FUNCTIONAL PATHWAYS, LLC
In many ways, Dan Knorr, president and co-founder of Functional Pathways, LLC, is an example of good, old-fashioned American entrepreneurship. Knorr started his career as a physical therapist, graduating from the University of Pittsburgh and moving to Knoxville, Tenn., in the mid-1980s, where he worked in what he describes as “a really intense rehab environment” at Patricia Neal Rehab Hospital.
Dan Knorr, President
He then took a job that was considerably more rural than Knoxville, in Scott County, Tenn., where he was the only physical therapist in the county. His services were, therefore, in high demand, leading him to start his own company.
However, he soon found himself unable to juggle the numerous requests coming in from home-health agencies and nursing homes and decided to hire other therapists. Eventually, he sold the company in the early 1990s, figuring his career in physical therapy was effectively retired. But the connections he made, especially in longterm care, continued to request his services, and by 1995, he had co-founded Functional Pathways, LLC, whose mission is to bring rehabilitation services to long-term care facilities. In its nearly two decades of existence, Functional Pathways has grown to include more than 130 facilities across 16 states with 2,500 therapists in its employ. Functional Pathways provides its services exclusively to long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC), that outsource their rehabilitation departments to it.
MAKING ITS CLIENTS THE BEST REHAB PROVIDERS “Most organizations,” Knorr said, “are focused on attaining solid clinical and financial outcomes. However, running a rehab department is usually a headache.”
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