APTA Report Points to Hiring Challenges for Outpatient Practices Amid Growth

APTA and APTA Private Practice have released the third annual survey of outpatient physical therapy facilities, shedding light on key hiring and workforce trends. The report, "APTA Benchmark Report: Hiring Challenges in Outpatient Physical Therapy Practices, 2024," underscores the persistent difficulty outpatient clinics face in maintaining an adequate workforce to meet the demand for PT services despite the waning influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health care workforce.

"This 2024 report is a critical resource for our members as it highlights both the growth and challenges our profession faces in maintaining a sufficient workforce," said APTA President Roger Herr, PT, MPA. "As the U.S. population grows and ages, the need for physical therapist services continues to rise. It is vital we address staffing challenges at outpatient practices head-on. APTA remains committed to exploring comprehensive solutions to expand the supply for physical therapist services."

According to the report, the physical therapy labor market remains robust for job seekers but presents challenges for employers as the industry grows. From 2023 to 2024, outpatient physical therapy practices reported increases in both the number of employees and job openings, reflecting overall industry growth but also revealing significant hiring hurdles.

Some of the report's most notable findings include:

• Based on survey responses, the national vacancy rate for outpatient physical therapy practices stands at 9.5%, nearly double the U.S. national average vacancy rate for all industries of 4.8% reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• There was an overall 1% growth in total job openings from 2023 to 2024, with specific increases of 3.2% for physical therapists and 17.2% for physical therapist assistants.
• Approximately 13% of all physical therapist and physical therapist assistant positions at outpatient practices are open.
• Company growth was identified as the most frequent driver of current position openings, followed by openings created by employee turnover due to relocation, better pay opportunities elsewhere, and work-life balance concer

"This latest report on employment vacancies highlights the ongoing demand for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants and provides valuable insights to help practice owners and managers navigate staffing challenges," stated Mike Horsfield, PT, MPT, president of APTA Private Practice. "This report also serves as a vital resource for those seeking employment to better understand the hiring environment. We will continue to track these trends to benefit private practices and professionals nationwide."

This report follows two previous surveys conducted by APTA and APTA Private Practice. The first resulted in a report released in 2022, "APTA Benchmark Report: Hiring Challenges in Outpatient Physical Therapy Practices." The second survey was conducted similarly in summer 2023 and released in October 2023 as the "APTA Benchmark Report: Hiring Challenges Continue in Outpatient Physical Therapy Practices."

While APTA and APTA Private Practice characterize the report as primarily a tool for practice owners to compare what they're experiencing with national and regional trends, both groups point to the resources as part of a larger commitment to gathering and sharing relevant data that could inform payment and policy. That commitment is centered around four "action steps" that include working to develop a minimum dataset on the physical therapy workforce, continued collection of the datapoints included in the most recent report (and possible expansion to other settings), exploration of workforce models, and expansion of the range of reports offered by APTA.