Senior Physical Therapist, Inpatient, Per Diem

Physical TherapistPer Diem

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting

Schedule not stated in this posting — no days, weekends, call or nights given.

Ask the employer about the pay range, the work setting, call expectations and time off.

Posted 5mo ago

Job Description

Provides independent physical therapy management of patients under the direction of the Rehabilitation Services Director or designee. Provides physical therapy services in specialized patient care clinics, and assists in the development, implementation and review of departmental patient care programs.

Essential Responsibilities

Evaluates patients and interprets evaluation findings to determine the nature and extent of dysfunction. Establishes treatment goals and plans treatment to achieve established goals. Initiates discharge planning for physical therapy. Implements the treatment plan through direct treatment of the patient, delegates a portion of the treatment plan to appropriate supportive personnel, and coordinates the treatment program with other health care personnel as appropriate.

Provides advice and education to patient and family. Regularly reassesses clinical signs and symptoms to determine effectiveness of treatment, progress of patients towards goals, and the need for modifying goals and treatment. Discharges patient from physical therapy when the patient has received maximum benefit from physical therapy. Provides accurate, timely documentation of physical therapy patient management.

Participates in appropriate and approved educational and clinical research activities in physical therapy. Participates in specialized patient care clinics outside the department. Assists in the development, implementation, and review of departmental patient care programs. Performs other duties as needed in the areas of staff education, departmental operations, and departmental projects. Demonstrates on-going progress toward meeting the criteria for professional practice.

Acts as an instructor in patient education classes/groups within and/or outside the department based on operational need as defined by departmental leadership. Provides a minimum of one departmental in-service per year as requested by the Rehab Director e. g. journal club presentation, regular in-service presentation. Serves as a clinical instructor to PT students as requested by the Rehab Director. Able to manage complex patients independently with minimal consultation.

Kaiser Permanente conducts compensation reviews of positions on a routine basis. At any time, Kaiser Permanente reserves the right to reevaluate and change job descriptions, or to change such positions from salaried to hourly pay status. Such changes are generally implemented only after notice is given to affected employees.

Basic Qualifications

Experience

Minimum two (2) years of experience in physical therapy.

Education

Graduate of an accredited physical therapy curriculum with a bachelors, masters or doctoral degree with certification in physical therapy or foreign-trained equivalent.

  • License, Certification, Registration
  • Physical Therapist License (California) required at hire
  • Basic Life Support required at hire
  • National Provider Identifier required at hire

Additional Requirements

Must be able to work in a Labor/Management Partnership environment.

Preferred Qualifications

N/A

Key Responsibilities

Provides independent physical therapy management, including evaluating patients and implementing treatment plans to achieve specific goals. Collaborates with healthcare personnel and assists in the development of departmental patient care programs.

Requirements

Requires a minimum of two years of physical therapy experience and a degree from an accredited physical therapy curriculum. Must hold a California Physical Therapist License, Basic Life Support certification, and a National Provider Identifier.

Qualifications

Education
Professional certificate or licensure
Experience
2+ years of experience

Certifications

BLS

Key Skills

Patient EvaluationTreatment PlanningClinical DocumentationClinical Instruction

Physical Therapist Career Context

Of the 50 active Physical Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 4% are remote, 40% have no call, 56% require no weekends.

In California, the Physical Therapy weighted monthly median benchmark on WeekdayDoc is ~$116k (1,500 salary observations; 3,834 listings), vs ~$94k nationally (14,655 salary observations; 55,733 listings). Monthly aggregates cover 2026-01-01 through 2026-10-01; these are not the modal's selected comparable-job medians.

The cost-of-living index for California is 110.7 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)). 63.6% of California clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

Work-Life Balance Analysis

WeekdayDoc's proprietary algorithm rates Senior Physical Therapist, Inpatient, Per Diem at Kaiser Permanente a 7.2 out of 10 for work-life balance — classified as very good. This places the position in the top 10% in Physical Therapy — ranked against 22,389 active Physical Therapy listings on WeekdayDoc.

Top contract/1099 Physical Therapist Jobs

50 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution50 jobs · 37 employers

20
<$120k
8
$120k-140k
11
$140k-160k
8
$160k-180k
3
$180k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks40 jobs · 37 employers

401k / retirement match
83%
CME allowance
70%
Sign-on bonus
48%
Loan repayment
23%
Relocation assistance
15%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

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#3

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+ 48 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 4.8this job 7.2
Better work-life than 80% of Physical Therapy listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 22,389 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.