Organizational Regulations for a Physiotherapy Practice - What They Must Include (Template)
Organizational regulations are mandatory for every physiotherapy practice under Article 24 of the Act on Healthcare Activity - see what they must include and when you need an extended version.
Tomasz registered his sole-practitioner physiotherapy practice three months ago. He already has his entry in the KIF register of professional practices, a lease for his premises, patient data consent forms, and a price list posted at reception. When his accountant asked him during a conversation, "do you have your organizational regulations ready?", he replied without hesitation: "I think that only applies to big clinics, I have one treatment room and one patient at a time." His accountant looked at him with disbelief and told him to check the act.
Tomasz was wrong -- and he's not alone in that. The requirement to have organizational regulations applies to every physiotherapist's professional practice and every healthcare entity, with no exception for solo practices operating out of a single room. In this article we explain where this requirement comes from, exactly what the regulations must contain, how a professional practice differs from a healthcare entity in this regard, and when you need an extended version of the document.
Where the requirement to have organizational regulations comes from
The legal basis is Article 24 of the Act on Healthcare Activity (ustawa o działalności leczniczej). This provision doesn't distinguish by the size of the facility or its legal form -- it applies both to a sole-practitioner physiotherapy practice registered with CEIDG and the KIF register of professional practices, and to a healthcare entity operating, e.g., as a company and registered with RPWDL. In other words: whether you run a practice in a single room with one treatment table or a clinic with ten treatment rooms, you must have organizational regulations either way.
This is one of those documents that gets surprisingly little attention in guides for physiotherapists starting their own practice -- most content available online focuses on business registration, liability insurance, or GDPR, while organizational regulations are either treated as an afterthought or skipped entirely. Yet it's a document required explicitly by law, and its absence is one of the first things checked during an inspection. You'll find the full pre-launch checklist in the article checklist before opening a practice, and the step-by-step process of setting up your practice is covered in how to open a physiotherapy practice.
Professional practice vs. healthcare entity -- how the regulations differ
The scope of mandatory elements is the same for both forms of activity, but the formal context differs.
A physiotherapist's professional practice is most often a sole proprietorship registered with CEIDG and with the register of professional practices maintained by the Polish Chamber of Physiotherapists (KIF). In that case, the regulations concern a single person providing services -- there's no need to describe an organizational structure made up of multiple units, because no such structure exists.
A healthcare entity, on the other hand, is an activity conducted, for example, as a company, registered as an entity in the Register of Entities Performing Healthcare Activity (RPWDL). If the entity employs several physiotherapists and has separate organizational units (e.g. rehabilitation handled separately from massage), the regulations must reflect that -- describing the organization and tasks of each unit.
In practice, this means that the larger and more complex the practice's structure, the more extensive the regulations need to be -- but even the simplest, sole-practitioner practice isn't exempt from having them.
What organizational regulations must contain under Art. 24
The Act on Healthcare Activity lists specific elements that the regulations must contain. The table below shows them along with a brief explanation of what they mean in practice for a physiotherapy practice.
| Element under Art. 24 | What it means for a physiotherapy practice |
|---|---|
| Business name or entity name | The full name of the practice/entity as registered with CEIDG or RPWDL |
| Purpose and objectives | A brief description of what the practice's activity is for (providing physiotherapy services) |
| Type of healthcare activity and scope of services | E.g. outpatient physiotherapy services, types of treatments offered |
| Place where services are provided | The practice's address, plus information about home visits if applicable |
| The course of service delivery, ensuring proper accessibility | How appointment booking works, order of admission, waiting times |
| Organization and tasks of individual units (if applicable) | Mainly relevant to healthcare entities with several organizational units |
| Terms of cooperation with other entities | E.g. cooperation with referring physicians, other facilities |
| Fees for services and documentation (price list) | The service price list plus the fee for copies of medical records |
| Organization of service delivery when fees are collected | Billing rules where services are paid |
Missing even one of these elements makes the regulations incomplete -- as with other statutorily required documents, this is treated during an inspection the same as not having the document at all.
[SP] Example -- Solo practice: Tomasz runs a sole-practitioner practice in a single room. His regulations are short -- they describe him as the only person providing services, one practice address, the rules for booking by phone and via an online form, the treatment price list, and the rules for paying by cash or card. There's no section on organizational structure, because no such structure exists.
[GR] Example -- Group practice: At a practice employing four physiotherapists and a massage therapist, the regulations must additionally describe how the team's work is organized -- who reports to whom, how the schedule is divided, and how cover is arranged if a therapist is absent. The owner also adds a section on the organizational unit responsible for massage as a service separate from physiotherapy.
When you need an extended version of the regulations
The basic version of the regulations described above is sufficient for most sole-practitioner practices. There are, however, two situations where it's worth extending the document with additional provisions.
You employ staff. When more than one person provides services at the practice, the regulations should describe how the team's work is organized -- division of duties, cover arrangements, and any hierarchy. The more people involved, the more detailed this section should be.
You have video monitoring. If cameras operate at the practice (e.g. in the waiting room or hallway), the organizational regulations should include a mandatory section informing patients about the monitoring rules -- this is a separate requirement, tied to data protection law rather than only to the Act on Healthcare Activity. We cover this in detail in the article video monitoring at a physiotherapy practice and GDPR.
It's worth stressing: needing an extended version doesn't mean the basic regulations are wrong -- it simply means they need to be supplemented with sections that match the specifics of your practice.
Where an extract of the regulations must be posted
Simply keeping the regulations in a binder isn't enough. The act requires that an extract of the regulations -- i.e. information relevant to patients, such as the scope of services provided, opening hours, or booking rules -- be available in a place accessible to patients, e.g. on an information board in the waiting room. This is a separate obligation from simply having the full regulations document. We cover exactly what should appear on the information board in a dedicated article on mandatory information boards.
Why organizational regulations get overlooked so often
Among the content available online for physiotherapists starting their own practice, organizational regulations are one of the least discussed topics -- most guides focus on more "visible" issues, like marketing the practice or choosing a tax form. That's a mistake, because the lack of these regulations is one of the first things an inspector checks, precisely because the requirement comes directly from the statute rather than from an interpretation of other rules. This document is already included in every FizjoReady documentation package, so there's no need to create it from scratch.
How to prepare your regulations step by step
- Determine your legal form -- professional practice (CEIDG + KIF register) or healthcare entity (RPWDL) -- this determines the document's formal scope.
- Gather the input data -- full name, practice address, scope of services, price list.
- Fill in every mandatory element from Art. 24 listed in the table above -- don't skip any of them.
- Check whether circumstances requiring an extension apply to you -- employing staff or having video monitoring.
- Prepare an extract of the regulations and post it somewhere visible to patients.
- Update the regulations whenever there's a significant change -- a new employee, a price list update, or the introduction of video monitoring.
Frequently asked questions
Does a sole-practitioner physiotherapy practice need organizational regulations?
Yes. The requirement comes from Article 24 of the Act on Healthcare Activity and applies to every physiotherapist's professional practice without exception, regardless of whether the practice is run by one person in a single room or by a multi-person team. There's no size threshold that exempts a practice from this obligation.
What's the difference between the regulations for a professional practice and for a healthcare entity?
The basic mandatory elements are the same for both forms, but the formal scope differs. The regulations for a physiotherapist's professional practice concern a single person providing services and don't need to describe an organizational structure made up of multiple units. The regulations for a healthcare entity, especially one employing several therapists in separate units, must additionally describe the organization and tasks of each unit.
When do you need to add a section on video monitoring to the regulations?
A section on monitoring is mandatory when cameras are actually in use at the practice, e.g. in the waiting room or hallway. It must inform patients about the monitoring rules in line with data protection law. If the practice has no monitoring, this section isn't required, but it's worth keeping in mind if you're planning to install cameras in the future.
Is it enough to keep the regulations in a binder, or do they need to be posted somewhere?
Simply having the full document at the practice isn't enough. The act requires that an extract of the regulations -- the key information for patients, such as the scope of services or booking rules -- be available in an accessible place, e.g. on an information board in the waiting room. These are two separate obligations: having the full regulations and making an extract available to patients.
CTA: Basic organizational regulations (instructions + ready-made template) are already included in the FUNDAMENT package -- just fill in your practice's details. If you employ staff or have video monitoring, the PREMIUM package includes full GDPR documentation you can use as the basis for extending your regulations with the additional sections. See FizjoReady packages →
Related articles:
- Checklist before opening a physiotherapy practice
- How to open a physiotherapy practice -- step by step
- Video monitoring at a physiotherapy practice and GDPR