Owned and published by ProTherapy Staffing.

How working with a travel therapy agency works: a guide for facilities

Working with a travel therapy agency runs in a set order: you tell the agency the need, it presents candidates, you interview them, and the therapist you choose starts on the date you set. The choice of who works in your building stays with you throughout, and some of the checks on a therapist you can run yourself with public tools.

By ProTherapy Staffing, published October 26, 2026.

What does a facility send to start a staffing request?

A request starts with the opening. The publisher’s page for facilities describes it as “the discipline, the setting, when it starts and the shifts,” sent through its request form or given by phone to the office. The form asks who you are before anything else: the facility name, your name, a phone number, a work email, and the facility’s city and state. Your title is optional.

Then it asks about the need. You can tick the disciplines, pick the setting, give a target start date, and say how long the need runs and which shifts it covers. The length can be short-term coverage, a standard travel contract, longer-term or ongoing, or not sure yet; the shifts can be weekdays, weekends, evenings or a mix. There is an optional field for a bill rate, quoted per hour or per visit, and a free-text box about the opening.

That box is the place for what the fields leave out: the caseload, the documentation system, who supervises assistants, what a typical day looks like, and anything a therapist would need to know before saying yes. A request that says these things up front gives everyone the same picture from the start.

Which therapists and settings can a facility request?

The publisher’s page lists physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, certified occupational therapy assistants and speech-language pathologists. The settings it names are skilled nursing, outpatient, home health, acute care and hospitals, schools and inpatient rehab, and its form also has an “Other” choice for a setting outside that list.

If you need more than one discipline, the form lets you tick each of them on the same request. If the setting has rules of its own, such as the supervision of assistants or a school’s calendar, say so in the note, since those details decide which candidates fit.

What happens after the request is sent?

The publisher’s page answers this plainly: “Our team calls or emails you about your request.” It sets no timeline, and none is promised here. That conversation is the time to confirm the details: the start date, the shifts, the length, and anything in the note that needs more explaining.

Next, the agency presents candidates. The page describes the step as “We send you therapists who fit the opening.” A candidate is a therapist the agency puts forward for your opening; you read what is sent and decide whom to talk to. The page says nothing about how many candidates you will see or how soon, so ask the agency what to expect for your opening.

How does the interview work, and who makes the choice?

You make it. The publisher’s page puts the step as “You talk with the candidates and choose who you want.” The interview is yours to run, with whoever supervises therapy at your facility, and it runs both ways: the therapist will want to know about the caseload, the schedule, the documentation system and who they report to.

Questions worth asking:

When you have chosen, tell the agency. If no candidate fits, say why, so the next candidates are closer to what you need.

If you are a therapist who would like to be among the candidates a facility interviews, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.

What credential checks happen before a start date?

Before a therapist treats patients, your facility needs to know they can practice in your state. That is either a license from your state’s licensing board or, for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in a member state, a compact privilege. The Physical Therapy Compact Commission runs a compact privilege verification page that anyone can search by state and name, and it describes that page as “a secure, primary source for Compact Privilege verification.”

The HHS Office of Inspector General keeps the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities, which can be searched online or downloaded. Its page says that “health care entities should routinely check the list to ensure that new hires and current employees are not on it.”

Your own policies decide what else must be in place before the start date, such as health records, a background check or a drug screen. Put those requirements in the request or raise them on the call about it, so the agency and the therapist know the list before a start date is set.

What happens once the therapist starts?

The publisher’s page states the last step as “The therapist you chose starts on the date you set.” Once the therapist is with you, tell the agency about anything that changes the assignment, such as the schedule, the caseload or the end date.

Facilities already working with the publisher can sign in to its facility portal to see and manage their requests, as the same page says. ProTherapy Staffing, which publishes this site, is owned and run by licensed physical therapists. This guide describes the steps its page for facilities sets out and does not compare agencies; whichever agency you work with, ask it to describe its own steps in the same plain terms.

Frequently asked questions

Who chooses the therapist who works at our facility?

You do. The agency presents candidates for the opening, you interview them, and the therapist you choose starts on the date you set.

What should a staffing request include?

The discipline, the setting, when it starts and the shifts, plus the length if you know it and a note on what the fields leave out, such as the caseload, the documentation system or who supervises assistants.

Can we check a travel therapist’s credentials ourselves?

Some of them. The Physical Therapy Compact Commission’s verification page shows compact privileges by state and name, and the HHS Office of Inspector General’s exclusion list can be searched online. A state license comes from your state’s licensing board.

Sources

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