Starting an OT Private Practice: Checklist
This checklist lays out the steps involved in opening a therapy private practice, organized into five phases: foundations and legal, insurance credentialing and finances, infrastructure and admin, marketing, and launch. It is a clinician-facing planning tool, written for OTs and OTAs who are building a practice of their own.
It is most useful at two moments: when someone is still weighing the leap and wants to see the full scope of the work, and when the decision is made and the task list needs an order. Each phase includes estimated cost ranges and links to outside resources, so it also works as a starting point for a rough budget.
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This checklist was adapted from the course Starting an OT Practice in 2026 with Christopher Gaskins, PhD, OTR/L, CSRS.
The steps to open a practice are not hidden, but they are scattered. Entity formation sits with the state, an EIN with the IRS, NPI numbers with NPPES, credentialing with each individual payer, and everything else with a different vendor. Clinicians tend to find these one at a time, often in the wrong order. Pulling the sequence into a single page makes the scope visible up front, which is when it is most useful.
Resource Utilization
This is a planning document, not a session resource. It fits best in the months before a practice opens, and it holds up as a reference through the first year.
The five phases run roughly in order, but they overlap in practice. Phase 1 decisions shape everything downstream: choosing insurance, private pay, or a hybrid model determines whether Phase 2 involves credentialing at all, and choosing a brick-and-mortar, mobile, or telehealth model changes the space, insurance, and technology line items. Phase 2 should start earlier than its position suggests, since credentialing timelines are long. Phases 3 through 5 can move in parallel once the legal and financial foundation is set.
The checklist is also useful outside of a personal practice launch. It gives a concrete frame for mentoring a colleague who is considering the move, or for walking a student through what practice ownership actually requires.
Instructions and Tips
The checklist is built to be used digitally. Many items link out to outside resources, including a copyable Google Sheet for estimating pricing, so a printed copy loses much of its value.
The cost figures are estimates, and several vary widely by location and vendor. LLC filing fees in particular range from about $35 to $500 depending on the state, so the checklist's average is a planning number rather than a quote. Verify current figures with the state and with each vendor before building them into a budget.
The pro tip on the first page is worth acting on early: credentialing commonly takes 90 to 120 days and sometimes longer with Medicare, which makes it the most frequent bottleneck in a launch. Starting credentialing while other phases are still in progress keeps it from becoming the reason an opening date slips.
Contributors
Sarah Lyon
OTR/L
Sarah Lyon, OTR/L, is the CEO of OT Potential. Sarah earned her BA from St. Olaf College and her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University. Her diverse clinical background spans multiple settings, including critical access, acute trauma, and state inpatient psychiatric hospitals. In 2011, she founded OT Potential to fulfill the industry's need for reliable, high-quality occupational therapy resources and continuing education.
As a recognized content creator, Sarah has collaborated with top healthcare brands like VeryWell Health, WebPT, and MedBridge. She blends her clinical expertise with a talent for creating clear, action-oriented content that empowers practitioners to excel. Passionate about elevating the OT profession, she has been featured on numerous industry podcasts. Sarah ultimately returned to her roots, running OT Potential and raising her family in her hometown of Aurora, Nebraska.
