Tag: travel occupational therapy

Travel Therapy Job Market Update 2024/2025

~ Travel Therapy Mentor ~ 1 Comment

The travel therapy industry has seen significant shifts in recent years, particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As we approach the end of 2024, it’s essential to understand the current market conditions to make informed decisions about your career path. This post will delve into key aspects of the 2024 travel therapy job market, providing valuable insights for both current and aspiring travel therapists as we head into 2025.

We also recently covered this topic in detail on our podcast. You can listen to the November 2024 Travel Therapy Job Market Update podcast here.

A Strong Market for Many, But Challenges Remain

Overall, the travel therapy job market in 2024 has been strong for many disciplines, particularly for Physical Therapists (PTs) and Physical Therapist Assistants (PTAs). The demand for qualified PTs and PTA’s remains high, with hundreds of travel physical therapy job openings across the country. This presents a favorable opportunity to pursue travel physical therapy for new graduates and experienced therapists alike.

While the outlook for PTs and PTAs is promising, the market for other disciplines like Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) has been more nuanced. While there are still ample job opportunities, the overall market for these disciplines may not be as robust as it is for PTs and PTAs.

  • High Demand for PTs and PTAs: The demand for PTs and PTAs, especially in outpatient settings, has surged in 2024. This is attributed to several factors, including increased patient volume, therapist burnout (resulting in permanent therapists leaving the workforce), and the aging population.
  • Steady Market for OTs and SLPs: While not as robust as the PT market, there are still strong opportunities for OTs and SLPs, particularly in skilled nursing facilities and schools.
  • Challenging Market for COTAs: The job market for Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTAs) remains challenging due to limited travel job openings nationwide.

Comparing to Pre-Pandemic Travel Job Market:

The current travel therapy job market has generally rebounded to pre-pandemic levels or even surpassed them in some cases. However, certain disciplines, particularly COTAs, have yet to fully recover.

Setting-Specific Demand:

  • PT: High demand in all settings, particularly outpatient, skilled nursing, and hospitals
  • OT: Strongest demand in skilled nursing, hospital, and schools
  • SLP: High demand in schools and skilled nursing

Rate Considerations:

  • Stable Rates: Travel therapy pay rates have remained relatively stable throughout 2024, with slight increases in some cases. Overall, rates are higher on average than pre-pandemic.
  • Impact of MSPs and VMS: The increasing use of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Vendor Management Systems (VMS) by large healthcare organizations may lead to some standardization of rates, potentially impacting earning potential for travel therapists

Contract Cancellations:

Contract cancellations are relatively low, particularly for in-demand disciplines like PT. This is largely due to the high demand for qualified therapists and the difficulty in filling open positions. This means that pursuing travel therapy jobs is a stable career choice with low risk of having your contract cancelled for most disciplines.

Opportunities for New Graduates:

  • PTs: The travel therapy job market is favorable for new graduate PTs due to high demand, meaning that new grad PTs will see many opportunities and can pursue Travel PT right after graduation.
  • Other Disciplines: Opportunities for new graduates in other disciplines may be more limited depending on the specific job market conditions. There are opportunities available for new grad OTs, PTAs and COTAs, but often the jobs are more competitive in favor of experienced clinicians. This means that these new grads may have to be more open to different locations and settings in order to find consistent travel therapy jobs. Newer SLP-CCC’s will have many opportunities, while SLP-CF opportunities are more limited and are often only available for school positions in order to get the required supervision hours to obtain their CCC’s.
  • Making the best decision for you: While there may be travel therapy jobs available and willing to hire a new graduate therapist, it’s crucial for any new graduate therapist to carefully assess your own readiness for travel therapy, ask questions during the interview to ensure a good clinical fit and job environment for a new grad, and choose positions that align with your skills and experience. This will help ensure a good overall experience as a new grad travel therapist, rather than a negative one.

Tips for Success in the Travel Therapy Job Market:

  • Thorough Research: It’s essential to do your own research to learn the ins and outs of travel therapy before getting started. Check out all of the resources available on our site to learn more about travel therapy.
  • Networking: We recommend interviewing and working with multiple companies/recruiters to be able to compare job options, pay, and benefits packages. We can help get you connected with some of the best recruiters based on your personal preferences via our Recruiter Recommendation form.
  • Professional Development: Continuously enhance your skills and knowledge to remain competitive for travel therapy jobs for your discipline. If your discipline is more competitive, consider gaining additional experience in different settings before pursuing travel therapy.
  • Adaptability and Flexibility: Be prepared to adapt to new environments and challenges as a travel therapist. Also depending on the job availability for your discipline, you may need to be more flexible and open to considering different settings and locations to ensure consistent contracts.

Conclusion:

The current travel therapy job market presents both opportunities and challenges for Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy disciplines. By understanding the current market trends, conducting thorough research, and developing a strong professional network, you can increase your chances of success when pursuing a career as a travel therapist.

We hope this provides valuable insights into the travel therapy job market as we finish out 2024 and head into 2025! Please reach out to us if you have questions or need help getting started as a travel therapist!

Written by Jared Casazza, PT, DPT – Jared has been a traveling physical therapist since 2015. He has become an expert in the field of travel healthcare through his experience, research, and networking over nearly a decade.

Transitioning Between Travel Therapy Jobs and Local Therapy Jobs

~ Travel Therapy Mentor ~ Leave a comment

As PTs, OTs & SLPs, we have a lot of options for our careers. Travel therapy can be a great option for many therapists, at various points in their lives. However, there are times where travel therapy may not be the best fit. For some therapists, the options may seem limited. Either settle down permanently for the long-term at a regular job, or travel, no in-between. However, there can actually be a lot of in-between.

We do know many therapists who have started their careers with travel therapy, then settled into a permanent position long-term when they get done traveling. Or, vice versa, they worked a perm job for a while, then switched to travel therapy. But we also know therapists who go back and forth, between travel jobs and local jobs, utilizing PRN jobs or taking “permanent jobs” knowing they’ll only be there for a year or two while it suits their needs.

Personally, over the years, we have transitioned back and forth between working travel therapy jobs around the country, to taking PRN jobs locally at home. After nearly a decade as PTs, we have never worked a permanent, full-time job, and we don’t ever plan on it since we are now semi-retired and only work part time as clinicians.

In this guest post, we’ll share Morgan’s story, an Occupational Therapist who has transitioned between travel therapy and PRN, along with her reasoning and advice for others.

Guest Post by Morgan Lauchnor, OTR/L

Travel therapy can be an addicting way to live once you start, and many healthcare professionals end up doing it for multiple years, sometimes with no end date in sight. But for others, there are certain instances where it might be beneficial to break away from travel therapy to take on local therapy jobs. And if you’re like me and aren’t quite ready to take on a full-time gig, a PRN (“as needed”) job may be the way to go.

There are many similarities between travel therapy jobs and PRN therapy jobs, like the freedom to choose your own hours and not having to deal with workplace politics, but there are also some big differences to consider. In this article, I’m going to talk about my experience with transitioning from travel to PRN and back again, reasons why one might consider this option, and offer helpful tips for making these changes.

My Story

When I started travel therapy back in 2019 as a new grad occupational therapist, I was hooked from the start. Getting to explore the country; living like a local in places I might never have visited otherwise; being able to pay down my student loans and make good money; and meeting amazing people along the way— I had no intention of stopping for a longgg time.

However, part of the reason I wanted to travel was to gain experience working in multiple settings. I had done an inpatient fieldwork internship on a spinal cord unit at a VA hospital, and I was excited to get back to working in a hospital. But since a skilled nursing (SNF) travel therapy contract was what got my foot in the door, I initially stuck with that setting because it was what became familiar. When the time came though that I was ready to branch out into inpatient/acute/LTAC, no one would give me an interview. While there are some facilities that are willing to train new grads/therapists with no prior experience, it just so happened that all of the ones I was applying for wanted me to have at least 1-2 years of experience in the setting first. It got to the point where I waited almost 3 months in between contracts trying to land a hospital contract with no luck, that I was forced to go with another SNF contract which completely burned me out.

So because the travel therapy market wasn’t catering to my path, I paved a new one. While I never planned to stop traveling after only 2.5 years, an opportunity came along to take a PRN position in Asheville, NC that allowed me to get my foot in the door with a variety of settings, from acute care, to inpatient, to LTAC, home health, and PACE. I knew that this way, when I decided to go back to travel, I would no longer have the limitation of ‘needs prior experience’ holding me back. I spent another almost 2.5 years with that PRN job, gaining so much clinical experience and growth.

Once I was ready to make the transition back to travel therapy and started talking to recruiters again, I was able to find an acute care travel contract at a level 1 trauma hospital that checked every box I was looking for. For me, this break from travel therapy was one hundred percent worth it to me to help me reach my goals.

Reasons for Transitioning Between Travel & PRN

Gaining Clinical Experience

As I said in my case, one reason for taking a local job somewhere is to gain clinical experience in settings with specific requirements. There are cases where facilities are willing to train new grads/therapists with no prior experience, and while I always recommend still applying to these contracts on the off chance that they say yes (worst case they say no), if you’re not having luck, PRN may be the way to go.

Being Close to Family and Friends

One challenge with travel therapy can be constantly moving and being away from family and friends. At different points in life, it may suit therapists to return home for a while to be closer to family and friends. Or, similarly, if they happen to meet a partner while on contract in a new place, they may consider settling down in that area for a while (or forever) to pursue the relationship.

Maintaining Tax Home 

For some therapists, returning to their tax home location and taking contract work that is fully taxed, or a PRN job, is a way to help maintain their tax home requirements in between travel contracts.

Making Money Between Contracts

Sometimes it takes more time than anticipated to find the right travel therapy contract. Rather than rushing into something out of desperation and time constraints, it may be beneficial to pick up a local job in the meantime to take the pressure off while you find what you’re looking for.

Finding a Great Facility

Sometimes as a travel therapist, you may end up at a facility that you absolutely love, and they make an offer for you to stay there full time. In some cases, this can lead to finding your new permanent home and permanent job for the long term. But, quite often, therapists may be enticed to stay at a location for a year or so, without wanting to make it their forever home. Many therapists will take a “permanent” job temporarily, with plans to leave and go elsewhere after a certain amount of time.

Helpful Tips for Transitioning Between Travel and Local Jobs

Remember the big differences from travel: weekly vs. biweekly pay, no stipends, guaranteed monthly hours minimum, and making your own schedule but having to rely on the facility’s needs.

Getting back into the mindset of a regular, non-travel job can be tough after travel, and it is important to prepare. Know that you will most likely not be paid as frequently, and may be taking a pay cut without the tax free stipends. You will also need to look into the positions you are considering and how much they will need you at their facility. Some PRN jobs are able to offer a lot of hours, where some may not have the staffing need for a lot of hours. This will help you determine if a PRN position will be able to provide you with enough hours for your situation and financial needs, or if you may need to take on multiple PRN positions or go full-time.

Consider your health insurance options.

While a lot of healthcare travelers use their company’s health insurance while they’re traveling, it sometimes gets tricky between contracts, or if you decide to take local contracts or a PRN job. If you take a full time local job, you’ll likely be offered benefits, but most PRN jobs do not offer benefits. Going with a private health insurance plan, or another type of plan that you maintain independent of your employer, allows you to have health insurance throughout the year without having to worry about this. I switched to private insurance when I went PRN. In some cases, signing on for more of a permanent/full time job that offers benefits may be a better option for you depending on your healthcare insurance needs. This post goes over different health insurance options to consider.

Know that you can always transition back to travel therapy at any time! 

Travel therapy job options and permanent job options will always be available. Taking a break from one or the other won’t limit your job options when you decide to transition again. I guarantee if you put word out to get back into travel therapy, you’ll have multiple travel therapy recruiters immediately itching to get you set up with another travel contract.

Take Aways

Ultimately, there are a number of reasons why it may be beneficial to stop traveling and pursue a local contract if it aligns with your goals and/or life circumstances at that time. Fortunately, as healthcare providers, we have a lot of different job options available to us at any given time, both for travel jobs and local jobs. We can design our lives to be flexible and pursue the opportunities that fit us best depending on the current stage of life. We don’t have to feel stuck in one type of job or another if it’s not working for us.

I hope these tips are helpful in making that transition between travel therapy and local therapy jobs more seamless. And if/when the time comes that you decide to go back to travel, it’s always an available option. After all, once a traveler, always a traveler.

Thank you, Morgan, for sharing your experiences and insights with us. Learn more about Morgan below.

You can also watch the video we made discussing this topic further here.

About the Author: Morgan Lauchnor, OTR/L

I started travel occupational therapy back in 2019, beginning as a new grad and moving from Pennsylvania to the west coast, so I could live out my dream of seeing the country and all that it has to offer, while working my dream job. I’ve taken five different travel therapy assignments in SNFs, from OR, to CA, to TX, and NC. A little over 2 years ago, I planted some temporary roots in Asheville, NC to get some inpatient/acute/LTAC/home health experience, working PRN for a hospital network, before returning to travel therapy this year. I travel with my mini-Aussie pup Zoey who has been the best adventure buddy, and we are now currently in Indianapolis, IN where I am working an acute care travel therapy contract at a level 1 trauma hospital. We love exploring new cities, getting outside any chance we can, and meeting the best people along the way! If you’d like to connect, the best way to contact me is through social media: Instagram: @zoandmo_onthego or through email at mlauchnor@gmail.com.

If you’re looking for additional resources for your travel therapy career, check out Travel Therapy Mentor’s Traveler Resource Hub. If you’re ready to get started with travel therapy and want to connect with vetted travel therapy recruiters, fill out our Recruiter Recommendations Form. Feel free to message us with any questions!