Legislation Aims to Remove Home Health Therapy Barriers

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would enable occupational therapists to open Medicaid home health cases.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced legislation in the House and Senate that would enable occupational therapists to open Medicare home health cases, making home health therapy services more accessible.

The two identical bills, H.R. 3127 in the House and S.1725 in the Senate, more commonly known as the Medicare Home Health Flexibility Act of 2019, aim to change the current Medicare rules, which allows nurses, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists to establish eligibility for home health services, but not occupational therapists. The legislation is being hailed as an attempt by lawmakers to reduce delays in care, as well as to make it easier for older adults to access home health care.

“It’s commonsense that the earlier seniors can start needed therapies, the sooner treatments can start having a positive effect,” Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Finance Health Care Subcommittee and Sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. “Home health services are a critical part of our health care system, and I am proud to partner with Senator [Todd] Young on this legislation that will help to streamline the process for initiating Medicare home health therapy services for Maryland seniors and others nationwide who need home care while recovering from injury or illness.”

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

PT, OT, and SLP Salaries in Every State

Using the latest data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we dug up the average salaries for PTs, OTs, and SLPs across the United States.

Using the latest data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we dug up the average salaries for PTs, OTs, and SLPs across the United States. How does your salary stack up against the average? Find out below.

State Physical Therapist
Average Annual Salary:
Occupational Therapist
Average Annual Salary:
Speech Language Pathologist
Average Annual Salary:
Alabama $90,620 $83,810 $71,240
Alaska $99,180 $86,860 $83,620
Arizona $88,800 $94,800 $74,710
Arkansas $81,430 $81,810 $73,660
California $97,110 $95,160 $93,510
Colorado $82,560 $89,770 $90,980
Connecticut $96,010 $90,780 $92,280
Delaware $93,880 $86,020 $81,440
District of Columbia $89,750 $94,360 $93,570
Florida $87,410 $81,520 $76,820
Georgia $86,320 $82,060 $77,730
Hawaii $90,540 $83,010 $76,330
Idaho $77,700 $81,230 $74,740
Illinois $90,690 $83,940 $77,120
Indiana $83,680 $79,870 $73,780
Iowa $82,960 $80,740 $76,020
Kansas $85,250 $78,720 $70,280
Kentucky $84,630 $79,460 $72,440
Louisiana $89,860 $85,490 $71,270
Maine $76,910 $72,160 $65,540
Maryland $85,170 $89,230 $84,960
Massachusetts $91,750 $87,160 $85,720
Michigan $91,160 $77,940 $78,220
Minnesota $83,750 $74,050 $75,590
Mississippi $89,720 $81,590 $64,560
Missouri $81,330 $75,120 $77,790
Montana $79,050 $74,940 $64,580
Nebraska $80,130 $76,850 $69,110
Nevada $107,920 $100,970 $77,620
New Hampshire $82,880 $79,850 $73,630
New Jersey $97,770 $96,600 $95,000
New Mexico $97,210 $81,660 $74,800
New York $87,470 $88,370 $90,820
North Carolina $87,560 $84,390 $75,310
North Dakota $78,120 $67,420 $67,340
Ohio $86,690 $85,720 $78,200
Oklahoma $84,860 $82,240 $81,700
Oregon $85,890 $90,720 $87,610
Pennsylvania $87,050 $81,030 $79,530
Rhode Island $83,850 $83,600 $80,450
South Carolina $85,450 $78,470 $71,600
South Dakota $76,200 $69,390 $58,860
Tennessee $82,920 $84,870 $77,140
Texas $92,940 $89,360 $75,800
Utah $85,940 $85,300 $78,840
Vermont $75,010 $76,840 $73,550
Virginia $91,700 $93,010 $86,090
Washington $85,930 $81,250 $73,220
West Virginia $89,420 $81,080 $61,070
Wisconsin $85,200 $73,390 $70,560
Wyoming $87,510 $82,010 $80,470

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Transitioning into a Career as a Traveling Therapist

Traveling therapy roles are abundant, and they can do wonders for therapists who may be feeling as if they have stagnated in their current role or setting.

Traveling therapy roles are abundant—for instance, check out these great nationwide therapy opportunities from our friends at Princeton Staffing Solutions—and they do wonders for therapy professionals who may be feeling as if they have stagnated in their current role or setting. If you’re interested in taking on your first travel therapist role, here are some tips on how to get started.

  1. Start with a Map: If you are going to cross state lines, you will need to seek licensure in the state or states you are aiming for. By narrowing down your search and beginning the credentialing process in specific states, you will be setting yourself up to work in your ideal location. The process can take a few months, so it is important to start in on this right away, or partner with the right staffing company to help you expedite the process (but more on that later).
  2. Narrow It Down: One of the best things about travel therapy positions is that they offer variety. Decide what type of setting you are looking to work in, and how long of a contract you are seeking. Most travel therapy contracts can range from 8 to 26 weeks, or even the length of an entire school year, depending on what setting you land in.
  3. Get Connected: Partnering with the right recruiter or staffing company can make all the difference in landing your dream travel role. From getting you into your ideal contract to handling travel plans and housing or licensure, it is essential to have them in your corner.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

PTs, OTs Land Spots on List of Highest-Paying Jobs in Healthcare

PTs and OTs are being recognized as top earners in healthcare and are featured on a newly released list of the top ten highest paying careers in the field.

Physical therapists and occupational therapists are being recognized as top earners in healthcare by CNBC, being featured on their newly released list of the top ten highest paying careers in the field.

PTs ranked eighth on the list, with a median annual salary of $86,850, besting OTs in ninth place by only $3,650.

Positions that outrank PTs and OTs in annual earnings include physician assistants, optometrists, nurse anesthetists/midwives/practitioners, pharmacists, podiatrists, dentists, and physicians/surgeons.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

5 Reasons to Consider Travel Therapy

Travel therapy jobs come with unique advantages that you just plain cannot find at your neighborhood clinic or SNF. Here are five of them.

If you are a new graduate, or even a seasoned therapy professional with a sense of adventure, now might be the time to consider the unique opportunity available to you that is travel therapy. Often 13-week contract jobs, located more than 50 miles from your home, travel therapy positions typically include benefits that you cannot find in at home. Here are five reasons consider signing on the dotted line and packing your bags.

  1. Travel the Country: Travel is an obvious perk. Taking on travel assignments allows you to get out and see the world—or at least far corners of the United States—all while getting paid for it.
  2. Enjoy Variety: As a travel therapist, you can work in a variety of settings, with all kinds of populations, and really find your career sweet spot, while not looking like you’re just aimlessly bouncing from job to job.
  3. Get Paid More: Travel therapists, on average, have the opportunity to earn 20% more than their counterparts who do not travel.
  4. Avoid Burnout: One of the keys to staving off burnout is avoiding repetition, the daily grind, and you can do so by changing the scenery 13 weeks at a time.
  5. Get Truly Beneficial Benefits: Travel assignments often come with benefits you cannot find at your local SNF or clinic, including tuition reimbursement, license reimbursements, travel reimbursements, free housing, medical, vision, dental, and more.

Ready to see what’s out there? We have hundreds of travel therapy jobs available on our site in Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Subscription Box Keeps Senior Therapy Going After You Leave

The gift box, created and curated by two COTAs, keeps senior citizens connected to their families, while also keeping them active, independent, and engaged.

Last year, while doing their clinicals in a nursing home, COTAs Holly Masters and Ali Izzo witnessed a constant disconnect between the elderly residents and their families. They saw sadness, loneliness, and boredom in the residents. And they decided to do something about it.

The Purpose Therapy Box was born.

The Purpose Therapy Box is a subscription-based gift box, which families of senior citizens can purchase online with “set it and forget it” ease, and deliver joy to their elderly loved ones by way of the U.S. Postal Service. Each box contains functional and thoughtful items—but never food items, as Holly and Ali are mindful of possible food restrictions—and they are delivered on a one-time or quarterly basis, as selected by the family. Each box is delivered directly to their loved one, and is packed full of thoughtful, personal gifts, such as photos and messages from the family, as well as items that are hand-picked by the COTAs, meaning the often-included brain teasers, puzzles, and more are not only fun, but useful from a therapy standpoint.

“Our main focus for the box is to keep families connected, as well as to keep the person who is receiving the box independent, stimulate their mind, and keep them active. With therapy, especially Occupational Therapy, our main focus is trying to keep them as independent as possible. Someone in a nursing home is only receiving therapy for thirty minutes, maybe an hour, in a day. We send things in the box that they can use all the time, or on the weekends, and keep their therapy going,” Ali explained, when asked how the box assists the elderly, and what value it adds to the traditional therapy they are already receiving.

Holly and Ali are hoping to launch a profit-sharing model for other OTs and OTAs to recommend the box, in the future.

To learn more about the Purpose Therapy Box—or if your patients’ families are interested in learning more—we encourage you to visit purposetherapybox.com.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Self-Care Tips for the Back-to-School Therapist

Take a look at a few helpful self-care tips for the busy school-based therapist. Because you can’t take care of others, if you don’t take care of yourself, first.

It’s that time again—with some schools across the country already back in session, and others headed back any day now, school-based therapists are likely feeling excited or overwhelmed, or some form of both. While you, as a well-educated therapy professional, are well versed in self-care, coping skills, and stress management in relation to your patients, you must remember to take care of yourself, as well. Here are some tips to make sure you stay centered, while the 2018-2019 schoolyear kicks into high gear.

Schedule Buffers into Your Day
A lot of being a school-based therapist revolves around structure and scheduling, but if you schedule things back-to-back-to-back, you’re bound to run yourself into the ground, and things will rarely go exactly as planned, anyhow. A session may run over time, or you may find yourself trapped in a conversation with a parent or coworker for far longer than you meant to. Leave yourself time to breathe—or run to the bathroom—between sessions, and you’ll be much better off.

Check in with Yourself
At the end of your day, check in with yourself in the form of some cognitive behavioral therapy, such as journaling. Research has shown that focusing on positive aspects of your day, and writing them down, can be greatly beneficial. Try making a list of three to five positive things that happened during your day, or that you and/or your students accomplished, before going to bed at night.

Unplug after Hours
It’s easy to get invested in your work. After all, you didn’t get into therapy because you don’t care. However, in caring for yourself, too, you need to leave work at work. Establish and maintain boundaries to keep yourself from burning out. Instead, fill your off hours with healthy hobbies or activities, such as gardening, cooking, or yoga, or even just treat yourself to a nice, long bath every now and then.

Remember, caring for yourself enables you to better care for others, so as the school year picks up speed and you find yourself busier and busier, step back, breathe, and get some rest. Everything is going to be okay.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Occupational Therapists and the Benefits of Yoga

A new study finds that incorporating the positive holistic influence of yoga practice into your OT practice could have many benefits for patients.

Over the past few decades, practicing yoga—the 5,000-year-old practice of asanas, or postures, designed to align your skin, muscles, and bone—has significantly caught on for many in the Western world, not only as a means of staying fit, but as a method of self-care. For Occupational Therapists, an increased knowledge of yoga may help to prepare them to meet the needs of clients in today’s ever-changing health care landscape. A recent study explored the perceptions of OTs and yoga practitioners on the health benefits of practicing yoga, as well as the role yoga could play within the scope of Western medicine, and found that, given the long history of yoga as a self-care strategy and its proven health benefits, there is a need to further explore incorporating yoga into the scope of traditional OT practice.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Sensory Strategies for the School Based OT

For the child with sensory challenges, the classroom can be an overwhelming place—OTs can help ease their struggle with these strategies.

from The OT Toolbox

For the child with sensory challenges, the classroom can be an overwhelming place. All of the sensory systems are touched on in the classroom. When sensory systems are challenged, learning is a struggle. School based OTs are often times consulted when students struggle with physical or sensory issues that result in educational deficits. Previously, The OT Toolbox has shared free ways to incorporate sensory motor experiences into the classroom. You might be looking for more resources that can be used to address many sensory needs in the classroom. Read on for sensory resources for the school based occupational therapist and strategies that can be incorporated into OT in the school.

Read More →

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

The Role of Therapy in Alzheimer’s Treatment

Because there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, PT and OT are about making the patient’s remaining years as wonderful and enjoyable as possible.

When we discuss occupational and physical therapy, certain things come to mind. Occupational therapy is often viewed through the lens of helping the developmentally disabled lead lives that are as productive and normal as possible. Physical therapy tends to be thought of in terms of recovery from accidents, surgeries, and debilitating illnesses. Yet it turns out both therapies are crucial in Alzheimer’s treatment. Those who work in such therapy jobs are dealing with a different kind of patient and, ultimately, a different outcome. But the role they play in treating patients is still important.

Alzheimer’s disease is a form of degenerative dementia that claims the lives of its victims in nearly every case. And because there is no cure for Alzheimer’s at this time, physical and occupational therapy is about making the patient’s remaining years as wonderful and enjoyable as possible. This kind of therapy requires a different way of thinking. It means doing the best you can today despite knowing that your patient will eventually succumb to the disease.

Occupational Therapy for Alzheimer’s Patients

Occupational therapists are trained to focus most of their attentions on what clients can do rather than what they cannot do. For example, most Alzheimer’s patients can maintain the ability to walk normally until the latest stages of the disease. But walking might be affected by imbalance issues. An occupational therapist might work with the family to declutter certain areas of the home in order to make walking safer.

Along those same lines, the therapist may observe an Alzheimer’s patient become agitated about household clutter or a particular furniture arrangement. He or she will work with the family or other caregivers to rectify the situation so the patient does not get agitated as frequently.

Occupational therapy for Alzheimer’s treatment is all about making the patient’s remaining years as enjoyable as possible. It concentrates on the positive aspects of daily life so that patients and their families can make the most of their remaining time together.

Physical Therapy for Alzheimer’s Patients

Physical therapy plays a very different role in Alzheimer’s treatment. In fact, it is directed both toward the patient and his or her caregivers. Therapists work with patients to overcome diminishing physical abilities as the disease progresses. For example, the therapist may help the patient overcome eating difficulties in order to maintain as much independence as possible.

Therapists also work with caregivers, especially during the later stages of the disease. They will teach caregivers how to help the patient out of bed, how to properly bathe the patient, and so on. This form of treatment is about providing appropriate care for patients without compromising the health of caregivers.

The physical therapist is also in an excellent position to explain to caregivers what’s going on with patients as their physical abilities begin to diminish. The combination of compassion and knowledge therapists bring to the table makes it easier for caregivers to understand the physical challenges patients are going through, increasing their own empathy and compassion at the same time.

Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating disease that takes its toll on far too many families every year. Researchers are feverishly looking for successful treatments and an ultimate cure, with the hope that one day the disease will be just a distant memory. Until that day comes, occupational and physical therapists will be significant contributors in the treatment of the illness.

Therapy jobs involving Alzheimer’s patients are both challenging and rewarding. For those who do it well, there is great satisfaction in helping patients and their families enjoy a better quality of life despite the disease.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.