Doctors’ office up for national award

• Reprints

Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Naperville-based Doctors of Physical Therapy is a finalist for a spot on Inc. Magazine’s list of top small businesses of the year.

Dr. Aaron Kraai, founder and CEO of the office, and his colleagues believe testimonials offered by some of their corporate or private clients landed them the recognition from the national business publication.

Kraai said more than 350 businesses were considered for this year’s recognition and that representatives from the magazine contacted him recently with information that their business was among the top 50 finalists. Companies were nominated through December and were narrowed down based on the vision and mission of the company, leadership, retention of personnel, compensation and health care, growth and stability.

Kraai said initially he thought the entire process was possibly a scam.

“I kept getting these emails in my inbox, and I thought they were just trash, and I deleted them,” Kraai said. “We finally heard from the magazine by telephone, and they told us we had to fill out this nine-page report and undergo a few interviews.”

He said they will find out within the month if they made the top 10 list for small businesses.

Ken Lehman, founder and chairman of Winning Workplaces, which produces the magazine, said finalists like Kraai’s company “are looked at using the same ingredients year after year.”

“We look for fairness and evidence of communication based on what customers say as well as company benefits and in-service education,” he said. “Finalists are judged by a panel of nine people who will announce their decisions next month.”

Professional freedom

Kraai, 32, said he launched his first office in 2005, and to date, Doctors of Physical Therapy has grown to six locations, including three in the past year. The Naperville office is also the corporate headquarters, and there are two other branches in Lisle and another in Plainfield.

Dr. Barb Ostrowska, director of clinical operations as well as a practicing physical therapist with the group, said she joined the company five years ago after tiring of hospital practices “which did not contribute overall to patient care.”

“Coming here has given me professional freedom to work with my patients and also make decisions about their care I was not allowed access to while I worked in a hospital,” Ostrowska said. “I had reached a level of frustration with the level of health care there, and I’m able to work with my patients now without an administrative overload.”

Naperville resident Ted Van Dorn, 60, has firsthand knowledge of Kraai and his team’s expertise. Van Dorn already has had three surgeries and said Kraai was his first physical therapist after a shoulder replacement.

“I remember that (Kraai) actually came out to my house,” Van Dorn said. “That’s something you never see. I’ve referred probably 10 to 12 people already to their practice over the five years I’ve known them. I can’t say enough about how professional and how well the team there has been put together.”

Focus on patient

About the possible recognition from the national business magazine, Ostrowska said she isn’t surprised.

“We’re one of those smaller businesses that, in the long run, saves patients money by treating issues more effectively, and because our patients have easier access to their doctors, it allows everyone more freedom,” she said. “We have the satisfaction of being part of a team, and success can come from anything, from the money people make to just going to work and having a nice environment.”

Kraai said that despite his recent rapid growth, his business model is not a “Starbucks” seeking to expand as quickly as possible.

“We are not a prototypical mill-like company like many of our competitors,” he said. “We do not have a franchise model, but have a very individually oriented, evidence-based intervention model specific to each patient.

“If I want a practice in Bolingbrook, I might have one if we find a great doctor there and build the practice around him. But I’m fine if all we ever have is the six offices we have now.”