A home health physical therapist treats patients in their own homes after a hospital stay, a fall or surgery. They test strength and balance on the patient's own stairs and floors. They teach exercises the family can help with, and they can open a Medicare case when therapy is the only service ordered.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, home health care agencies · BLS, May 2025
We're hiring a Physical Therapist to treat home health patients where they live. You'll evaluate strength, balance, and fall risk in the home, set goals with the patient, teach home exercise programs, and recommend equipment and home changes. On therapy-only cases, you may open the case and complete the start of care OASIS.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Evaluate patients at home and write a therapy plan with goals and visit frequency for the physician to approve.
Complete the start of care OASIS when therapy is the only service ordered, and reassess patients on the schedule our policy and Medicare rules set.
Treat patients with gait, balance, and transfer training, strengthening, and home exercise programs.
Assess fall risk and home safety, and recommend equipment such as grab bars, shower chairs, or walkers.
Write aide care instructions and supervise aides when therapy is the patient's skilled service.
Supervise our physical therapist assistants as your state's practice act requires.
Coordinate with nurses, other therapists, and the physician.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Make [5–6] home visits in your assigned area.
Test balance and mobility with standard measures such as the Timed Up and Go.
Teach patients and family members to do exercises and transfers safely between visits.
Document visits at the point of care in [your EMR] and send reassessment findings to the case manager.
Call the physician's office to update orders when a patient's goals or visit frequency change.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Evaluations completed within policy: [your target].
Therapy reassessments on time: [your target].
Improvement in patients' mobility scores: [your target].
Visit notes finished the same day: [your target].
Falls among patients on caseload: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Active [State] physical therapist license, or a compact privilege through the PT Compact if your state is a member.
Graduate of an accredited physical therapy program.
Current CPR certification (BLS), or able to earn it before your first visit.
Valid driver's license, auto insurance, and a reliable vehicle for daily home visits.
Passes a background check as your state requires, and protects patient privacy under HIPAA.
6. Preferred Experience
[1+] years of home health, outpatient orthopedic, or skilled nursing facility experience.
OASIS experience on therapy-only admissions.
Experience with vestibular, neurological, or post-surgical patients.
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree.
7. Physical Requirements
Guarding and assisting patients during gait and transfer training, lifting up to [50] pounds with equipment or help.
Kneeling, squatting, bending, and climbing stairs in homes of all layouts.
Driving between homes for much of the day.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Patients' homes across [your service area], with little office time.
A flexible day built around your visit list: [your hours and visit expectations].
Homes may have pets, smoking, poor lighting, or furniture in the way of a walker.
Mileage: [your mileage policy].
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new physical therapist gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
A PT in a clinic or hospital has a gym, other therapists nearby and patients who come to them. In home health the PT works solo in the patient's house and carries more of Medicare's paperwork.
The PT can open the case
When therapy is the only service ordered, a PT may make the first visit. The PT can also do the full assessment, OASIS included. For a Medicare patient, the PT checks that the patient qualifies for home health, which includes being homebound. If nursing is ordered too, a nurse opens the case instead. Source: 42 CFR 484.55: Comprehensive assessment of patients (Cornell LII).
Medicare's reassessment deadline
At least every 30 days, a qualified PT, not an assistant, has to treat the patient and reassess function with objective measures. Medicare's manual adds that the clock starts over each time the PT does that. Miss it, and Medicare won't cover the therapy visits that follow until the PT completes one. On cases a PTA mostly treats, those PT visits need a place on the calendar. Source: 42 CFR 409.44: Skilled services requirements (Cornell LII).
The house is the treatment room
Balance and fall risk get tested where the patient lives: the porch steps, the dark hallway to the bathroom, the rug by the bed. Exercises use a kitchen counter or a sturdy chair instead of a clinic gym. Before recommending a walker, the PT checks that it fits through the doorways and turns in the bathroom.
Therapy that holds function can be covered
Medicare's manual says therapy coverage depends on the need for a therapist's skill. It does not depend on whether the patient will get better. So Medicare can cover a PT building a maintenance program, or care that only a therapist or a supervised assistant can do safely. Only the PT, not an assistant, may design that program. Teaching it to the family can be covered too. Source: CMS Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 7: Home health services (PDF).
Some cases make the PT the aide's lead
On a therapy-only case there may be no nurse in the home, so the PT may be the clinician who assigns the aide and puts the aide's care instructions in writing. Look for a PT who is at ease leading an aide. Plan aide training time as agency time: Medicare's manual says a therapist's visit made only to train an aide isn't billable. Source: 42 CFR 484.80: Home health aide services (Cornell LII).
How much home health physical therapists make
Physical therapists who work for home health care agencies earned a median of $55.16 an hour ($114,740 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $102,760 median for physical therapists in all industries. About 30,920 of the 267,330 physical therapists in that survey work for home health care agencies.
Home health agencies often pay PTs by the visit, with set rates for evaluations, routine visits and discharges, or pay a salary tied to a weekly visit target. A per-visit plan doesn't settle overtime status on its own, so have an employment lawyer look at the plan before you advertise the role.
Home health care agencies
$114,740$114,740 median Middle half $100,090–$133,860 10th–90th $81,740–$161,340
All industries
$102,760$102,760 median Middle half $86,160–$121,160 10th–90th $77,140–$135,140
$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k$175k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Home health care agencies
$81,740
$100,090
$114,740
$133,860
$161,340
All industries
$77,140
$86,160
$102,760
$121,160
$135,140
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Runs a full evaluation alone and sets the visit plan without a senior PT down the hall
Writes notes with objective measures that show progress, or a plateau, from visit to visit
Spots a home hazard and explains it to the family without talking down to them
Leads PTAs and aides with clear written plans and same-day callbacks
Plans a day of visits by area and keeps to it
Protects patient information in homes, in the car and on the phone
Teach these on the job
OASIS items and your agency's start of care steps
How your EMR flags reassessments that are coming due
Point-of-care charting on your tablets
Aide care instructions and your supervisory visit forms
Your fall-risk tools and home safety checklist
Home health PTs chart at the point of care in the agency's EMR, often Axxess, Homecare Homebase or WellSky, usually on an agency tablet. Their evaluation kit holds a gait belt, a blood pressure cuff, a pulse oximeter, a stopwatch for timed tests and a measuring tape for step heights and doorways.
Home health physical therapist interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Set every target from past results at your own branches. Review them with the PT each quarter, using the same EMR reports every time.
Evaluations completed within policy
New therapy referrals evaluated by the date your policy or the order sets, divided by all new therapy referrals that month. Pull both dates from the EMR and read the reason for each late one.
Therapy reassessments on time
PT cases where a PT treated and reassessed the patient before Medicare's deadline, out of all open PT cases. Run the EMR's reassessment report weekly so cases that a PTA mostly treats aren't caught late.
Improvement in patients' mobility scores
Compare the OASIS walking, transfer and stair items at start of care and at discharge for each discharged patient. Group results by diagnosis, since a new hip and Parkinson's disease don't change at the same pace.
Visit notes finished the same day
PT notes signed in the EMR the same day as the visit, out of all PT visits. Late notes hold up order updates, PTA visits and billing, so check the report every week.
Falls among patients on caseload
Falls reported while a patient is on an active PT case, from incident reports and OASIS. Review each fall for what was in place: equipment, home changes and the exercise program.
Career path
Staff PT in a clinic, hospital or skilled nursing facilityBuilds evaluation and treatment skills with other therapists close by.
Physical TherapistTreats patients at home and opens therapy-only cases.
Rehab manager or clinical managerLeads the therapists and assistants, their caseloads and case reviews across branches.
Quality improvement coordinatorAudits OASIS and charts and runs quality projects, where the agency opens the role to therapists.
Does a home health PT need home health experience?
Many agencies hire PTs from outpatient clinics, skilled nursing or hospitals and train them. Three things don't carry over: working with no other therapist nearby, OASIS, and Medicare's rules for notes. Plan a few ride-along days with an experienced home health PT. Then start with a lighter caseload while the new PT learns the EMR. The template's preferred list counts outpatient and skilled nursing work too.
How much does a home health physical therapist make?
Physical therapists who work for home health care agencies earned a median of $55.16 an hour ($114,740 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $100,090 and $133,860 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Who completes the discharge OASIS when a PT and a nurse both see the patient?
After the start of care, an RN, PT, SLP or OT may do later OASIS assessments. Sometimes a nurse and a therapist both have discharge visits on the same day. CMS's OASIS manual then gives the discharge assessment to the last qualified clinician who sees the patient. PTAs can't complete it. So when a PTA treats most of a therapy-only case, plan a PT visit for the discharge assessment.
Can a home health PT see patients across a state line?
Only with the right to practice in the patient's state. The PT Compact lets eligible PTs and PTAs buy a compact privilege in other member states that issue them. That skips the full license process there. To qualify, they need a current license in good standing in their home state, where they live, and that state must be an active member. They also need two years free of discipline. Check the compact's map before you staff a county across the border.
Does a home health PT need a doctorate?
No. Medicare's staff rule doesn't name a degree level. It asks for a state license if the state requires one, and a passed exam the state approves. It also asks that the PT graduated from a CAPTE-accredited program, or an approved match for those trained abroad. The template lists the DPT as preferred, so PTs with older degrees can still apply.
