improve workflow, and decrease headaches at the front desk. Penciled is going to pay for itself and then some."
Conclusion
Soul Physical Therapy shows how an owner-led practice can close the gaps left by its EMR without switching systems. By layering Penciled on top of WebPT, Soul PT turned every cancellation into a recaptured visit, gave patients 24/7 self-scheduling, and freed the front desk for insurance and authorization work—all while lifting arrival rate 10% and paying for the platform from day one.
"Penciled has been able to fill our schedule. Cancels are filled automatically with patients who want to be seen. Truly a life saver. Implementation was seamless, and Shawn and his team have been a pleasure to work with."
