Building a practice, based on a vision
“I had the vision to open up a practice where students and patients can come in and get one-on-one therapy in a focused, individualized, quiet setting. And that’s how this vision was set,” says Chidi.
Sixteen years later, Celebrations Speech Group is a thriving four-office practice in Northern California. The company also serves as a staffing and support partner for school districts from Chicago to California. As of 2025, Chidi leads a team of more than sixty professionals in speech, language, ABA, occupational therapy and support staff who collectively support nearly 3,000 sessions each week. Forty five of these professionals work in the practice’s clinics. The other 15 work in the school districts.
Today, Chidi’s practice is recognized for its impact and the experience it created along the communication journey. For example, Celebrations Speech Group is known for its whimsical themed therapy spaces, where young clients are inspired by astronaut, jungle, and farm rooms with immersive murals. She’s also added access to ancillary care such as applied behavior analysis (ABA) and occupational therapy, complete with brightly-colored swings, slides, mats and equipment to encourage full body expression.
“I would say the key to my practice journey is seeing the impact. Once I started making an impact with a one-on-one setting, I wanted to extend that access to more and more patients. Now, we’re able to help more people, improve their ability to communicate and to support other related needs that they have,” says Chidi.
Overcoming unexpected new practice challenges
“There were so many unexpected challenges in my early years of practice. As we began to grow, there wasn’t enough time to manage the business. Because we couldn’t call back quickly, we lost referrals; we had trouble scheduling patients and getting paid for the services we were delivering in a timely way.
“At first, I used a paper billing form I bought at Office Depot, and had to do the billing with paper and pen. We would mail forms to the insurance companies and hope they didn’t get lost and that we would be paid. Those were very real threats and challenges that felt almost impossible at the time.
“I remember the exact moment I knew I had to make a change. I had my first location and three employees. I did therapy during the day and at night I tried to figure out how to run the business. The CMS-1500 forms were getting lost when they were mailed. Insurance companies said they never received them. Without revenue, you cannot keep operating and you can not help your patients.
“I’m not proud to say it, but I’d be up all night trying to sort out our billing, then go home to shower and head back to work. That was not sustainable.
“So I started to research and found Tebra, which offered a complete patient engagement and practice management solution that really stood out to me. They could handle billing concerns, automate patient scheduling, and keep all clinical documentation and charting online, saving time and eliminating all the paper.
Selecting technology and partnering to grow
“Tebra really studied the market. They knew who their ideal client was and designed a product for private practice owners—a niche often overlooked. That made my decision easier to select and embrace all the products Tebra had and continues to develop. Tebra keeps getting better at meeting the needs of independent healthcare practices.
“Selecting Tebra has been the best decision I’ve ever made. That decision was the key turning point in how I was able to scale my practice. From the first conversation, I felt supported by a business that really saw me and understood what I needed. In fact, I don’t think I would still be in this line of work if I didn’t have Tebra to reduce the burden of running the business.”
“Before Tebra, my staff of three spent 50% of their time on patient care and about half on notes, charting, scheduling, and billing. Today, our staff of therapists and practitioners spend nearly all their time with direct patient care, while billing and everything else are automated through our Tebra EHR platform.”
Considering the current scale of the organization, that billability boost makes a huge difference in access to care and in the practice’s bottom line—an estimated $900,000 per year. This includes recapturing 10 hours per week of billable hours for each of her in-clinic providers.
Operational impact and access to care
Client no-show rates at Celebrations Speech Group have dropped from 50% to less than 1% since automating reminders and online scheduling with Tebra. This saves the practice more than $1.25 million annually.
All in-clinic providers at the practice are trained on Tebra in their first week, streamlining their work from the start. With an average time saving of 15 minutes per client using electronic note-taking versus handwritten notes, that adds up to $675,000 per year in reclaimed time. The distributed team also provides backup for one another to accommodate changing schedules, leaning on online histories and progress notes to maintain continuity of care.
“Electronic note-taking might sound trivial, but when you’re one-on-one with very young children, removing distractions like pens and paper makes a difference,” adds Michael Barber, SLP assistant. “Having all the client data—from notes to treatment plans and related content—in one place helps me prepare for each day and stay organized, which is a huge help.”
When in-person meetings aren’t possible, the team uses Tebra telehealth to conduct therapy via secure video. Chidi estimates that about 30% of her clients use telehealth today.
“Telehealth has been another game changer—providing alternative treatments, settings, and options for patients who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to drive to a clinic. We’ve been able to meet their needs and remove barriers to accessing services. Some patients who need to cancel can switch to telehealth for that visit. We’ve also used it to train parents and caregivers on strategies they can use at home.”
Celebrations Speech Group also relies on Tebra to build brand visibility, supporting their website and managing reviews to attract new clients.
“Tebra has an intentional focus on practice growth, ensuring we’re constantly visible and showing up in Google searches when patients look for services. In 2021, we had 150 to 200 website visitors. Today, we average between 2,000 and 6,000,” says Chidi. “And the ultimate goal is to satisfy patients. We have 200 positive reviews, powered automatically through Tebra. Tracking, publishing, and responding to reviews saves about $50,000 annually in admin time—equivalent to one full-time employee.”
“Tebra does our marketing for us. As a business owner responsible for paying salaries, you don’t want uncertainty between supporting your team and your clients. I have the staff, and Tebra helps ensure I have the clients.”
“With Tebra, I also review metrics regularly with our Tebra Success Coach to keep staffing and new referrals in balance. We track conversion rates for new referrals and other engagement data. With about 3,000 clients a week, we review metrics weekly to manage the business. This is one of the many ways Tebra helps us succeed.”
Lessons learned
“When I got my degree, technology and automation weren’t even part of the curriculum or conversation,” says Chidi. “My education about technology came from the need to run my practice efficiently so I could help more people.
“There’s a saying in healthcare: ‘If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.’ Tebra’s clinical charting and documentation tools, followed by its easy-to-use billing, were the most important additions when I started. Tebra helps keep our revenue cycle healthy.
“When I opened my first location, I felt purposeful and elated to create a safe space for people with specific communication needs.
“When I opened offices two, three, and four, I felt the same pride—but I also recognized new priorities to ensure the experience felt the same for clients and staff. I scaled the systems and services that worked in the first office, and I also had to consider details such as branding, marketing, and even font size to keep things consistent at every stage of finding, selecting, and working with us.
“Today, Tebra impacts my business most on the marketing side. The exposure it gives us online has been invaluable. Being able to market multiple locations and use the same platforms across the board is terrific.
“I don’t know how I could run four locations without this partnership.”
Better client experience through better employee experience
“With Tebra’s tracking, data analytics and ongoing customer education, my team is learning how to run a business. I often have them take Tebra courses—on reducing claim denials, improving patient engagement, and more—then we regroup to discuss why it matters and why these workflows should be automated.
“With Tebra, our team feels that they have a tool to succeed in their roles. It signals that we’re moving forward with a company that cares about the future and continuous improvement. The impact we have is changing children’s potential, strengthening family engagement and improving the communities where we work.”
“Another great thing about Tebra is that the EHR platform works for all healthcare providers, regardless of specialty. That has made it easier for us to add on other disciplines to the practice, like occupational therapy. Tebra helps us deliver more options for our patients and our teams.
“As a business owner, I use data to inform decisions that improve patient care. Many of our parents have children with special needs and are already in crisis. Making the process easier and getting them in faster is what I’m most proud of. We can fill a void in an area that often isn’t a positive experience for families seeking services.”
Removing obstacles to care
“Without Tebra, I would not be in practice. I probably would have chosen a different career. The breaking point would have been not having a way to automate, rinse and repeat to manage workflow while still delivering quality care. Having a way to do that is what keeps me going.
“I am regularly reminded that Tebra really cares about independent practices like mine every time I hear from my success coach. Tebra continuously offers new ideas and genuinely values feedback. That’s beautiful.
“Tebra helped me support a patient who was denied services. Their insurer wanted copies of all their chart notes and visit notes. Because the process is so streamlined, we logged in, printed the complete visit history, and sent it. Within a week, the services were authorized because the insurer could see the patient consistently attends therapy. It can feel like insurance companies are in the business of denying claims. With Tebra we remove doubt and fast-track continuity of care for patients in need.”
“I think about the heartbreak in a parent who is bringing in their child once a week and seeing the impact, only to be told that some paperwork might stop those services. With Tebra we removed that obstacle.”
Growing impact
“Over the next few years, my goal is to refine and leverage our current technology and tools to continue to improve patient experience and outcomes. We will continue to offer services that are related to why patients are coming to us, such as physical therapy and occupational therapy, and we may open up a few more locations,” says Chidi.
“I also want to deepen my marketing knowledge, which I’m realizing is very important the bigger my practice gets. I plan to keep pushing our growth with visibility and exposure.
“When people ask me how I’ve built a multiple-office practice, my answer is Tebra. I could not have scaled to where I’m at today without this all-in-one solution addressing all the challenges of running, growing and marketing an independent practice.
“I don’t have a PhD or a degree in public health, but I serve on national boards and advocate for our patients to address the crisis we are seeing in this population. When Tebra brings products, perspective and research to us, I use them. I share them with my team and I use them to learn and teach others.”
Michael Barber, SLP Assistant at Celebrations Speech Group adds a personal note that crystallizes the impact of this fast-growing team: “I get to celebrate small victories nearly every day, and to be there for big ones, like a kid’s first word. What better purpose could there be than that?”
Indeed, there is much for Chimezie Chidi, her staff and her patients to celebrate!
*Metrics Assumptions
Hidden Costs Table
Staffing Cost Assumptions (regional average salaries for Northern CA: Stockton, Elk Grove & Brentwood)
- Blended rate of Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP), ABA Therapists, Occupational Therapists: $40/hr
- Support/Admin Staff: $25/hr
| Hidden Cost Area | Before Tebra | After Tebra | Annual Savings (Est.) | Notes & Assumptions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billing & Payment Management | 45 clinicians losing ~10 hours per week of time to billing/scheduling (60 x 10 hours a week x 50 weeks @ a blended rate of $40/hour. | Automated billing + payments | $900K | Reclaimed clinical time + reduced claim denials |
| No-Show Reduction | ~50% no-show rate (~750 missed visits/week × $40/hr value × 50 weeks) | <1% no-shows | $1.125M | Weekly visits retained |
| Digital Note-Taking | Manual notes (45 providers × 30 clients/week × 15 min each @$40/hr blended rate ) | EHR auto-notes | $675K | $40/hr blended wage for SLP, ABA, OT |
| Reviews & Marketing | Manual tracking, outreach, posting | Automated review + reputation mgmt | $50K | 1 FTE admin @ $25/hr |
| Total Estimated Annual Savings | $2.75M | Depends on revenue recovery vs. cost savings |
