The number of physical therapists in skilled nursing facilities is expected to face a steep decline over the next 12 years, a new report revealed.
In 2022, US nursing homes had a shortage of 12,070 full-time PTs, with that number expected to widen significantly to 19,700 by 2027. The American Physical Therapy Association’s survey indicates a smaller gap of 9,120 jobs by 2037, still representing a 3.3% deficit.
Some 8.9% of physical therapists in the skilled nursing sector said they are planning to retire or leave the profession next year, researchers said. That is second only to 9% of therapists working in home care settings.
Overall, 5% of the survey’s respondents – nearly 240,000 US physical therapists – also said they’d be leaving the sector or retiring as soon as next year. Another 25% of current PTs will be reaching retirement age within the next decade.
In addition, the projected demand for physical therapists in nursing homes will increase 40% over the next 12 years.
Shortfall implications
The authors cautioned some of the possible implications that may stem from the widening PT gap. They offered up several possible solutions that could assist with its closure.
“Without strategic interventions — such as increasing the number of physical therapist graduates or implementing policies to improve retention — patients in many areas may continue to face challenges in accessing timely or sufficient care,” the authors wrote. “Addressing these issues is critical to ensuring that the growing demand for physical therapist services is met, particularly as the population ages and the prevalence of conditions requiring physical therapy increases.”
Stagnant salaries were also seen as contributing to burnout, the association said.
Without adequate access to therapists, nursing homes may struggle to provide the level of care required for safe and efficient recovery for residents such as post-acute patients, Sabrena McCarley, vice president of clinical reimbursement and regulatory affairs at Transitional Care Management, told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Thursday.
This could result in longer hospital stays and bottlenecks in the healthcare system.
McCarley said the shortage of physical therapists has been a rising concern, and it will certainly impact patients’ ability to access timely care.
She mentioned one intervention that could give providers needed support – temporarily.
“One effective solution we have utilized to bridge this gap and ensure continued access to physical therapy services is telehealth,” McCarley said. “However, the current telehealth extension is set to expire on Mar. 31, 2025, unless Congress takes action to extend it and/or grant permanent provider status to physical, occupational, and speech therapists.”
Without the critical extension of telehealth flexibilities that once helped residents keep their access to essential care during the pandemic, McCarley fears patients may face significant delays in receiving the therapy services they require.
Programs for preparation
Some geographic imbalances were also noted in the report. Virginia is projected to gain the most therapists by 2037, while Michigan is expected to have the largest loss of supply relative to demand, for instance. But the authors said regional differences are likely to decrease by 2037.
Organizations and institutions across the country have already seen some success in preparing more individuals for careers in PT.
KFF Health Newspreviously reported that the University of Southern California added a hybrid learning model where students engage in online PT training, then travel to campus twice a semester for approximately a week at a time for hands-on instruction and practice.
That bumped USC’s capacity from 100 students a year to 150.
James Gordon, the university’s chair of the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, said that many of the hybrid students’ professional skills are indistinguishable from those of students on campus full time.
Unless measures like the aforementioned are implemented to boost the number of physical therapists entering or re-entering the workforce, the national shortfall is likely to persist, further exacerbating access to care challenges, APTA authors wrote.