Future of Physical Therapy

[Ajackson]

To the guys who are practicing PT (or have been for a while)...what are your thoughts on the future of this profession?

I know there are changes coming to SNFs next October, so the word going around that there might be a lot of job cuts, lowered salaries etc, and for OP is that if patient is treated by PTAs then the facility will only be reimbursed at the rate of 85%.

No idea what APTA is doing, and our scope of practice isnt growing either.

What are your thoughts?

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[beestrng]

To the guys who are practicing PT (or have been for a while)...what are your thoughts on the future of this profession?

I know there are changes coming to SNFs next October, so the word going around that there might be a lot of job cuts, lowered salaries etc, and for OP is that if patient is treated by PTAs then the facility will only be reimbursed at the rate of 85%.

No idea what APTA is doing, and our scope of practice isnt growing either.

What are your thoughts?

Not a PT, but there is a decrease in jobs in general in my area for both PT and OT. SNFs are hiring/hired a lot of COTAs and PTAs.

 

[deleted797640]

I think there will def. be a decrease in hiring of PTA's since now MC will not reimburse at the same rate as a PT. Also with the new reimbursement method for MC of it being based on results could hurt PT since a lot of patient results can be based on patient compliance. Who knows I'm still in school hoping its not too bad when I graduate.

 

[AP191]

The director of a SNF where I used to work said there will be major changes in the coming years in regards to PTAs and COTAs. Many PTs have said that they would not recommend students to attend physical therapy assistant school, go straight for PT school, or do something different entirely. Whether this will contribute to changes in PT compensation or number of hours available for PTs in SNFs is yet to be seen.

 

[Ajackson]

After talking to more seasons PTs (who've been practicing for more than a decade) they say that every time there is a change in the system people panic. People were losing sleep when the PPS system was introduced in the SNFs, and there were job cuts and pay cuts, but everything went back to normal (with the therapists re-gaining their employment in the same facility), after the dust settled not too long after the introduction of PPS.