How OTs and PTs Get Paid

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

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.

• Intro

• Discussion

  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

• Closing

• Therapy Staffing in Skilled Nursing Facilities Declined after Implementation of the Patient-Driven Payment Model

• Exploring the meaning of value-based occupational therapy services from the perspectives of managers, therapists and clients

• Primary care occupational therapist’s methods of outcome evaluation: Do they align to value-based healthcare?

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.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in the reimbursement policies discussed in this course, and no business relationship with CVS Health or Aetna.

Speaker interests: Dana Strauss leads public policy for value-based care and Medicare provider policy at CVS Health. CVS Health has commercial interests in the reimbursement policies discussed in this course. Her views are her own and do not represent those of her employer.