Spokane Occupation & Hand Therapy Inc. and Inspire Physical Therapy Spokane PS will merge to become Inspire Physical & Hand Therapy Spokane Inc., says Sean Sipe, Olympia, Wash.-based owner of both practices.

The merger will be effective as of Jan. 1, says Sipe.

Sipe purchased the hand therapy practice in 2014, although it’s been in the Spokane area since 1995, he says. He hadn’t previously merged the two companies because he was working on upgrading and consolidating offices, so the same services weren’t offered at each of the clinics.

“We weren’t sure at the time how long that process was going to be because we didn’t have our sites quite picked out, so I thought it was going to be something measured in years. It turned out that it happened all in about 13 months,” he says.

Spokane Occupational & Hand Therapy offers surgical and nonsurgical rehabilitation for hands, wrists, and elbows, says Sipe. Inspire Physical Therapy offers rehabilitation services as well for issues throughout the entire body, says Sipe.

Sipe says the two practices are merging into one company primarily because it’s a more efficient way to operate, and it will be easier from a branding and name recognition standpoint if both practices operate under the same name.

The two practices already share space at three Spokane-area offices, located at 601 W. Fifth, in the lower South Hill medical district; at 12410 E. Sinto, near Valley Hospital; and at 5905 N. Mayfair, near Providence Holy Family Hospital, he says. About 25 employees work for Spokane Occupational & Hand Therapy, and about 17 work for Inspire Physical Therapy. The same number of employees will remain after the merger.