Our Story

Discover ACCESS PT – from small beginnings to premier provider with over 50 locations. Join us in making better lives for 100k patients/year.

clinic entrance

The History of ACCESS PT

It all started in 2002. Christopher and Stephen Albanese and their wives, Janet and Shannon, were working as physical therapists. Chris was employed as a clinic director in a large corporate organization. Steve worked for a small therapist-owned practice. Shannon and Janet both worked in hospital out-patient clinics. Having been born and raised in Orange County, NY, they saw the need for a quality physical therapy practice in their area and started working on a business plan to open up their own.

Their plan came to fruition in 2003 with the opening of their first clinic in Montgomery, NY. With their own practice, the Albaneses began developing what would become Access’s culture, and applied their principles of putting the patients first to their new business. Their method proved successful, and a year later they started looking into opening a second location. In 2005, they opened their second clinic in Port Jervis, NY.

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Expanding the Business

With their burgeoning success, they began to rethink how they ran the business. The Albaneses were four different people, with different strengths—both clinical and entrepreneurial—and they split the responsibilities between them. With all members of the family working to their strengths, the business started to grow even faster. Access began to partner with other physical therapy practices that shared their values, taking on the clerical duties so that they could focus on providing patients with the best care possible. In 2010, they unified all of their locations by adopting the name Access Physical Therapy & Wellness and applied it to all of their locations.

Since opening, Access has expanded to more than 50 locations on the east coast, with clinics in New York, North Carolina, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Access Physical Therapy & Wellness has become the premier physical therapy practice in the Hudson Valley and continues to expand to provide more convenient locations to better serve their growing number of patients.

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The Future of ACCESS PT

Our managed service division, headed by Stephen Albanese, co-CEO, is an important area for growth for ACCESS PT. Our goal is to have management service contracts to provide the professional staffing and management services for hospitals, nursing homes, and home care agencies. We want to be a part of medicine’s new value-based focus. Having Access therapists working across the continuum of care through in-patient, sub-acute, home care, and outpatient can foster increased communication as well as help move patients efficiently through each stage of care.

Our company has learned so much in the past 20 years, and remain committed to being a physical-therapist-owned company. We are looking for ambitious and compassionate team members to help us achieve our vision of making better lives for 100,000 patients each year.