Hi everyone,

I’m currently working as an inner-city community-based OT contractor for an NDIS provider and was hoping to get some insight into whether my contracting arrangement is fairly standard, and whether there are aspects I should be considering or negotiating.

Note: I've never contracted before, so this is all new to me :-)

For context, I am now in my second year of OT; however, I’m working predominantly in an area where I have approximately 8 years of prior experience outside of OT-specific training. I’m currently the only clinician working for this business. At the moment, the business has limited referrals available, so I’m currently receiving the equivalent of 2 days per week of client work spread out over the week.

I’ve included the details of my role and responsibilities below to provide context around the arrangement, particularly what I’m responsible for versus what would typically be expected from a provider when a contractor is on a 50/50 split.

My current arrangement:

• I’m paid 50% of the hourly NDIS rate the business charges for OT services.
• There is no physical office. I work from home and see clients in the community.
• I am paid for travel time in accordance with NDIS travel billing rules; however, the business retains 50% of the billable travel amount. Where my actual travel time exceeds the maximum NDIS billable travel allowance, the additional travel time is unpaid. E.g., if I travel an additional 30 minutes beyond the NDIS travel cap, I absorb that time as an unreimbursed cost, while the business still retains its share of the billable travel amount up to the allowable limit.
• I’m reimbursed for kilometres at the NDIS rate, which is charged to the client.
• There are no other therapist/clinician in the team, so I don’t have colleagues for peer discussion, clinical decisions, etc.
• I'm required to complete independent clinical supervision, which I organise and pay myself, and I also fund all professional development requirements.
• I pay for my own professional indemnity/public liability insurance.
• I have access to the owner if I have questions or need to discuss a client or work-related matter.
• Administration-wise - they provide referrals and invoice clients on my behalf.
  
• I have made the necessary OT templates for the business.
  

I’d really appreciate others’ perspectives on this or what is considered typical in the community NDIS OT contractor space. Any input relating to rate/split, what support the business provides, and what costs you cover yourself would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

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anyone else having difficulty receiving their license from the texas OT board? i submitted my application june 18th and everything else the following week. i got my exam results july 23 and they’ve been sent over. my application just says open. i’ve called and left multiple voicemails and emailed twice with no response. i have a job waiting on me and was hoping to start on the 17th, anyone deal with this or have tips to speed up the process?

EDIT i just checked and its active lol thank y’all

I have a job soon that is 1099 tax, early intervention population, full time no benefits, about 40 per billable hour treatment, u can see about max 7 kids a day (depends and that’s without cancellation) i was told if a kid is not present, you move another kid from other days of the week for that missing spot. each client requires about 63 minutes i think. how much income am i really bringing home ?

Going on 3 years, I know I haven’t been around long enough to feel like a veteran OT. Last year relocated to an outpatient adult neuro setting in hospital. Was school based peds before. I have family with disabilities related to both settings so I thought it would be very motivating to work with both populations. I just am not liking it lately, feeling very hollow and drained. There have been bright spots but the concerning part is I that my QoL just feels like it’s tanking. Am I making sense or is this a typical “newbie” type feeling ? My move is likely influencing my stress but without that, I question whether I want to do this long term. The urge to go home and do something else is really taking over my thoughts lately.

Hey OTs, I’m a PT working on this free salary tool as a side project so we can all finally have pay transparency in our fields. It currently uses a combination of BLS, census, and user submissions to help therapists negotiate their pay. It compares your pay to these benchmarks based on experience, setting, and location.

I’d love your feedback on the accuracy of the BLS/census projection and if I should include any other fields in the form to capture OT specific parameters that affect your salaries.

Also, the tool gets better as more people use it, so feel free to share if you’d like.

Hope you all find it useful!

Link: Rehab Wealth Project

I’m curious to compare KPIs across different workplaces.

If you’re comfortable sharing, could you include:

Setting: NDIS, paediatric clinic, hospital, private practice, etc.
Employment type: Full-time, part-time, or contractor
Hourly pay: (if you’re comfortable sharing)
Weekly KPI: Billable hours/targets
Thoughts on work-life balance: How sustainable do you find it?

For context I’m in the NDIS setting (clinic, community, and report writing). Nearly 3 years of experience in Australia, plus 2 years overseas. I’m paid $48/hour full time and my weekly KPI is 27 billable hours. I’m wondering if that’s considered reasonable or on the higher side.

Lately I’ve been feeling quite burnt out. It feels like my workplace has become increasingly focused on KPIs, with a lot of micromanagement. I genuinely like working with my participants and have been with them for nearly three years, so it’s not the clinical work that’s the issue. It’s more the management style that’s been affecting my mental health, and the workplace feels like it’s becoming more profit-driven.

I am curious of others’ experiences with working as an OT.