Physiatrist Job Description Templates for Practices and Rehab Programs
6 free templates for the small employers that hire physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians: outpatient, interventional, inpatient rehab, sports, medical director, and PRN. Download as DOCX.
Most physiatrist job descriptions online were written by a hospital system for a hospital system. They assume a credentialing office, a recruiting team, a compensation committee, and a salary band that someone else already negotiated. If you run a private practice, a small rehabilitation program, or a post-acute service line, none of that describes your situation.
The word physiatrist also hides an unusual amount of variation. One physiatrist spends the week on electrodiagnostics and therapy prescription. Another runs fluoroscopy-guided injections three days a week. A third rounds on an inpatient rehabilitation census and chairs the interdisciplinary team conference. Those are three different jobs, three different privileging paths, and three different postings.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for employers without an HR department. The six below cover an outpatient clinic, an interventional spine and pain practice, an inpatient rehabilitation program, a sports medicine role, a rehabilitation medical directorship, and PRN or locum coverage, each with the classification and credentialing notes the generic versions skip.
TL;DR
A physiatrist is a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician holding an MD or DO, not a therapist. An employed physician practicing medicine is exempt from overtime with no salary test. Physiatrists sit inside the BLS residual physician classification, which reported a median of $265,930 (May 2025). Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
What a Physiatrist Actually Does
A physiatrist is a physician who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and whose work is organized around restoring function rather than around a single organ system. They diagnose, order and interpret studies, prescribe, perform procedures, and direct the rehabilitation team.
Training runs four years of postgraduate education after medical school, in an ACGME-accredited physical medicine and rehabilitation residency, followed by a two-part certifying examination administered by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Many physiatrists then complete a fellowship in one of the seven ABPMR subspecialties.
Physician-owned outpatient practice
You write every term
No system HR department, no academic salary band, no committee. You set the base, the incentive, the call, and the non-compete, and you defend all four in the first conversation. The posting is the practice, because candidates have nothing else to go on.
Inpatient rehabilitation program
Coverage rules shape the job
Medicare conditions the inpatient rehabilitation benefit on documented physician involvement, so preadmission screening, the plan of care, and the visit frequency are duties, not preferences. Write them into the job description in those words.
Interventional spine and pain
Privileges and volume matter
The hire turns on which procedures the candidate can actually perform, where they will perform them, and whether they can be privileged there. A procedure log tells you more than any interview answer about experience.
Post-acute and medical direction
Part clinical, part administrative
Skilled nursing programs and small rehab units often want a director more than a full clinical schedule. That is a different posting with a written time commitment, deliverables, and a documented fair market value rate.
Write the Week, Not the Specialty
The single most useful sentence in a physiatry posting is a description of the week. Four clinic days plus one procedure day is a different job from three clinic days plus two inpatient rounding days, and both are different from a half-time directorship. Candidates self-select on the schedule and the procedure list faster than on anything else in the posting, including salary. If you cannot describe the week yet, you are not ready to post.
Physiatrist vs Physical Therapist vs Pain Physician
A physiatrist is a physician; a physical therapist is not. That is the distinction that decides licensure, scope, classification, and pay, and it is the one small employers most often blur when writing a posting or an org chart.
The confusion is understandable, because a physiatrist and a physical therapist often see the same patient in the same building on the same day. The difference is that the physiatrist makes the medical diagnosis, orders the imaging and electrodiagnostics, prescribes, and writes the plan, while the therapist delivers the therapeutic program. If your open role is therapy delivery, the physical therapist templates are the right starting point instead.
Role
Credential
Can diagnose and prescribe
Classification note
Physiatrist (PM and R physician)
MD or DO, PM and R residency, ABPMR certification
Yes, including controlled substances with DEA registration
Exempt as a licensed physician with no salary test
Physical therapist
Doctor of Physical Therapy, state PT license
No
Ordinary FLSA duties and salary tests apply
Occupational therapist
Master's or doctoral OT degree, state OT license
No
Ordinary FLSA duties and salary tests apply
Chiropractor
Doctor of Chiropractic, state chiropractic license
Scope set by state law; generally no prescribing
Ordinary FLSA duties and salary tests apply
Pain physician from anesthesiology
MD or DO, anesthesiology residency plus pain fellowship
Yes
Exempt as a licensed physician with no salary test
Physician assistant or nurse practitioner
PA or NP licensure, collaborative or supervisory arrangement per state
Yes, within state scope
Ordinary FLSA duties and salary tests apply
Two of those roles show up on almost every physiatry hire. A practice that adds a physiatrist usually adds or reallocates therapy capacity at the same time, so check the occupational therapist templates if the rehabilitation side needs staffing too. Practices that lean on advanced practice support should look at the physician assistant templates.
What Belongs in the Posting
A physiatrist job description does four jobs at once: it describes the week, it filters on credentials and procedures, it protects the practice legally, and it closes a candidate who almost certainly has other conversations running. Most postings do only the first two, and badly.
The parts a physician reads first
Setting and ownership, stated in one sentence
Clinic days, procedure days, and call
Expected encounters per day or census
Who else is on the care team
The parts that filter applicants
Residency, board status, and any fellowship
The specific procedures the role performs
State license and DEA status expected by the start date
Payer credentialing the role requires
The parts that protect the practice
Exempt classification stated on the posting
Malpractice type and who pays for tail coverage
Restrictive covenant scope, if you use one
Exclusion screening and data bank query notice
The parts that close the hire
Base salary and the incentive formula in plain math
Realistic start date built around credentialing
CME days, budget, and society dues
A named person to reply to and a real timeline
The most common omission at small practices is the compensation math. A base plus incentive with no formula reads as a base, and a physician who has been through a productivity model before will assume the worst about anything left vague. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure, and the whole hiring template library follows the same shape.
6 Physiatrist Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: practice overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Physiatrist Job Description Templates
Outpatient, interventional spine and pain, inpatient rehabilitation, sports medicine, medical director, and PRN or locum. All in one download.
Outpatient Physiatrist
General PM and R clinic
The core private-practice role: consults, therapy prescription, in-office procedures, electrodiagnostics, and functional documentation.
Interventional Spine and Pain
Clinic plus procedure days
For image-guided practice, with privileging, radiation safety, controlled substance policy, and the compensation caution spelled out.
Inpatient Rehabilitation
IRF or acute rehab unit
For a rehabilitation hospital or unit, built around the physician duties that Medicare coverage actually depends on.
Sports Medicine Physiatrist
Non-operative musculoskeletal
For a sports or orthopedic practice: ultrasound-guided care, return-to-play criteria, concussion protocol, and event coverage.
Rehabilitation Medical Director
Clinical plus administrative
For a program directorship, with a written time commitment, deliverables, and the fair market value documentation the role requires.
Part-Time, PRN, or Locum
Coverage on a set schedule
For coverage that does not yet support a full-time hire, with the employee versus contractor decision made before you post.
Template 1: Outpatient Physiatrist (General PM and R)
The core private-practice role, with consults, therapy prescription, in-office procedures, electrodiagnostic studies, and the functional documentation that referrers and payers expect.
•Order and interpret imaging and electrodiagnostic studies
•Manage medications, including any controlled substances, under the practice
prescribing policy and the state prescription drug monitoring program
•Prescribe and document durable medical equipment, orthotics, and prosthetics
•Complete disability, work status, and functional capacity documentation
•Coordinate with referring surgeons, primary care, therapists, and case managers
•Close encounters and sign charts within [number] business days
•Take part in [call rotation / peer review / quality meetings] as scheduled
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•MD or DO with completion of an ACGME-accredited residency in physical medicine
and rehabilitation
•Board certified or board eligible by the American Board of Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation (state your deadline for certification)
•Active and unrestricted [State] medical license, or eligibility to obtain one
before the start date
•Active DEA registration and [State] controlled substance registration where
required
•Clear background check, National Practitioner Data Bank query, and federal
exclusion list screening
•Credentialed or credentialable with [Medicare, Medicaid, and our commercial
payer panel]
•[Fellowship or subspecialty certification in pain medicine, sports medicine,
brain injury medicine, spinal cord injury medicine, neuromuscular medicine, or
pediatric rehabilitation medicine: required / preferred / not required]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
An employee holding a valid license and actually engaged in the practice of
medicine is exempt from federal overtime as a learned professional, and the
salary level and salary basis requirements do not apply to that person. Note that
this exception is written for physicians and does not extend to therapists,
nurses, or technologists, so your PT, OT, and nursing staff are classified under
the ordinary tests. Compensation tied to productivity must be set at fair market
value and structured to satisfy the federal physician self-referral law and the
anti-kickback statute where the practice bills federal health care programs.
Confirm your state medical board and controlled substance rules. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ base, [incentive formula], [signing or relocation],
[malpractice coverage type and tail], [CME days and budget], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your CV and state license status.
Template 2: Interventional Spine and Pain Physiatrist
For a mixed clinic and procedure schedule, with privileging, radiation safety, controlled substance policy, and the compensation caution that image-guided practice makes unavoidable.
Interventional Spine and Pain Physiatrist Job Description
INTERVENTIONAL SPINE AND PAIN PHYSIATRIST JOB DESCRIPTION
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Medical Director / Practice Owner]
Employment type: Full-time, W-2 employee, [clinic days] plus [procedure days]
FLSA status: Exempt (licensed physician; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ base per year plus [wRVU / collections] incentive
ABOUT [PRACTICE NAME]
[Practice Name] runs an interventional spine and pain program in [City, State]
with procedures performed at [our office-based lab / an ambulatory surgery
center / hospital outpatient department]. We are hiring a physiatrist to carry a
mixed schedule of evaluation clinic and image-guided procedures.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Interventional Physiatrist evaluates spine and musculoskeletal pain, selects
candidates for image-guided procedures, performs those procedures under
fluoroscopy or ultrasound, and manages the non-procedural side of care including
therapy, medication, and functional goals.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Run [number] clinic days and [number] procedure days per week
•Perform image-guided procedures within your privileges: [epidural steroid
For a rehabilitation hospital or an acute rehabilitation unit, built around the physician duties that the inpatient rehabilitation benefit actually depends on.
coverage type and tail], [CME days and budget], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your CV and license status.
Template 4: Sports Medicine Physiatrist
For non-operative musculoskeletal practice: ultrasound-guided procedures, written return-to-play criteria, concussion protocol, and event or team coverage.
Sports Medicine Physiatrist Job Description (Non-Operative)
SPORTS MEDICINE PHYSIATRIST JOB DESCRIPTION (NON-OPERATIVE)
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Managing Physician / Practice Owner]
Employment type: Full-time, W-2 employee, [clinic days] plus [event coverage]
FLSA status: Exempt (licensed physician; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ base per year plus [productivity] incentive
ABOUT [PRACTICE NAME]
[Practice Name] is a [sports medicine / orthopedic / musculoskeletal] practice in
[City, State] that treats [recreational athletes, high school and college teams,
active adults, workers with overuse injury]. We are hiring a non-operative sports
physiatrist to run a musculoskeletal clinic and support our [team coverage /
event] commitments.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Sports Medicine Physiatrist diagnoses and manages musculoskeletal injury
without surgery, performs diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound-guided
procedures, directs return-to-play and return-to-work progressions, and works
directly with athletic trainers and therapists.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Evaluate and manage acute and overuse musculoskeletal injury across [number]
clinic days per week
•Perform diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound and ultrasound-guided procedures
within your privileges
•Write and supervise rehabilitation programs and progress them against objective
criteria
•Set written return-to-play and return-to-work criteria and communicate them to
athletes, families, coaches, employers, and athletic trainers
•Manage concussion evaluation and graduated return protocols per [state law and
our policy]
•Provide [sideline / event / training room] coverage for [teams and events],
approximately [number] hours per [season]
•Refer to surgery when non-operative care has run its course, and document why
•Coordinate with the athletic training staff on injury prevention and load
management
•Keep documentation current for insurance, school, and employer reporting
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•MD or DO with an ACGME-accredited physical medicine and rehabilitation
residency
•ABPMR board certified or board eligible
•[ACGME-accredited sports medicine fellowship and subspecialty certification:
required / preferred]
•Documented competence in diagnostic and interventional musculoskeletal
ultrasound
•Active and unrestricted [State] medical license and DEA registration
•Willingness to cover evening and weekend events during [season]
•Clear background check, National Practitioner Data Bank query, and federal
exclusion list screening
•Background clearance for work with minors where you cover school-age athletes
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A licensed physician practicing medicine is exempt from federal overtime with no
salary level or salary basis test, so event coverage hours do not create overtime
liability for the physician. They do create scheduling and liability questions.
Confirm that your malpractice policy covers sideline and event care, including
care delivered off site and across state lines, and confirm whether your state
requires a specific license or registration to provide medical services to a
visiting team. Written agreements with schools, clubs, and employers should state
who directs medical decisions, and the physician should hold that authority
without interference. Concussion return-to-play law is state specific and applies
to youth sports in every state. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
[malpractice coverage type and tail], [CME days and budget], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your CV and coverage availability.
Template 5: Rehabilitation Medical Director
For a program directorship, with a written time commitment, defined deliverables, and the fair market value documentation a paid medical directorship requires.
Rehabilitation Medical Director Job Description (Physiatrist)
REHABILITATION MEDICAL DIRECTOR JOB DESCRIPTION (PHYSIATRIST)
Organization: __ ([City, State])
Program: [Inpatient rehabilitation unit / skilled nursing rehab program /
outpatient rehabilitation network]
Reports to: [Administrator / Chief Medical Officer / Owner]
Employment type: [Full-time employed physician with administrative time /
part-time medical directorship at ___ hours per month]
FLSA status: Exempt (licensed physician; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ clinical plus $_ administrative
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Organization Name] is hiring a physiatrist to serve as Rehabilitation Medical
Director for our [program]. The role splits between direct patient care and
program leadership: clinical standards, team performance, documentation quality,
regulatory readiness, and growth of the referral base.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Rehabilitation Medical Director sets and enforces clinical standards for the
rehabilitation program, supervises the medical side of the interdisciplinary
team, owns documentation and coverage quality, represents the program to
referring providers and payers, and carries a defined clinical load.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Clinical leadership
•Set admission criteria and clinical protocols for the program
•Chair the interdisciplinary team conference and hold the team to written goals
•Review outcomes, length of stay, readmissions, and functional gain, and act on
what the data shows
Compliance and quality
•Own documentation quality for coverage and quality reporting requirements
•Lead survey readiness, mock audits, and corrective action plans
•Chair [peer review, utilization review, infection control] as assigned
Program and people
•Support recruiting, orientation, and competency review for clinical staff
•Serve as the escalation point for clinical disputes and family concerns
•Represent the program to referring hospitals, surgeons, and case managers
Direct care
•Carry a clinical load of approximately [percentage] of a full schedule
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•MD or DO with an ACGME-accredited physical medicine and rehabilitation
residency
•ABPMR board certification (not board eligible) for the director role
•[Number] years of practice in [inpatient rehabilitation / post-acute care]
•Active and unrestricted [State] medical license and DEA registration
•Demonstrated experience with regulatory survey, documentation audit, or quality
reporting in a rehabilitation setting
•Clear background check, National Practitioner Data Bank query, and federal
exclusion list screening
•Ability to hold administrative time to a written schedule and produce
deliverables on it
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A licensed physician practicing medicine is an exempt learned professional with
no salary level or salary basis test. Medical directorships draw specific
scrutiny because they pay a physician who also refers or admits. Put the
arrangement in a signed written agreement covering at least one year, specify the
services and the time commitment, set the rate at fair market value in advance
and not in a way that varies with the volume or value of referrals, and require
documented time logs against the deliverables. Federal enforcement in this area
regularly involves directorships that were paid but never performed. Keep the
time logs. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Organization Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ clinical base, $_ administrative stipend for
[hours] per month, [malpractice coverage type and tail], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your CV and a summary of prior
program leadership.
Template 6: Part-Time, PRN, or Locum Physiatrist
For coverage that does not yet support a full-time hire, with the employee versus contractor decision made before the posting goes out rather than after the first shift.
Part-Time, PRN, or Locum Physiatrist Job Description
PART-TIME, PRN, OR LOCUM PHYSIATRIST JOB DESCRIPTION
Practice or facility: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Medical Director / Practice Owner / Scheduling Coordinator]
FLSA status: Exempt when employed as a licensed physician (see note)
Compensation: $_ per [day / half day / hour], or $_ per shift
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Practice or Facility Name] needs physiatry coverage for [a defined number of
clinic days per month / vacation and leave coverage / a census that does not yet
support a full-time hire / a growing service line]. The engagement is [ongoing on
a set schedule / assignment based].
POSITION SUMMARY
The Part-Time or PRN Physiatrist provides physical medicine and rehabilitation
coverage on a defined schedule: evaluating and managing patients, completing
required documentation inside our systems, and handing off cleanly to the
permanent team.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Cover [number] clinic days or [number] rounding days per [week / month] on the
agreed schedule
•Carry the same documentation standard as permanent staff: notes closed within
[number] business days, charges submitted the same day
•Perform [in-office procedures / interdisciplinary team conference leadership /
admission and discharge decisions] as privileged
•Hand off open issues in writing at the end of each assignment
•Follow all practice policies on prescribing, referrals, and patient
communication
•Respond to chart queries and payer documentation requests for encounters you
performed, including after the assignment ends
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•MD or DO with an ACGME-accredited physical medicine and rehabilitation
residency
•ABPMR board certified or board eligible
•Active and unrestricted [State] medical license and DEA registration in place
before the first scheduled day
•Credentialed with [our payers] or willing to complete credentialing before
starting; confirm locum billing arrangements with your billing team
•Malpractice coverage: [we provide / you provide, with certificate on file and
tail coverage where the policy is claims made]
•Clear background check, National Practitioner Data Bank query, and federal
exclusion list screening
•Reliable availability and confirmation of scheduled dates [number] weeks ahead
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Decide the engagement type before you post, not after. A part-time or PRN
physician who is your employee is an exempt learned professional with no salary
level or salary basis test, so a day rate or half-day rate is fine. Calling the
same person an independent contractor does not make them one: if you set the
schedule, the location, the protocols, the documentation standard, and the fee
schedule, and the work is part of your regular business, the relationship looks
like employment to the Department of Labor and the IRS regardless of the label on
the agreement. Genuine locum tenens work booked through an agency or run by a
physician with an independent practice can be a legitimate contractor
relationship. Credentialing, privileging, exclusion screening, and malpractice
coverage apply either way, and none of them can wait until the first shift. This
is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice or Facility Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides
reasonable accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [day / half day / shift], [travel and lodging policy],
[malpractice arrangement], [minimum guaranteed days per month]
To apply, email __ with your CV, license status, and
available dates.
Credentials to Require and Verify
Require an MD or DO, an ACGME-accredited physical medicine and rehabilitation residency, and either ABPMR certification or board eligibility with a written deadline. Everything else on the list depends on what the role actually does.
The mistake that costs small practices the most is requiring a fellowship the role does not need. Subspecialty certification narrows the applicant pool sharply, and in a specialty this small that can mean months of empty pipeline. Require pain medicine for an interventional schedule, sports medicine for team coverage, and brain injury or spinal cord injury medicine for an inpatient program. Otherwise mark it preferred.
Credential
How to handle it in the posting
MD or DO
Always required; state that an ACGME-accredited PM and R residency is required
ABPMR certification
Decide between certified and board eligible with a deadline, then say which in the posting
Subspecialty certificate
Require only where the role depends on it; otherwise mark preferred and widen the pool
State medical license
Required, unrestricted, and in hand before the start date rather than after it
DEA registration
Required wherever the role prescribes; add the state controlled substance registration where applicable
Procedure privileges
Name the specific procedures and the site; ask for a procedure log rather than a claim
Exclusion screening
Screen at hire and monthly thereafter, for employees and contractors alike
Data bank query
Query the National Practitioner Data Bank and verify the license with the state board
Malpractice
State the coverage type and who pays for tail coverage on a claims-made policy
Background screening for clinical staff carries its own notice and authorization requirements under federal law, and state rules add to them. Our guides to running a background check and to state background check laws cover the process.
Overtime and the Physician Exemption
An employed physiatrist is exempt from federal overtime, and unusually, the salary level and salary basis tests do not apply at all. The exemption rests on holding a valid license and being actually engaged in the practice of medicine.
That rule sits in the federal regulation on the practice of law or medicine, and it contains a limit that matters enormously in a rehabilitation practice: the exception is written for physicians and expressly does not reach nurses, therapists, technologists, or the other professions that serve medicine. So the physiatrist and the physical therapist sitting ten feet apart are classified under two different rules, and only one of them can be paid a day rate without further analysis.
The physician exemption has no salary test
An employee who holds a valid license and is actually engaged in the practice of medicine is exempt from federal overtime, and the salary level and salary basis requirements do not apply to that person at all. That is unusual. For nearly every other exempt role you have to clear a weekly salary floor first, and here you do not, which is why a day rate or a shift rate for an employed physician does not defeat the exemption. Read the regulation carefully on one point though: the same provision says the exception does not reach nurses, therapists, technologists, or the other professions that serve medicine. Your physical therapists, occupational therapists, and nurses are classified under the ordinary duties and salary tests, so a rehabilitation practice runs two different classification rules under one roof. This is general information, not legal advice.
Screening is a monthly job, not a hiring-day job
Employing or contracting with a person excluded from federal health care programs exposes the practice to civil monetary penalties and to repayment of anything the excluded person touched, including administrative and support work. The Office of Inspector General maintains the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities and advises checking it monthly for every employee and contractor, not once at hire. Build the same discipline around license status, DEA registration, board certification, malpractice certificates, and any state controlled substance registration, all of which expire on different cycles. A small practice that tracks renewal dates in a spreadsheet will eventually miss one during a busy month, which is exactly when it matters. This is general information, not legal advice.
Board status is a real hiring decision
The American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation certifies physiatrists after an ACGME-accredited residency and a two-part examination, and it offers subspecialty certification in seven areas: pain medicine, sports medicine, brain injury medicine, spinal cord injury medicine, neuromuscular medicine, pediatric rehabilitation medicine, and hospice and palliative medicine. Board eligible is not the same as board certified, and hospitals, payers, and some state programs treat the two differently. Decide in advance whether you will hire board eligible with a written certification deadline, then say so in the posting. An ABPMR analysis of certification trends published in the journal PM and R found pain medicine was the most common subspecialty certificate among diplomates at 15.5 percent, followed by sports medicine at 6.6 percent, brain injury medicine at 4.8 percent, and spinal cord injury medicine at 4.2 percent.
Fair market value governs how you pay
Physiatrists refer constantly: to therapy, to imaging, to durable medical equipment, to surgery. Where a practice bills Medicare or Medicaid and also owns the therapy or imaging it refers to, the compensation arrangement has to fit inside a recognized exception to the federal physician self-referral law and stay clear of the anti-kickback statute. In practice that means a signed written agreement, a term of at least a year, compensation set in advance at fair market value, and a formula that does not vary with the volume or value of referrals other than for services the physician personally performs. Medical directorships get the closest look of all, because they are easy to pay and easy to leave unperformed. Get the agreement drafted by health care counsel before the offer goes out. This is general information, not legal advice.
Everyone outside the physician exemption needs hours tracked and overtime paid past forty in a week. If a role is close to the line, our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests. The exclusion screening obligation is separate from all of it: the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities published by the Office of Inspector General should be checked monthly for every employee and contractor.
What to Pay a Physiatrist
There is no BLS occupation for physiatrists. The federal wage survey does not code physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians separately; they fall into the residual classification that collects physician specialties without a code of their own, so the national figure is directional rather than a benchmark.
Say that plainly to yourself before you use the number. The residual classification pools specialties with very different economics, which is why its percentile spread is enormous compared with a coded specialty such as family medicine. Use it for orientation, then benchmark seriously against comparable practices in your market and against the actual procedure mix of the role you are filling.
National Wage Data for the Classification Physiatrists Fall Into
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the residual physician classification that includes physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians reported a national median annual wage of $265,930, with the 25th percentile at $102,930 and the 75th percentile at $378,770. The same survey reported medians of $244,180 for family medicine physicians and $248,560 for neurologists (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Role on the rehabilitation team
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
Note for a small employer
Physicians, all other (includes PM and R)
$265,930 per year
No separate physiatrist code; treat as directional, not as a benchmark
Family medicine physicians
$244,180 per year
A coded specialty, useful as a sanity check on the residual figure
Neurologists
$248,560 per year
Closest coded specialty by patient population
Physician assistants
$135,880 per year
Often the leverage that makes a physiatry schedule work
Nurse practitioners
$132,300 per year
May conduct one of three weekly IRF visits from the second week
Physical therapists
$102,760 per year
Classified under the ordinary FLSA tests, unlike the physician
Occupational therapists
$100,330 per year
Budget alongside PT when standing up a rehabilitation service
Chiropractors
$79,200 per year
A separate license and scope, not a substitute for a physiatrist
Athletic trainers
$62,520 per year
Common partner in a sports physiatry practice
Compensation structure matters as much as the number. Where the practice bills federal health care programs, a productivity formula has to be set in advance at fair market value and must not vary with the volume or value of referrals other than for services the physician personally performs. Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and have health care counsel review the formula before the offer goes out.
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Credentialing Sets the Start Date, Not the Offer Letter
The start date on a physician offer is a guess until credentialing says otherwise. State licensure, DEA registration, privileging at the hospital or surgery center, and enrollment with each payer run on separate clocks, and the slowest one decides when the practice can actually bill for the work.
This is the single most common way a good physiatry hire turns into a cash flow problem. The physician relocates, orients, and starts seeing patients while claims sit unbillable, and by the time anyone notices, the practice has paid two or three months of salary against revenue it cannot recognize yet.
Start Every Application the Week the Offer Is Signed
Do not sequence credentialing. Run licensure, DEA, privileging, and every payer enrollment in parallel from the day the agreement is signed, assign one named person to own a tracker with a line per application, and set the start date backward from the slowest expected approval. Then say the honest timeline out loud in the offer conversation. A candidate who has been credentialed before will trust a practice that names the constraint far more than one that discovers it in month two.
Small practice hiring fails in three predictable places: the posting describes a specialty instead of a week, credentialing is discovered rather than planned, and the onboarding documents arrive as a stack with expiration dates nobody is tracking. Each has a fix.
The practice owner is also the recruiter, the credentialing coordinator, and the HR department
In a practice with a handful of providers, the physician who runs the schedule is the same person writing the job description, chasing references, and filling in payer applications between patients. There is no talent team and no template library, so the posting usually gets copied from a health system listing that describes a job nobody at your practice actually does. Candidates notice. A physiatrist reading a generic posting cannot tell whether they will spend the week doing electrodiagnostics, running an interventional schedule, or covering an inpatient census, and those are three different careers. Fix it once with a fixed structure you reuse: setting, schedule, procedures, team, compensation math, credentialing timeline. Then the only parts you rewrite each time are the practice-specific ones.
Credentialing eats the first quarter of the hire and nobody planned for it
State licensure, DEA registration, hospital or surgery center privileges, and payer enrollment all run on their own clocks, and none of them care about your start date. A physiatrist can be signed, oriented, and sitting in an office while claims for their work cannot be billed, which turns an exciting hire into a cash flow problem. Start every application the week the offer is signed, assign one person to own the tracker, and build the start date backward from the slowest payer rather than forward from the signature. Then put the honest timeline in the offer conversation. Candidates who have been through it before will respect a practice that names the constraint instead of discovering it in month two.
Onboarding a physician means a stack of documents with expiration dates on them
A new physiatrist arrives with a license, a DEA registration, a controlled substance registration, board certificates, malpractice certificates, immunization records, privileging paperwork, payer enrollments, an employment agreement, a restrictive covenant, compliance policy acknowledgments, and prescribing policy sign-offs. Almost every item has a renewal date, and a lapse on any one of them can stop billing or stop practice. FirstHR was built for exactly this. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every clinical hire, e-signature handles the agreement and the policy acknowledgments, document management stores each certificate against the employee profile with the renewal date attached, and training modules cover compliance and prescribing orientation before the first clinic day. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Once the agreement is signed, the work shifts to a repeatable onboarding checklist that covers the credential documents, the policy acknowledgments, and the systems access a clinician needs before the first patient. The broader hiring process guide covers the steps before that point.
Key Takeaways
A physiatrist is a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician holding an MD or DO, not a therapist, and the posting has to make that distinction obvious to referrers, candidates, and your own org chart.
Physiatry covers at least six different working weeks, so name the schedule, the encounter volume, and the specific procedures rather than the specialty.
An employed physician practicing medicine is exempt from overtime with no salary level or salary basis test, but the same regulation expressly excludes nurses, therapists, and technologists from that treatment.
The BLS wage survey has no physiatrist occupation; physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians sit inside the residual physician classification, which reported a median of $265,930 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Require a subspecialty fellowship only where the role depends on it, because in a specialty this small an unnecessary requirement can cost months of pipeline.
Credentialing and payer enrollment decide the real start date, so run every application in parallel from the day the offer is signed and screen against the federal exclusion list monthly thereafter.
Clinical hiring produces a stack of documents that all expire on different dates. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every clinician, with e-signature for the agreement and policy acknowledgments, document storage for licenses, DEA registrations, board certificates, and malpractice certificates, and renewal dates tracked so nothing lapses quietly. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a physiatrist job description include?
A physiatrist job description should include nine things: the practice setting and ownership in one sentence, the weekly schedule split between clinic, procedures, and call, the expected encounter volume or inpatient census, the specific procedures the role performs, the residency and board status you require, the state license and DEA expectations tied to a start date, the payer credentialing the role needs, the FLSA classification, and the compensation with the incentive formula written as plain math. Physiatry covers work that ranges from electrodiagnostics to interventional spine to inpatient rehabilitation leadership, so a posting that only says physical medicine and rehabilitation physician tells a candidate almost nothing. Name the day. The six templates on this page are built around that structure, so the only parts you rewrite each hiring cycle are the practice-specific ones.
What is the difference between a physiatrist and a physical therapist?
A physiatrist is a physician and a physical therapist is not, and that single fact drives every difference in the job description. A physiatrist holds an MD or DO, completes an ACGME-accredited residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and can diagnose, order and interpret imaging and electrodiagnostic studies, prescribe medication including controlled substances, perform injections and other procedures, and direct the rehabilitation plan. A physical therapist holds a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree and a state PT license, and delivers the therapeutic program. They are also classified differently: the federal regulation that exempts licensed physicians from the salary tests expressly does not extend to therapists, so a physical therapist is classified under the ordinary duties and salary tests. If the role you are filling is therapy delivery rather than medical diagnosis, use a physical therapist job description instead.
Is a physiatrist exempt from overtime?
Yes, when employed as a licensed physician practicing medicine. The federal regulation on the practice of law and medicine exempts any employee who holds a valid license or certificate permitting the practice of medicine and is actually engaged in that practice, and it states that the salary level and salary basis requirements do not apply to those employees. That is why a day rate, a half-day rate, or a shift rate for an employed physiatrist does not defeat the exemption the way it would for most other exempt roles. Two limits matter for a rehabilitation practice. First, the same provision expressly does not reach nurses, therapists, technologists, or other professions that serve medicine, so your PT, OT, and nursing staff are classified under the ordinary tests. Second, exempt status says nothing about whether the person is an employee or a contractor. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a physiatrist make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a separate occupation for physiatrists. Physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians are a detailed occupation nested inside the residual classification for physicians that the wage survey does not code separately. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), that classification carried a national median annual wage of $265,930, with the 25th percentile at $102,930 and the 75th percentile at $378,770. Treat the median as directional rather than as a benchmark, because the classification pools many specialties with very different economics. For comparison, the same survey reported medians of $244,180 for family medicine physicians and $248,560 for neurologists. Benchmark your offer against comparable practices in your market and against the actual procedure mix of the role, then publish a good-faith range where pay transparency rules apply.
What credentials should I require for a physiatrist?
Require an MD or DO, completion of an ACGME-accredited residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and either certification by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation or board eligibility with a written deadline to certify. Add an active and unrestricted state medical license and DEA registration in place before the start date, plus a state controlled substance registration where your state requires one. Verify the license with the state medical board, query the National Practitioner Data Bank, and screen the candidate against the federal exclusion list. Require subspecialty certification only when the role genuinely needs it: pain medicine for an interventional schedule, sports medicine for team coverage, brain injury or spinal cord injury medicine for an inpatient rehabilitation program. Requiring a fellowship you do not need shrinks the applicant pool for nothing.
How long does credentialing take before a physiatrist can start?
Plan for months, not weeks, and run every track in parallel from the day the offer is signed. State medical licensure, DEA registration, hospital or ambulatory surgery center privileging, and enrollment with Medicare, Medicaid, and each commercial payer are separate processes with separate timelines, and the slowest one sets your real start date. The practical risk is a physician who is oriented and seeing patients while claims for that work cannot yet be submitted, which turns a good hire into a cash flow problem in the first quarter. Assign one person to own a tracker with a line per application, per payer, and per credential, start the applications immediately rather than after relocation, and build the start date backward from the slowest approval. State the timeline honestly in the offer conversation. FirstHR stores each license, registration, and certificate against the employee profile with its renewal date attached, so the tracker stops living in a spreadsheet. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Can I hire a physiatrist as an independent contractor?
Sometimes, but the label in the agreement does not decide it. If you set the schedule, the location, the clinical protocols, the documentation standard, and the fee schedule, and the physician's work is part of your regular business rather than an independent practice, the relationship looks like employment to both the Department of Labor and the IRS no matter what the contract says. Genuine locum tenens coverage booked through an agency, or coverage provided by a physician who runs an independent practice and sets their own terms, can be a legitimate contractor relationship. Decide before you post, because the decision changes the tax treatment, the malpractice arrangement, the billing mechanics, and the benefits conversation. Credentialing, privileging, and exclusion screening apply either way. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do I need a different job description for an inpatient rehabilitation physiatrist?
Yes, because the duties are set partly by coverage rules rather than by preference. Medicare conditions the inpatient rehabilitation benefit on documented physician involvement: a preadmission screening, a post-admission physician evaluation, an individualized overall plan of care, and face-to-face rehabilitation physician visits with the patient at least three days per week throughout the stay to assess medical and functional status and adjust treatment. Beginning with the second week of the stay, a qualified non-physician practitioner may conduct one of the three weekly visits where state scope of practice allows. Those obligations belong in the responsibilities section in those words, because they are what an auditor tests and what the candidate needs to plan their week around. An outpatient posting that omits them will attract the wrong applicants.
