What does a home care physical therapist do?
A Home Care Physical Therapist provides therapy services defined in treatment plans in residential settings. They work with physicians, case managers, and adjustors. Their patients include accident victims and individuals with disabilities such as heart disease or fractures.
Home care physical therapist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real home care physical therapist resumes:
- Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
- Complete documentation and billing for Medicare and Medicaid base on federal and state laws.
- Deliver home-based physical therapy services to adult patients with general medical and orthopedic conditions.
- Show true sympathy and compassion for optimal results.
- Administer manual exercises, massage or traction to relieve pain, increase function and prevent deformity.
- Practice specialties with certifications in vestibular rehabilitation and fall prevention.
- Maximize reimbursement due to knowledge and proficiency in Medicare regulations and documentation.
- Provide seating evaluations and make recommendations for appropriate wheelchairs for patients including need for power mobility.
- Consult with physicians and other health care workers, assuring satisfactory patient progress during different phases of rehabilitation
- Administer therapeutic hot packs, cold packs and personally handle various electrical stimulation treatments; ultrasound, electrical stimulation.
- Evaluate a variety of injuries and post-operative conditions including ACLR, RTCR, TKR, etc.
Home care physical therapist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 35% of Home Care Physical Therapists are proficient in Patients, Home Health, and Rehabilitation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Detail oriented, and Dexterity.
We break down the percentage of Home Care Physical Therapists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 35%
Provided seating evaluations and made recommendations for appropriate wheelchairs for patients including need for power mobility.
- Home Health, 24%
Provided home health services to Council Bluffs and surrounding areas.
- Rehabilitation, 13%
Consulted with physicians and other health care workers, assuring satisfactory patient progress during different phases of rehabilitation
- Restore Function, 5%
Provided physical therapy to restore function, improve mobility, and prevent or limit permanent physical disabilities among acutely ill patients.
- Medicare, 4%
Maximized reimbursement due to knowledge and proficiency in Medicare regulations and documentation.
- Direct Patient Care, 3%
Direct patient care to post operative and non-surgical orthopedic patients in a physician owned physical therapy practice.
"patients," "home health," and "rehabilitation" are among the most common skills that home care physical therapists use at work. You can find even more home care physical therapist responsibilities below, including:
Compassion. One of the key soft skills for a home care physical therapist to have is compassion. You can see how this relates to what home care physical therapists do because "physical therapists spend a lot of time interacting with patients, so they should have a desire to help people." Additionally, a home care physical therapist resume shows how home care physical therapists use compassion: "show true sympathy and compassion for optimal results. "
Detail oriented. Many home care physical therapist duties rely on detail oriented. "like other healthcare providers, physical therapists should have strong analytic and observational skills to diagnose a patient’s problem, evaluate treatments, and provide safe, effective care.," so a home care physical therapist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways home care physical therapist responsibilities rely on detail oriented: "oriented and mentored new staff to practice and procedures within the acute care environment. "
Dexterity. This is an important skill for home care physical therapists to perform their duties. For an example of how home care physical therapist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "physical therapists must use their hands to provide manual therapy and therapeutic exercises." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a home care physical therapist: "set treatment plans and treated patients using exercises, stretching, hands-on therapy and equipment to ease pain and increase mobility. ".
Physical stamina. A commonly-found skill in home care physical therapist job descriptions, "physical stamina" is essential to what home care physical therapists do. Home care physical therapist responsibilities rely on this skill because "physical therapists spend much of their time on their feet, moving to demonstrate proper techniques and to help patients perform exercises." You can also see how home care physical therapist duties rely on physical stamina in this resume example: "home care physical therapist for busy home health agency. "
Resourcefulness. Another skill commonly found on home care physical therapist job descriptions is "resourcefulness." It can come up quite often in home care physical therapist duties, since "physical therapists customize treatment plans for patients." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day home care physical therapist responsibilities: "provided client and family support, clinical assessment and psychoeducation to promote mental health wellness and resourcefulness. "
The three companies that hire the most home care physical therapists are:
- Interim HealthCare38 home care physical therapists jobs
- Trinity Health32 home care physical therapists jobs
- Cleveland Clinic16 home care physical therapists jobs
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Compare different home care physical therapists
Home care physical therapist vs. Manipulative therapy specialist
A therapist is responsible for improving the patients' health conditions by evaluating their needs and providing physical and mental support. Therapists are licensed, medical professionals who specialize in different areas to perform treatments and bring relief to patients. Some of their duties include diagnosing patient's problems, performing counseling services, monitoring medication progress, customizing therapy activities for pain management, and consulting other health professionals as needed. Therapists must have extensive knowledge with the medical industry to detect patients' conditions easily and provide effective medications.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a home care physical therapist are more likely to require skills like "home health," "restore function," "medicare," and "direct patient care." On the other hand, a job as a manipulative therapy specialist requires skills like "gmp," "patient care," "t-cell," and "cell processing." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Manipulative therapy specialists really shine in the education industry with an average salary of $51,149. Comparatively, home care physical therapists tend to make the most money in the professional industry with an average salary of $70,050.The education levels that manipulative therapy specialists earn slightly differ from home care physical therapists. In particular, manipulative therapy specialists are 6.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a home care physical therapist. Additionally, they're 12.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Home care physical therapist vs. Out-patient therapist
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that home care physical therapist responsibilities requires skills like "home health," "rehabilitation," "restore function," and "direct patient care." But an out-patient therapist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "social work," "crisis intervention," "group therapy," and "mental health."
In general, out-patient therapists achieve higher levels of education than home care physical therapists. They're 28.9% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 12.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Home care physical therapist vs. Child life therapist
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a home care physical therapist is likely to be skilled in "home health," "restore function," "medicare," and "direct patient care," while a typical child life therapist is skilled in "direct care," "social work," "occupational therapy," and "therapeutic recreation."
Most child life therapists achieve a lower degree level compared to home care physical therapists. For example, they're 5.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 15.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Home care physical therapist vs. Therapist
Even though a few skill sets overlap between home care physical therapists and therapists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a home care physical therapist might have more use for skills like "home health," "restore function," "medicare," and "direct patient care." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of therapists require skills like "social work," "group therapy sessions," "crisis intervention," and "mental health. "
In general, therapists earn the most working in the government industry, with an average salary of $55,972. The highest-paying industry for a home care physical therapist is the professional industry.In general, therapists hold higher degree levels compared to home care physical therapists. Therapists are 23.7% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 13.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of home care physical therapist
Updated January 8, 2025
