If you are in LinkedIn, there is a discussion about Home Health PT. I did a copy-and-paste of the main points below:
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From one poster:
I did it for a few years here is what I think:
1) You must be comfortable being on your own...very little interaction with any other person on the team, often times you may never even meet the other caregivers...
2) Be very familiar with medical issues, you need to have the mind set of SNF/hospital WAY more than outpatient in the way you think, create a care plan, document, etc.
3) Learn the federal laws, only takes about 2 hours to read the CMS benefit manual about home health, good place to get some grounded info
4) be prepared for a LOT of phone calls, faxes, emails, and PAPERWORK, more so than actual patient time
5) There is a lot on the line, so you must be AWESOME documented
6) Patients are older, and less tolerant to tardiness etc, need to be a great time predictor and time manager
7) Be prepared for crazy days, inevitably, a patient will not call and cancel and throw off your day as you get a new patient 50 miles away where you just were, etc, you MUST roll with the punches
8) Love to eat in your car! learn where the clean bathrooms are around town! Get ready to put insane mileage on your car! Get ready to go through tires, breaks, oil changes, and gas like you have never done before!
9) Lots of meetings! LOTS of meetings!
10) It is a nurse hierarchy like a hospital, know your role...
11) Learn to balance patient expectation, physician expectations, agency expectations, family expectations, and what the federal laws allow, and let the federal laws trump all, just set the bar at realism and don't over promise, and you will be fine...
12) FLEXIBILITY....you have a work week 7 days, to get things done, you can often take a 2 day off period in the middle of the week even and get everything done just fine...very flexible but most patients want between 10 and 3...not many before, not many after, plan your day appropriately!
13) Work 7 days a week or work 2, very flexible!
14) GREAT pay, one of the best paying jobs in therapy
15) Will not get much clinical satisfaction...if you are used to acute neuro or fast paced outpatient etc, you will feel like your clinical skills are being wasted and eroding, and you will not feel very challenged clinically as much as all the other things, the paperwork, time management, etc. Don't go into this for clinical self rewarding.
From another poster:
I've seen some patients on their homes and stopped for the following reasons:
1 - paperwork is too much
2 - unfamiliarity with the ever changing and updating regulations esp. my role as a PT
3 - long travel time and traffic in NYC; a lot of time is wasted in traveling and paperwork doesn't weigh the reimbursement
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