Employers

Direct-to-Employer MSK Care

Take Control of Your Company’s Musculoskeletal Healthcare Costs

Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions — back, neck, shoulder, and joint pain — are among the largest drivers of employer healthcare spend. 3DPT partners directly with self-insured employers to deliver fast, effective, local care that lowers costs and gets employees back to work sooner.

Talk to Us About Your MSK Spend

The MSK Problem Is Bigger Than You Think

For most employers, MSK is a top-three healthcare cost category — inflated by unnecessary imaging, injections, surgery, and delays in care.

20–30%
of employer healthcare spend goes to MSK conditions
24–72 hrs
to first visit with 3DPT — no referrals, no waiting weeks
Up to 50%
potential reduction in MSK episode costs with PT-first care*
14 locations
across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

*Projected impact based on published research on early physical therapy access; see evidence below. Results vary by population and plan design.

Two Paths for the Same Back Injury

Follow the line. Both pathways below start with the exact same injury — acute low back pain radiating down the leg — and both end with the issue resolved. The difference is everything in between.

The Typical Pathway: 13 Steps of Detours

In the traditional system, the employee bounces between Google, a month-long wait for primary care, urgent care, opioids, inconclusive imaging, an orthopedic consult, injections, and a PT course they abandon over copays — before finally landing in surgery and post-op rehab. Every loop in the line is a delay, a bill, and lost work time.

Tangled 13-step pathway for a typical MSK episode ending in high-cost resolution

The 3DPT Direct Pathway: A Straight Line

With direct access to 3DPT, the same employee gets early MSK education before injury even strikes, starts conservative care within days, and resolves. If red flags appear, we escalate to primary care, imaging, or a specialist — but only when clinically needed, shown as the dotted detour below. Escalation is the exception, not the default.

Straight-line 4-step 3DPT direct pathway ending in low-cost direct care

TYPICAL: 13 STEPS · HIGH COST
3DPT DIRECT: 4 STEPS · LOW COST

How the Program Works

3DPT delivers this benefit in partnership with 2nd Door, a platform built to fix what digital-only MSK solutions get wrong: employees don’t use them. 2nd Door pairs a simple employer-facing benefit with trusted local clinics — so your people get real, in-person care from 3DPT, with virtual options when convenient.

1

Direct Contract

We contract directly with your company — transparent, predictable pricing with no insurance middleman. Flexible models from fee-for-service to per-employee subscriptions.

2

Fast Access

Employees see a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy within 24–72 hours at any 3DPT location — no physician referral required in New Jersey.

3

Right Care First

PT-first triage resolves most MSK episodes conservatively. When more is needed, we coordinate appropriate escalation — so imaging and surgery happen when indicated, not by default.

4

Closed-Loop Reporting

You see utilization, outcomes, and return-to-work data. We track the numbers that matter to your bottom line, quarter over quarter.

Built on Evidence, Not Sales Projections

Peer-reviewed research consistently shows that early access to physical therapy lowers total episode cost and speeds recovery.

Patients who saw a physical therapist first for low back pain had significantly lower probability of opioid prescriptions, advanced imaging, and emergency department visits — with lower total costs.

Frogner et al., Health Services Research, 2018

Workers who received physical therapy within 14 days of injury onset had fewer MRIs, less surgery, fewer opioid prescriptions, and shorter disability duration.

Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), 2020

Imaging findings often don’t equal injury: studies of symptom-free athletes show a large majority have “abnormal” MRI findings — which is why reflexive imaging drives unnecessary treatment.

Miniaci et al., 2002; Hacken et al., 2019

Is This Right for Your Company?

The program delivers the strongest ROI for organizations that:

  • Are self-insured or partially self-insured for employee health benefits
  • Have employees in New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, or Delaware
  • Want visibility into what drives their MSK spend — and a plan to reduce it
  • Value getting employees back to full duty faster, with fewer lost work days

We typically begin with a pilot program, so you can measure results before making a long-term commitment.

Start the Conversation

Tell us a little about your company. We’ll follow up to discuss your current MSK costs and whether a direct partnership makes sense.