How To Become A Home Health Physical Therapist Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a home health physical therapist assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

This is also known as home care physical therapist. They provide therapy services meant for treatment plans in a residential setup. Employers need you to provide rehabilitation services in the confines of a home. This sort of physical therapy (PT) is usually reserved for patients who can't leave their houses due to the risk associated with leaving their houses. You are expected to review the patient's medical histories.

In addition, you are to outline goals clearly for patients and outline the expected outcomes of such a plan. You must learn to use exercises to manage a patient's pain and increase mobility. Apart from this, you are also responsible for recording the progress of the patient and changing the plan of care if need be. Most importantly, you are to educate both the patient and family members about the recovery process.

Becoming a home health physical therapist requires several education qualifications. More importantly, you must major in physical therapy and bag a bachelor's degree. Apart from educational qualifications, you must be a compassionate person with the ability to show genuine kindness to people. You must also be detailed-oriented as you have to be extremely observant. The average annual pay in the US is $113,426.

ScoreHome Health Physical Therapist AssistantUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $51,119

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 24%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.35%

Asian 7.30%

Black or African American 5.08%

Hispanic or Latino 8.83%

Unknown 4.66%

White 73.78%

Gender

female 70.27%

male 29.73%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a home health physical therapist assistant

Explore home health physical therapist assistant education requirements

Most common home health physical therapist assistant degrees

Bachelor's

42.4 %

Associate

36.4 %

Doctorate

9.1 %

Start to develop specific home health physical therapist assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Home Health	81.73%
Patient Care	10.51%
Physical Therapy	5.58%
Physical Therapy Treatment	1.02%
Community Resources	0.66%

Complete relevant home health physical therapist assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New home health physical therapist assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a home health physical therapist assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real home health physical therapist assistant resumes.

Research home health physical therapist assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage a diverse caseload including, but not limit to CVA's, cardiac care, Alzheimer's and sub acute orthopedics
Help oversee patient exercises and therapeutic mechanical traction.
Develop a positive relationship with client through constant companionship and therapeutic walking.
Revoke basic physical activity in many depress clients by providing high quality companionship and exercise assistance.

Prepare your home health physical therapist assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your home health physical therapist assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a home health physical therapist assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable home health physical therapist assistant resume templates

Build a professional home health physical therapist assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your home health physical therapist assistant resume.

Apply for home health physical therapist assistant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a home health physical therapist assistant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do home health physical therapist assistants rate their job?

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Home health physical therapist assistant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2020

Pros

Work schedule flexibility in the rehab and home health settings. I love problem-solving and finding solutions to improve the pts success at home. I love helping patients regain their PLOF or independence. I love meeting and working with a variety of people from differnt walks of life.

Cons

Inflexible or unrealistic patients or family members. So much paperwork. About every 7 years I just change careers for a while or take a break. Dynamic can be challenging when you work in Home Health because you work in a lot of assisted living facilities each with their own staff and policies which my differ from your own. It is a balancing act.

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019