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Creating a National Consumer Database of Occupational Therapy Practitioners

Posted on: October 22, 2012

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To promote the profession for the Occupational Therapy Global Day of Service on October 27, 2012, ADVANCE private practice columnist Iris Kimberg, MS PT, OTR, is starting an initiative to create a national database of occupational therapy practitioners for consumers to access.

Two national organizations of other healthcare professionals, the APTA for physical therapists and ASHA for speech language pathologists, both offer a web-based computerized database of therapists, many in private practice, so that consumers can easily seek out and find appropriately experienced therapists in their geographic area. These consumer-targeted databases are prominently displayed on the home pages of both organizations' websites.

Currently, such a database/service does not exist for occupational therapy. The profession needs an easy-to-access national database so that OT consumers can find the best OT to treat them, regardless of where they live. With the Affordable Health Care Act, this will become even more important.

Practitioners who would like to be listed in a national database of OTs can contact Kimberg to submit their information. Required information includes:

Name of therapist and/or practice
Address, telephone number and email address
Website address
Description of services (150 words maximum)

Practitioners can email the information directly to Kimberg at infonytherapy@aol.com or contact her to request a form to be filled out. Information is also available on Kimberg's website: http://www.nytherapyguide.com/ She asks that therapists share this information with their colleagues who may be interested in such a database.

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