JOB market for OT's vulnerable?

[ellwoodis]

Having gone into 2 mistaken professions and now considering OT again, I would appreciate some feedback on the job market for OT's in the near future.
I was preparing for OT school 10 years ago before I noticed while volunteering that nearly ALL of the patients were funded by Medicaid. When Bush came into power, I thought that would be the end of the profession.
When a profession is dependent on government laws like IDEA and ADA, it is especially in danger from republican administrations. We see that southern states are planning to stop accepting Medicaid funds after the Supreme Court decision. What will that mean for our OT patients?

Is the current job market for OT's tight? There certainly seems to be a constant demand here in Texas (I did a survey of 12 hospitals), but that may not hold elsewhere.

Also, have Medicare/Medicaid insurance caps been forcing down reimbursement lately?

Finally, how many new schools for OT's have opened in the last year?
You have probably heard of the huge excess of RN and pharmacy schools.
Can OT schools make the mistake as well?

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[Jlady]

Seems like at least for a while they should be ok. There is always the school system jobs, that should not be medicaid, right?

We can hope that Obamacare lives, because if it does, most of your worries will be irrelevant. They posted a lot of information about what the new healthcare act means for OT.

http://www.aota.org/Practitioners/Advocacy/Health-Care-Reform.aspx

What were your previous career picks? I think the only way to avoid the wrath of those pesky republicans is to get a job on wall street, or a job not within healthcare.

 

[ellwoodis]

special ed teacher NIH researcher one other
This will be my fourth career!
http://otconnections.aota.org/forums/t/4438.aspx
mentions some kind of medicare B caps. Any idea how small this is?
I think kids are protected only by the IDEA act in school.
Still, many of the parents of the disabled rely on Medicaid for other expenses for their very disabled kids.
Both are mandated.
Does anyone know if the IDEA act can be refused by states?
I thought that AZ for years refused IDEA funding and mandates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/health/policy/long-term-care-looms-as-rising-medicaid-cost.html?pagewanted=2&ref=general&src=me
is another discussion of a coming medicaid crunch. Will it affect OT signficantly? What will they cut first, home health aides or OT?

 

[resot]

Ell, you can find info about the number of schools (and developing programs) on the aota website.

I don't have enough knowledge about medicare/health care changes, so I can't help with that. However, I have also been wondering what the job outlook will be a few years down the line. Currently, the outlook is pretty good. However, I know more and more people have been turning to OT as a career. A few years ago, my school had cohorts of 12ish people (and if you applied, you basically were accepted). And now, the cohort is 70 large.

I think a lot of what will determine the job outlook depends on how OTs decide to advocate for our profession. Will we speak up when we think there are too many schools (and prevent what happened in nursing and pharmacy)? Will we speak up when our area of practice is encroached on by PTs and Speech Therapists? (FYI, PT has been steadily moving into OT areas of practice. This may have something to do with the relatively new requirement that all PTs must now be DPTs.)

What we need is for people to pay dues to the groups that advocate our interests and lobby for our field to help ensure our future jobs.

 

[raquel]

I am in my second year of a MSOT program and I have been getting a little worried lately. It was mentioned that many hand therapists gave up their private practices because they were no longer able to get paid. They closed shop and went on to work for more established places. I had always heard that hand therapy was thriving and one of the most lucrative areas of OT. There also seems to be more and more intrusion of PTs taking over traditional OT roles. If anything, that worries me the most.

 

[skyocean25]

Encourage everyone to join AOTA and your state OT Professional group. In class, the professor showed how much money we are putting in compared to PTs. She said that people are getting complacent and not paying membership due. We have half a lobbyist while PTs have TEN lobbyists advocating for them. After I heard this, I joined.

Goodness, lets do something now!!! You can join online! If you still want the great salaries and job availability, do your part!