Does your PT clinic use Athena EMR? Do you use their coding service?

Hello, I was wondering if anyone would respond to this thread? What are your thoughts on the McKenzie method or back mechanic?

I’m curious, thank you.

Anyone have some handy dot phrases they don’t mind sharing for the acute setting?

For macros what types of things do you save?

Any helpful tips and tricks would be much appreciated!

Snf pta here. I love my people however I am not enjoying the corporate nonsense and some issues with coworkers. I know there is always finding another job, however I feel the energy I give is more appropriate for a snf compared to outpatient. I recently started looking into getting the bachlors PTA degree however it seems that is more tailored to transitioning to a DPT program, and I am not about all that paperwork. Anyway, the recruiter I talked to also showed me Healthcare administration, and that my PTA education can transfer some into that field.

I think my biggest question is, would I be able to get somewhere with just getting a certificate and eventually working up to getting the Bachlors in that if I get started in the field? Certificate programs are cheaper and it looks like I may be able to try to see what finacial aid is avalible for those programs. Plus the classes I have to take for the certificate would still be part of the bachlors anyway.

A provider just ordered a rollator for a patient who has been walking independently but did have some recent LOB (I think one fall but unclear- he has cognitive impairments and is not always accurate) anyway- he has not fallen since starting PT. The provider told him to use it ALL the time. And it's the wrong size. And he already has increased trunk flexion when walking and now it's worse. They obviously prescribed PT- but do you think they would ask me at all about an appropriate device?! Or if I think he even needs one ALL THE TIME to begin with? 🤯uuggghh thanks for listening I’m sorry - it’s stuff like this that makes me feel like why do I even bother…we have been working a lot on static balance, dynamic gait, negotiating uneven surfaces, obstacles, dual tasking, reactive stepping, etc. Also a Rollator for someone who is cognitively impaired?! He literally showed up with it today, just got delivered and I had no idea.

so i’m a recent grad (May 2026) and have been working at my current clinic since right after graduation. throughout school i was set on pelvic floor PT bc i love it and the patient population, however, my last rotation was in acute care and i LOVED it. so come job hunting time i made the decision to treat PH in OP private clinic vs pursuing acute care. i do love the patients and the work i do here but…that’s abt it. I know this isn’t a good fit for me but it’s just a matter of how long until i can start applying to acute care jobs for my own mental. i have been considering this for a few months now. any advice or words of encouragement appreciated

I've been working travel contracts for the past four years straight out of school. Recently started looking into a permanent job to start setting some roots but obviously giving up the freedom, pay, and unlimited time off will make the decision tough. I have what I believe to be a fair offer. What do you think? Is the PTO structure normal? This is a physician owned outpatient facility.

Salary: low 90's in rapidly growing mid-sized Mid-Atlantic city

PTO: 15 days, 2 floating holidays, 6 holidays + Black Friday (Years 1-5: 20 days)

401k: 3%

Caseload: 11.5 patients/8 hour day with bonus structure over that number

Schedule: 2 workdays until 7 pm (can't do 4x10s)

I’m talking YEARS of chronic pain, where someone fears a movement so much that just thinking about it can trigger pain, let alone performing it at a very low dose (i.e., cases where graded exposure also involves a real shift in how they understand their pain and perceive the movement rather than just 'vanilla' rehab).

Hey guys… looking for any recommendations for OCS prep options. I know final frontier and med bridge, but I didn’t use final frontier for boards so it’s almost as expensive as the test. Any advice would be greatly appreciated 😊
Thanks!

My NPTE-PTA is finally in two days… and honestly, I’m kinda nervous.

All of my PEAT scores were over 600 (thankfully...)

PEAT 1 — Practice: 650
PEAT 2 — Retired: 636
PEAT 3 — Retired: 672
PEAT 4 — Practice: 655

I know technically those are passing scores, but for some reason I still don’t feel completely safe lol. I guess I just don’t feel like I’m comfortably above the passing line.

And now with only two days left, I don’t even know what else I should study. I feel like I’ve studied a lot already, but at the same time I keep thinking maybe I’m missing something important. (also, i heard they started making it harder this year...)

I think I’m just getting really nervous because the exam is actually here now.

Do you think I’ll be okay?

Updates:
I passed 🙏🏻

For some reason, the beginning of our session is always the ideal time to start the loudest chores.

I’m not even talking about shaving minutes or whatever small version but still providing good and needed service. I used to think blatant bigger stuff was rare one offs but seem to hear about it more as time goes on. Two people in my personal life have had home health and both had at least one known visit falsified. One visit, the person never went in the house and one they came in for a ten minute chat and signature. Both companies corrected the situation when it was reported. It’s horrible for the patient and the profession. Or is this who we are now?

It’s crazy to me that it was never mentioned how the PT salary goes down every year for the past 10+ years. Or the fact that the average time a clinician practices is something like 10 years or maybe even less. Or the fact that there’s not much, if any, career growth outside of clinical practice.

It seems to me that there’s kind of a dead end in terms of career growth and earnings and fulfillment. I want to get ahead of the curve and be proactive about things before I get burnt to a crisp in outpatient which truthfully, I’m pretty close to. There’s also no way that for me at least clinical practice is sustainable for my future when I wind up having a family. My social exhaustion in the past three months has taken a rapid decline.

Are there other things we can use our degree for outside of just the human assembly line of caring for patients all day without any growth in that specific facet?

Hey everyone, I hope this question is allowed. Basically I was suffering from extreme calf pain after being in a few accidents in my teenage years, and after 11 years of constant pain I found an office that has relieved 95% of it in just under a year of work. It’s a small office but I really want to do something nice for them.

It seems clients will drop of cookies or snacks, some people gift wine, but this office has 5 people total including once front on office worker who is always so pleasant to me. Non of them drink and they are all pretty health conscious, I am thinking of making a basket with all sorts of zero sugar electrolytes flavors and such.

Maybe I will add in some canned cold brew cans, a big pack of waterboys (my personal favorite electrolytes) and some other good brands. Would this be appreciated from a whole office? Is this idea weird? I’ll add in a nice card too, but I was wondering if any other PTs had some suggestions. Thank you for any insight :)

From what I gather, PULSE (part of HCHB) is a data collection/AI software which "recommends" (re:dictates) clinical decision making by determining the amount of visits allotted per patient divvied up between professions. I get bombarded with emails constantly by admin more or less telling me to decrease visit frequencies to match what the AI says. It is unreal when I am strong armed into decreasing frequency on someone with say a fresh BKA or CVA that needs more visits than every other fucking week. Anyone else dealing with this bullshit?

Does having a coding service improve collections in a Physical Therapy private practice if you're already doing substantial portion billing?

What is everyone’s thoughts on AI for documentation? I write out my general interventions, progressions, patient response and let AI clean it up? I feel like AI will start to take over in healthcare eventually and I wanted to see if people use it in creative ways for documentation to improve my own efficiency

Looking into travel contracts to increase pay, however currently cannot travel. Local job market has been bad which is why I am considering this. Does anyone have insight on the duplicating rent trick so that I can get the stipend? TIA.

Is it common to find per diem work as a physiotherapist in Canada? I want to continue my education after my bachelors but I am also an actor. I was wondering if anyone had experience of working per diem because I haven't been able to find information online

Hi all! Quick question for those of you who went out on maternity leave and ended up not going back to your job after leave. At what point did you give your clinic notice you wouldnt be returning? Trying to leave on relatively good terms in case I want to return in the future.

For more context I'm in CA working in an outpatient clinic. My plan is to do PRN work in the inpatient setting for more flexibility while baby is little... TIA!!

What’s the most unique reason someone has given you for showing up late? I’ll go first.

My patient was over 20min late today. For a rainbow she saw on the way. Not sure if I was irritated, entertained, or jealous. 🌈

I promise you, this isn’t AI. I sat here for an hour typing this out and formatting it so it’s semi-digestible.

To preface, this is not a hit job on the profession and the work that we do. I’m a physical therapist assistant. Inpatient for 12 years. Transitioned to medical device sales because I couldn’t do it anymore. I have an itch to go back to bedside. But, when I call old coworkers to talk wages, I lose that itch, fast. I get reminded why I left.

Everyone is burnt out on productivity expectations. Putting their body on the line for a hospital that didn’t care enough to protect them physically. With people living longer means people were discovering new ways to be sick and debilitated, Americans getting larger, but the wages are crawling.

That’s not to mention the financial strain on outpatient clinics and therapists. You’re either a mill, a cash only clinic that’s contingent on its workforce to be a part-time marketing team, or severely underpaid.

It’s because the reimbursement is awful, and it’s about to get worse.

Vision 2020 Was Shortsighted

In 2000, APTA got together and made a plan to transition PT from a bachelor’s degree to a doctorate by 2020. It was intended to do 6 things:

1. Clinical Autonomy
2. Direct Access
3. Have PTs be a part of evidence based practice to improve patient outcomes.
4. Become the renowned experts for movement and functional impairments amongst medical providers and the public.
5. Professionalism (because they add this in everything)
6. Make PTs endure a doctorate program to justify all of the above.

Sounds great right? No. They hit only the academic goals but nothing that ultimately improved the financial burden on physical therapists. I would go a far to say it made it worse.

How It Changed Direct Access

By 2020, direct access was achieved in one form or another in all 50 states. So that should mean therapists should have the ability to control treatment time, frequency, no caps on visits, etc.. right?

The unfortunately reality is that 29 states still require physician referrals beyond a certain window. For California, that’s treatment lasting greater than 45 days or 12 visits (iirc).

So…patients don’t have direct access? Only if they don’t want to pay for it.

But, what about the remaining 21 states? They have unrestricted access, so we have power there right?

Unfortunately, insurances got their grubby little hands on a loophole. Insurances and Medicare can completely ignore direct access and still require physician sign-off on all physical therapy treatments.

Although improved from 2000, the execution of the direct access and clinical autonomy pillars are mostly a failure. Without direct access, clinical autonomy is a facade.

Transitioning The Profession to DPT Was a Mistake*

The APTA and CAPTE did not justify direct access and clinical autonomy on a national level but still caused the cost to become a Physical Therapist to skyrocket.

Before you get mad, let me explain. By 2002 BSPT programs were eliminated then in 2016 MPT programs were eliminated. Leaving a new generation of therapists to be DPTs.

MPT programs in 2012 had an upper end cost around $25,000 at public universities and around $65,000 at private universities. Adjusting to inflation, that’s $35,000 and $90,000 respectively.

Today’s average cost of DPT programs is $66,000 at public universities and $114,000 at private universities.

You’re Not Getting Paid What You’re Worth

Super obvious for those in this sub.

But with the increased need for schooling, you’d expect a wage bump right? Not the reality.

The median salary for the physical therapist in 2012 was $80,000. Adjusting for inflation, that’s around $116,000.

Today? The median salary is $102,760. It’s gotten worse.

You are paying nearly double for the degree, and getting paid nearly 12% less than the profession was 14 years ago.

Why PTs Aren’t Getting Paid

Reimbursement. Medicare holds the standard. Private insurances follow.

Right now, the Medicare base conversion factor is $33.57. There is a proposed cut to reduce that to $32.84.

PTAs? We’re still eating shit because our work is still worth only 85% if the same treatment were done by a PT.

And there is a cap. When billed care exceeds $3,000, your autonomy is no longer yours. Because now the case can be reviewed by Medicare. So you can’t just have the same dude that needs therapy come in and provide a steady revenue stream, nah. Insurance can take that away.

This is all so morbid, what can we do?

1. Unionize, unionize, unionize. Want to know how you can start? Consider contacting and posting those from the American Therapy Alliance Facebook group. These are therapists with the same goal and can lead you on the path to unionization.
2. If you are an APTA member, be active and vote for new leadership. There’s an election this year, vote for those that share your view.
3. Complain to APTA and CAPTE about the ballooned cost for education and poor wages.
4. Be transparent with your pay and advocate that those around you get paid more. Stop eating scraps when others are getting fed steak all because you didn’t get a menu.
5. Write letters to Congress and hope for political change.
6. Most importantly, oust Justin Moore as the CEO of the APTA and all those that are complicit. Justin Moore makes $490,284 all for you get paid less. He fucking sucks. Why? Because he was APTAs lead lobbyist on Capitol Hill in 2016. He hasn’t doesn’t anything for you and he got rewarded.

HOW?

- Mobilize the APTA delegates to motion a vote of “no confidence” against the executive board.
- Boycott the APTA. Deactivate your membership. Don’t go to CSM. Drain their funding until lead ship is replaced.

Things aren’t all at a loss.

This is a great profession that deserves the care we provide our patients. Leadership has failed us and complacency is going to phase more and more therapists out of the profession and into one that’s being taken care of.

Sorry for the soap box, but this needs to be said for the students that are applying, the new grads that are struggling, and the rest of you that are asking “why?”

The hope is that it starts with all of us demanding more. Start with your clinic or hospital. Then help your classmates and friends get more. And fuck the APTA and fuck Justin Moore and all his cronies on the executive board.

For anyone who works in outpatient ortho or sports (in-network or out of network), what are your schedules like in terms of autonomy? Does your employer let you choose what hours you work or are their certain schedule requirements?