What Does a $115K PT Caseload Look Like?

When you first start building a caseload, it can feel daunting to grow it to a point that’s financially sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and reflects the enormous amount of value you bring to people’s lives and the community.

As a PT student, I was told by more than one clinical advisor that it was impossible to earn over $100K/yr as a physical therapist. Well, now the truth is, you most certainly can.

At MovementX, there are countless examples of full-time physical therapists making well over a six-figure salary treating around 18-20 patient sessions per week. When you do the math, it can feel pretty achievable—it almost looks too easy.

What are Sustainable Patient Caseload Levels at MovementX?

By the Numbers: First, let’s see how the numbers break down to achieve 16+ sessions in a week, which is a good initial caseload goal when first starting out as a physical therapist with MovementX…

• 5 patients being seen 2x/wk
• 5 patients being seen 1x/wk
• 5 patients being seen 1x/mo

That’s about 16 sessions/week. This 5/5/5 paradigm can be an encouraging reminder that although you may think it will take a overwhelming amount of marketing efforts, email blasts, and promotional workshops to fill any given week with 16 sessions, it’s really much simpler than that.

• What five previous patients could benefit from a monthly session to ensure they are able to remain mobile and pain-free?
• What additional 5 people would easily agree to a once/week frequency to recover from surgery or make more consistent progress?
• Lastly, what 5 patients need a higher twice/week frequency in order to meet their goals?

Ok, that’s good when starting out. But what about as you become a more seasoned PT with MovementX? What if you want to make it to 20 sessions/week or more? For this, the 5/5/5 paradigm doesn’t look too different…

• 6 patients being seen 2x/wk
• 6 patients being seen 1x/wk
• 8 patients being seen 1x/mo

That’s 20 sessions/week. Not drastically different numbers on paper. Growing your own private patient caseload is achievable with the right community, marketing, and resources—just the tip of the iceberg of everything MovementX has to offer.

Ok, But How Much Money Do I Earn as a PT with MovementX?

Now, let’s see how your hourly rate affects annual take home earnings at the 20 sessions/week (aka patients/week) level. The below charts show your take-home earnings after the standard commission split and assuming 4 weeks of vacation. Each chart shows the impact of changing your hourly rate.

Fig 1: At the MovementX 2023 average rate of $175/hr, 20 pts/wk yields $117.6K in take home earnings. Note the $30K difference between that and 15pts/wk.

Fig 2: Raising your rate by $25/hr equates to an increase in yearly take home earnings of over $16K when seeing 20 pts/wk. It also yields a 6-figure income seeing just 15 pts/wk.

Fig 3: At a rate of $225/hr, a yearly earnings total of $115,000 can almost be achieved by seeing only 15 pts/wk.

What Blows My Mind: Across the country, tens of thousands of PTs see more than 15 patients in a single day, 5 days a week, with half the amount of vacation, but still only make the standard salary of around $85K/yr.

Personally, I believe that skilled, passionate, and driven PTs deserve more. That’s why we created MovementX.

The Bottom Line: We hope that this exercise in mapping out the numbers is empowering, convincing, and motivates you to take one step closer to the “life of your dreams,” whatever that may be.

Interested in learning more about becoming a full-time MovementX PT?