How OTs and PTs Get Paid

Earn 1 hour of continuing education by joining OT Potential after taking this course.

Course Description

Why does therapy often feel undervalued by the systems we serve? To change the future of our professions, we must first understand the forces that shape today’s Medicare and private payer models—and ultimately, your reimbursement.

In this session, we sit down with DPT and policy expert Dana Strauss to pull back the curtain on the reimbursement landscape. Together, we’ll explore why the current system prioritizes procedures over longitudinal care and, more importantly, identify the strategic levers we can pull to shift the needle.

You’ll leave this course with a clear understanding of three concrete advocacy efforts we can rally around in 2026, and a practical roadmap for making them happen. Join us to turn frustration into informed action and help usher in a new era where the true value of therapy is recognized.

Be sure to check out 2 blog posts to go with this conversation:
Blog 1: The Therapy Reimbursement Guide
Blog 2: The 2026 Therapy Advocacy Playbook

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OT Potential courses are presented as live webinars, then released on-demand video and audio via the OT Potential Podcast. Attendance in the live webinar will be indicated on your certificate. Learn more about how our courses help meet live webinar requirements, and OT CEU requirements overall.

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Learning Objectives

1. You will be able to recognize how current reimbursement models can limit the delivery of client-centered, occupation-based therapy.
2. You will be able to identify three regulatory advocacy strategies to better align therapy’s value with functional patient outcomes in 2026.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Discussion (40 minutes)

1. What has made you passionate about therapy reimbursement? 
2. What gives you hope that we can make change? 
3. Why has therapy been historically undervalued?
4. Why is it important for every therapist to learn about reimbursement in their setting? (Point people to blog post)
5. What are our avenues to make change happen? 
6. What are the 3-4 most important changes you think therapists should rally around in 2026? 
7. What are our next steps to make change happen?

Live Q&A (10 min)

Closing (5 min)

Supporting Research and Journal Articles

• Leland, N. E., et al. (2021). “Therapy Staffing in Skilled Nursing Facilities Declined after Implementation of the Patient-Driven Payment Model.” Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA).
• Donnelly, C., et al. (2022). “Exploring the meaning of value-based occupational therapy services from the perspectives of managers, therapists and clients.” British Journal of Occupational Therapy.
• Bedlington, L., et al. (2021). “Primary care occupational therapist’s methods of outcome evaluation: Do they align to value-based healthcare?” British Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about therapy documentation in 2026. The educational level is introductory.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic.

Speakers

Dana Strauss PT, DPT

Dana took her clinical experience as a doctor of physical therapy and expertise in the health care continuum and transitioned her career to value based care and policy analysis and expertise. She believes the healthcare system can meet everyone’s needs better. Her passion is moving towards the optimal patient experience and outcomes wherever an individual is in the spectrum of wellness, illness or injury, chronic care, or serious illness. She is optimistic about payer/provider synergistic relationships making healthcare better for everyone along the care continuum and is confident that innovative re-imagining of the roles and responsibilities of sites of care, including the home, can lead to higher value and superior quality of care for all. She recognizes there is a common imperative of a culture shift to dismantle the barriers and unlock the possibilities that lead to true care transformation. She uses insights gleaned from close collaboration with data analytics to demonstrate opportunity to providers and sites of care delivery, moving the needle on change.

Dana is a subject matter expert in care transitions, care coordination, all sites of the acute and post-acute care continuum and their payment incentives and structures, case management, and alternative payment models. She has worked directly with hospitals and physician partners successfully implementing BPCI, CJR, BPCI-A, accountable care organizations, and other alternative payment models. She has strong experience in leadership, strategic partnerships, business development, rehabilitation, and mentoring clinicians and budding leaders. Her special interests are palliative care and home-based care, and how they can strengthen new care delivery models and the shift to value.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011.

Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital. Sarah is the founder/owner of OT Potential. Read more about OT Potential here.

This course was designed to meet your continuing education requirements

We designed the courses in the Club to meet the requirements for “online” and “independent/self-study” courses. To verify the requirements from your specific state (within the US), check out our post, OT Continuing Education Requirements. If you are outside of the United States and have questions, please contact us.

We are proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider and to meet the requirements for your NBCOT renewal.

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