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Cedars-Sinai
Los Angeles, California

Occupational Therapist - Per Diem

Occupational TherapistPer Diem

Listed compensation

$49.11-$78.58/hr

The week · per this posting

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

Ask the employer about the work setting, call expectations, weekend coverage and time off.

Posted 10m ago · Verified live

Job Description

The Occupational Therapist I evaluates and treats patients in accordance with the prescription of the physician.

Provides patient care consistent with Scope of Practice Standards and Code of Ethics; the Plan for the Provision of Care to Patients, the Plan for Corporate Compliance, the Performance Improvement Plan and Patient Education Plan.

Assists in the continuous quality improvement process and in the education and training of students and assists in divisional growth and cohesiveness to ensure a high quality of therapy care.

Provides care while maintaining safety of the environment, utilizing appropriate communication with sensitivity and attention to special populations, including patients with diverse cultural backgrounds, age, developmental issues and physical disabilities.

  • Responsible for leveraging talent, knowledge, skills, and a strong work ethic to consistently meet and exceed primary Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets, while maintaining healthy work habits.
  • Performs evaluations appropriate to established procedures. Ensures there is a prescription/order for all evaluations and uses relevant test and standardized measures congruent to best practice. Develops a comprehensive plan of care that is supported by evaluation findings and prognosticate patient outcomes/progress integrating all relevant factors. Manages the occupational therapy care of the patient and coordinates with others to ensure the patient receives the total care they need. Completes all required documentation in an accurate and thorough manner within the expected timeframes.
  • Utilizes treatment intervention and strategies within the scope of practice and supported by established plan of care and integration of evidence-based practice to maximize patient outcomes tailored to specific patient populations.
  • Provides patient education appropriate for patient population and identifies and facilitates patient discharge needs including documentation, communication with care team, and recommendation for follow-up services.
  • Identifies safety concerns regarding patient population and institutes appropriate measures to provide a safe environment, including protection of self and others. Reviews identified risks and benefits of therapy and obtains consent from patient and/or caregiver.
  • Provides individualized, patient-centered care with respect to personal, cultural, spiritual beliefs and preferences; age-related cognitive and psychosocial needs; social support needs; gender, sexual orientation, and economic background.
  • Contributes ideas and suggestions to continuously improve processes, procedures, methods and productivity, and utilizes quality principles for continuous performance improvement.
  • Participates in activities that promote professional identity within the clinical environment, the Cedars-Sinai environment and the community at large.
  • Participates in professional development through clinical education, formal mentoring programs, further development of clinical and professional competencies, involvement in research and scholarly work.
  • Effectively serves as a clinical instructor/mentor in accordance with specific discipline, regulatory and professional context.
  • Participates in continuous learning and professional development and documents evidence.
  • Contributes to conversations and activities that positively impact team dynamics, cohesion, and morale and promotes individual accountability.

Qualifications

Education

  • Bachelor's degree from an accredited Occupational Therapy program required.

Master's or Doctorate's degree is preferred.

License/Certifications

  • CA Occupational Therapist License and Basic Life Support certification is required.
  • Basic Life Support (BLS) certification is required.

Experience and Skills

  • A minimum of 1 (one) year of experience as a practicing Occupational Therapist.
  • Experience performing evaluations, designing and implementing treatment plans, and providing education in a manner appropriate to the age of the patient.
  • Experience with assessment and intervention techniques in a medical physical disabilities setting.
  • Working knowledge of subject matter domain areas in clinical quality, patient safety, regulatory and reimbursement context.
  • Ability to deliver safe, appropriate, ethical and evidence-based care in an effective, efficient and professional manner; incorporates feedback, self-reflection, sound clinical reasoning and problem solving to continuously improve quality of care and operational processes.
  • Demonstrates good decision-making/problem solving skills. Exhibits good clinical reasoning skills and judgments in managing patients with a high-level of medical complexity/acuity.
  • Demonstrate standard computer skills, use of electronic health record, and office skills as relevant to duties.
  • Ability to meet the yearly average of established productivity standard for the position.
  • Ability to convey and/or receive written/verbal information to/from various audiences in different formats.

Physical Demands

  • Able to push, pull, lift or carry 0-35 pounds on an intermittent basis.
  • Able to sit, stand, walk, bend, squat consistently in order to safely administer manual exercises and techniques.
  • Able to assist patient with physical activities such as transfers, bed mobility, and ambulation.
  • Able to identify need for an arrange assistance to maintain safe techniques.

Cedars-Sinai is a leader in providing high-quality healthcare encompassing primary care, specialized medicine and research.

Since 1902, Cedars-Sinai has evolved to meet the needs of one of the most diverse regions in the nation, setting standards in quality and innovative patient care, research, teaching and community service. Today, Cedars- Sinai is known for its national leadership in transforming healthcare for the benefit of patients.

Cedars-Sinai impacts the future of healthcare by developing new approaches to treatment and educating tomorrow's health professionals. Additionally, Cedars-Sinai demonstrates a commitment to the community through programs that improve the health of its most vulnerable residents.

Cedars-Sinai is one of the largest nonprofit academic medical centers in the U.S., with 915 licensed beds, 2,993 physicians, 4,700+ nurses and thousands of other healthcare professionals and staff. Choose this if you want to work in a fast-paced environment that offers the highest level of care to people in the Los Angeles that need our care the most.

Key Responsibilities

The Occupational Therapist evaluates and treats patients by developing comprehensive care plans based on physician prescriptions and clinical findings. They also coordinate with the care team, provide patient education, and ensure all documentation is accurate and compliant with safety and quality standards.

Qualifications

Education
Bachelor degree

Key Skills

Patient evaluationTreatment planningElectronic health recordsSafety complianceInterdisciplinary coordinationPatient assessmentRehabilitation

Occupational Therapist Career Context

In California, the Occupational Therapy weighted monthly median benchmark on WeekdayDoc is ~$116k (738 salary observations; 2,488 listings), vs ~$97k nationally (5,153 salary observations; 28,851 listings). Monthly aggregates cover 2026-01-01 through 2026-11-01; 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)), so the posted ~$133k midpoint carries the purchasing power of roughly $120k in an average-cost state. 63.6% of California clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

What does the Occupational Therapy market look like in California?
MeasureThis jobMarket
Listed pay$102k–$163kOccupational Therapy median $146k (middle half $146k–$146k)31 comparable listings, Nov 2026
California vs national$116k median in California$97k nationally (+19%)738 state / 5,153 national salary observations
Cost-of-living adjusted pay~$120k in purchasing powerCalifornia index 110.7 (US = 100)BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)
Occupational Therapy listings in California910 active9,011 nationallylive on WeekdayDoc, Nov 2026
Work settingon-sitepeers: 6% remote · 52% no call · 56% no weekends50 benchmarked listings
Sign-on & loan repaymentnot statedCalifornia occupational therapist listings (all specialties): 16% state a sign-on bonus (median $5k) · 5% offer loan repayment963 active listings, Nov 2026
New Occupational Therapy listings3,238 in the last 30 days1,701 the 30 days before (+90%)U.S., first seen on WeekdayDoc, Nov 2026
Occupational Therapy pay trend+4.7% vs prior quarter—through Oct 2026
Sources: WeekdayDoc live listing index, BEA Regional Price Parities (2024); as of Nov 2026. Same values as the Weekday Verdict and Market Insights on this page.

Top contract/1099 Occupational Therapist Jobs

50 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution

32 jobs
6
<$120k
5
$120k-135k
14
$135k-150k
5
$150k-165k
2
$165k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks

32 jobs
401k / retirement match
88%
CME allowance
59%
Sign-on bonus
22%
Loan repayment
16%
Relocation assistance
16%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

#1

Home Care Occupational Therapist- Independent Contractor (Ocean County)Per Diem

US Physical Therapy · Toms River, New Jersey

$74-$95/hr
#2

Home Care Occupational Therapist- 1099 (Eastern Suffolk County)Per Diem

US Physical Therapy · Selden, New York

$65-$90/hr
#3

Occupational Therapist - $80 to 90 per hour - Part Time

$80-$90/hr
#4

Occupational Therapist I - SRN - Per Diem- San Diego County Float

$52.36-$75.69/hr
+ 48 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 4.8this job 3.0
Better work-life than 20% of Occupational Therapy listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 9,043 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

Living in Los Angeles

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$922k
Typical market rent
$2,772/mo
Residents’ average commute
31 min
Metro price indexU.S. average = 100
113.6
State income tax
Up to 13.3%
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Sep 2026), Zillow market rents (Sep 2026), U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year.

BEA 2024 · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metro prices. Housing figures are city-level.

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.