I've met CHTs that have made close to the six figures. I do agree that insurance/where u work plays a big part.... At the end of the day u can make pretty good money in just about any area of OT if u "play" the system right
@resot it's the biggest rumor in OT, and for some reason it keeps getting perpetuated. I think part of it is that CHTs have to take an additional exam, so naturally people assume they get paid more. I have not seen that in my level II, I have heard CHTs say they regret taking the exam and bothering with all the trouble, since salary is the same nearly, and in many cases worse than other settings. I 110% agree with you that our salary is intimately tied to reimbursement, and reimbursement is going down; we already have the therapy cap at $1900 per patient, and the cap is set to expire in a few years. I don't have faith that AOTA will successfully repeal efforts to recap us once it expires.
@cb31 I want to address your points:
You're right to state that if a therapist works very hard she or he can make a decent salary. I would hesitate to ever say we make "great" money if you factor in the amount of debt some of the students here are taking on. For example, a student who attends Samuel Merritt will pay around 130k for an OT degree. Factor in the additional undergrad debt.
The average OT salary is 75k, I posted a thread on salary stats. Average salary for a starting OT is about 50-65k and those salaries hit a ceiling relatively quickly. Very few OTs working 9-5 jobs make 6 figures, and insurance reimbursement is why that is the case. Why would a company pay you 100k a year? For example, in my clinic I routinely bill for 1 hour of therapy I provide to clients who need it (4 units) and nearly all the insurance companies will pay us for just 1/2 hour of therapy (2 units). I could make a laundry list of the time, and modalities we employ that just are not billed. We have cascade billing now too: if you provide a service reimbursement shrinks as time goes on; this is to incentivize you to use less time and cost the insurance company less. The insurance companies count on the fact that we care about our patients and will provide them services which we just won't be paid for; and of course we do.
In turn your employer will often place pressure for you to take on more clients to take into account the time you aren't being paid for. If you expect to make $50 an hour, you have to ask yourself: am I bringing in many times that amount to my company? If not, you're not likely going to make that much money.
I think we are teetering at the point where our degree is poised to become less palatable, and people with the skill set we have may take a second glance at other fields with similar debt amounts and higher incomes.
I must say I love this field; but, I have no delusion that I'll make great money. I'll make a living, hopefully a middle class one.
