5 Pros and Cons of Home Health Physical Therapy

[@edgarmichael3276]

Thank you very helpful video.

[@paulaaguilar5307]

Everywhere I have worked, therapists are not always on call. The nurses are. And no one expects anyone to respond to emails or calls when they are off. Also not knowing about a home health admission is rare. There is usually constant communication between the sales team and the patient up to and sometimes past the start of care visit. All other pros and cons are pretty spot on.

[@jenniferh189]

I agree with the comment that we are on call. If you want to get referrals, you better have your phone with you all the time. And if the agency needs something, an order or whatnot, they get crabby if you can’t get it to them quickly and that will impact your referral volume

[@dominicnonnenmacher9260]

Great info on home health! I’m a pre-pt student and definitely considering home health when I hopefully become a DPT in the future. If you had to start over would you still do home health? And does being on call 24/7 mean that you can’t go out and enjoy time off from working ?

[@TrevorMinerPTDPT]

I'd absolutely do home health again. Being on call essentially means you're available to answer questions or respond to concerns when whenever they arise. It's typically not a real time consuming thing, but it does make it so you can't just 100% forget about work after hours.

[@Km-xi2gh]

Great video! Learning the cons in an honest manner was especially helpful. Do you recommend new grads to avoid home health? I personally am very interested in starting in home health as soon as I graduate but I am worried that is an unwise professional choice.

[@TrevorMinerPTDPT]

It really depends on your personality type. You have to be motivated to find answers and be autonomous. I went straight into home health as a new grad and don't regret it in the slightest. I did a video on this topic as well that you may find useful.

[@konstant8437]

Just read your post. I personally advise against physical therapy as a career choice. With patients moving to Medicare Advantage plans due to great marketing but giving poor service, a lot of patients are tricked into this option instead of having original Medicare. There's a lot of headwinds against our profession. 1. Medicare advantage plans that only want to give very few visits regardless of patient condition. I have patients begging me to get more therapy. Medicare advantage makes it impossible to give them proper care with low reimbursement and very few visits allowed. 2. Onset of PDPM and PDGM made physical therapy a liability meaning we actually cost the company money. the way it is set up is the company will get a lump sum based on acuity and diagnosis alone. This means that it is not in favor of the companies to give more visits than they should. The less care they gave patients the more money they kept in their pockets. 3. aside from the years and the debt. If you want to be a good therapist, you are doing back breaking work helping patients transfers and spending the time with them. you will get paid the same as another therapist who slacks off but writes a good note. if you want to be a doctor, be a REAL MD. we studied a lot but the work we actually do does not require a "doctorate" degree.

[@khamrynhendricks3891]

I love the video! I am currently a first year PTA student and thinking about going into home health after graduating. Could you give detail on working with your PTA if possible?

[@TrevorMinerPTDPT]

What would you like to know? You'll need to be aware of supervision requirements from your state. Many states require a year of direct supervision before indirect supervision is allowed.

[@CyclingMartialartswithMusic]

Any update? You still like it?

[@TrevorMinerPTDPT]

Absolutely. I really can't see working in any other setting.

[@monabebe1]

Does the on call apply to PTA's in home heath as well?

[@TrevorMinerPTDPT]

Not so much. Evaluating clinicians tend to carry the brunt of the downsides in home health.