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Occupational Therapist I - Acute Therapy - Los Angeles, CA

Occupational TherapistFull-Time

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting · weekdays assumed

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Job Description

ATTENTION MILITARY AFFILIATED JOB SEEKERS - Our organization works with partner companies to source qualified talent for their open roles. The following position is available to Veterans, Transitioning Military, National Guard and Reserve Members, Military Spouses, Wounded Warriors, and their Caregivers. If you have the required skill set, education requirements, and experience, please click the submit button and follow the next steps.

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.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

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.

Additional Qualifications/Responsibilities

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.

Experience and Skills

No experience required.

Must be competent by virtue of training and/or experience to perform evaluations, design and implement treatment plans and provide education in a manner appropriate to the age of the patient.

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.
  • Collaborates to problem solve and make decisions to achieve desired outcomes.
  • Responds timely, effectively and appropriately to deliverables.
  • Shares knowledge, time and expertise to assist other members of the team.
  • Ensures practices and procedures are inclusive of interpersonal and cultural diversity.
  • Cultivates and maintains strong customer relationships and rapport with stakeholders and/or client groups.

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.

Certificates/Security Clearances/Other

License/Certifications

CA Occupational Therapist License and Basic Life Support certification is required.

Key Responsibilities

The Occupational Therapist evaluates and treats patients in an acute care setting, developing comprehensive plans of care based on physician prescriptions. They are responsible for managing patient care, documenting outcomes, and collaborating with the care team to ensure high-quality, safe, and evidence-based therapy services.

Qualifications

Education
Bachelor degree

Certifications

BLS

Key Skills

Patient evaluationTreatment planningSafety protocolsInterdisciplinary collaborationElectronic health recordsClinical mentoringRegulatory compliance

Occupational Therapist Career Context

In California, the Occupational Therapy weighted monthly median benchmark on WeekdayDoc is ~$115k (619 salary observations; 1,903 listings), vs ~$96k nationally (4,563 salary observations; 25,028 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).

Of the 50 active Occupational Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 4% are remote, 22% have no call, 70% require no weekends.

Occupational Therapy pay on WeekdayDoc is up 3.5% vs. the prior quarter (through Sep 2026).

Top Occupational Therapist Jobs

50 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution50 jobs · 39 employers

20
<$125k
16
$125k-145k
8
$145k-165k
4
$165k-185k
2
$185k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks37 jobs

401k / retirement match
92%
CME allowance
46%
Sign-on bonus
27%
Relocation assistance
16%
Loan repayment
11%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

#1

Occupational Therapist III EX

UCSF · Oakland, California

$67.06-$90.53/hr
#2

Occupational Therapist

Ironside Human Resources · Fairfield, California

$75-$90/hr
#3

Occupational Therapist II, Inpatient Acute Rehabilitation

$61.91-$86.67/hr
#4

Occupational Therapist II EX

$64.05-$86.19/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 9,511 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

Living in Los Angeles

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$923k
Typical market rent
$2,778/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 (Aug 2026), Zillow market rents (Aug 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.