OT Potential Podcast | Occupational Therapy CEUs

The 2027 Physician Fee Schedule signals a continued restructuring of clinician payment-redistributing funds towards primary care and behavioral health while providing signals for what's coming next.
OTs and PTs can no longer sit on the sidelines. 
As straightforward, low-complexity care increasingly moves toward digital pathways and as patients increasingly access care through digital front doors, we must advocate that CMS properly values the high-value cognitive work and in-person, complex clinical reasoning and officially integrates therapy as the missing third pillar of the primary care team. 
This year's proposed rule is a critical opportunity to provide CMS solutions that can be met by OTs and PTs and advocate for key coding updates: reimbursing existing evaluation codes by complexity level and creating new non-time-based management codes to capture longitudinal care provided by occupational and physical therapists.
At OT Potential, we're equipping YOU to raise your voice. In this live webinar and course, we'll spend an hour unpacking the proposed rule, detailing our policy asks, and sharing a simple, plug-and-play comment template so you can submit your own letter to CMS. We'll be led by the incredible Dana Strauss, a doctor of physical therapy and healthcare public policy expert.
See full course details here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education/course/medicare-advocacy-for-2027 
See all OT CEU courses here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education

Check our our live webinar schedule here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education/live-webinars

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The latest clinical practice guideline for occupational therapy for autistic people across the lifespan urges us to shift away from deficit models toward neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based care.

But, what does this look like in practice?
We know from the research that there are barriers at every level to delivering the type of support we aspire to- from rigid service silos to inconsistent legislation. 
That’s why I’m so excited today to welcome to the podcast someone who is charting a new way forward: Samantha Valasek, OTD, OTR/L Director of OT Services, at Spectrum Psych in LA. 
Samantha delivers OT services alongside psychotherapy and psychiatry to clients with autism, ADHD, anxiety, & mood concerns.

I can’t wait to hear from Samantha about what assessment, treatment, and interprofessional collaboration looks like in her day to day practice. 
And most importantly: what it looks like—both as individual practitioners and as a collaborative team—to deliver care that supports our clients in ways that are truly meaningful to them.
See full course details here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education/course/neurodiversity-affirming-ot-for-adults 
See all OT CEU courses here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education

Check our our live webinar schedule here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education/live-webinars

Support the show by using the OTPOTENTIAL Medbridge Code:
https://otpotential.com/blog/promo-code-for-medbridge

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As we’ve interviewed expert clinicians on the podcast, clear trends have emerged. These clinicians have two things in common: 
They have a pretty set arc to their treatment sessions. 
They tend to work from “menus” of intervention options. 
I’m pretty sure they do this- because this is what they’ve discovered works. But, I’ve never really seen this approach studied or discussed in research…until now.

I was honestly flabbergasted to hear one of the most prominent rehab researchers in the world, talking about these two things, in his paper  Many Paths to Recovery: The Case for Treatment Pluralism. From what I understand, Dr. Cook gives these concepts some formal names: he calls those intervention menus ‘treatment pluralism‘—and he calls the components of the arc of a session ‘therapeutic ritual‘… driven by what researchers call contextual factors
In today’s episode, I can’t wait to dig deeper into this paper—and how our guest Dr. Chad Cook currently understands the factors that make therapy effective. 
This is an episode that could fundamentally change how you think about each patient encounter.  
See full course details here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education/course/msk-treatment-pathways 
See all OT CEU courses here:
https://otpotential.com/ceu-podcast-courses

Check our our live webinar schedule here:
https://otpotential.com/live-ot-ceu-webinars

Support the show by using the OTPOTENTIAL Medbridge Code:
https://otpotential.com/blog/promo-code-for-medbridge

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When you look at the intersection of vision and reading in schools, the gaps are impossible to ignore.
Consider the data:
Two-thirds of American fourth graders cannot read at grade level.
One in four school-age children has a vision problem.
School vision screenings miss up to 75% of children with vision problems. 
To make matters worse, standard school vision screenings frequently miss the functional vision deficits—such as convergence, accommodation, and visual perception issues—that directly impact a student's ability to sustain near-work in the classroom.
As occupational therapists, understanding how vision impacts functional tasks like reading, writing, and navigating the classroom is central to our holistic approach. We have the foundational textbooks, the clinical frameworks, and the training to address these challenges.
So why isn't the full skillset of OTs being utilized to support functional vision in schools?
In this course, we sit down with Jaime Spencer, an OT who has been at the forefront of successfully integrating vision into school-based practice. Together, we explore the systemic barriers she has encountered and the practical solutions she has proven to work—from assessment and direct intervention to teacher education.
This course is designed for any school-based professional who knows the current system isn't working well enough, and is ready to explore how OTs can deliver deeper, more impactful support for struggling students.

See full course details here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education/course/ot-and-vision-in-schools 
See all OT CEU courses here:
https://otpotential.com/ceu-podcast-courses

Check our our live webinar schedule here:
https://otpotential.com/live-ot-ceu-webinars

Support the show by using the OTPOTENTIAL Medbridge Code:
https://otpotential.com/blog/promo-code-for-medbridge

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Only in this past year did it come on my radar that some therapy clinics are offering prenatal therapy. While I can personally relate to the desire to have a therapist guide you through such a complex stage of health, I thought that because it isn't offered widely, the evidence base would probably be weak.
I couldn't have been more wrong. The evidence for prenatal prevention therapy is robust for improving:
Pelvic health. Pelvic floor muscle training during pregnancy reduces urinary incontinence by 28% and cuts the risk of severe perineal tears in half (Zhang et al., 2024).
Pregnancy outcomes. Prenatal exercise programs lower the risk of gestational diabetes by 25%, hypertensive disorders by 33%, and cesarean delivery by 14% (Xiang et al., 2026).
Mental health. Mind-body interventions like yoga, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioral therapy significantly reduce prenatal anxiety, depression, and stress — while also improving pain management and self-efficacy (Miao et al., 2026).
Maternal role and quality of life. OT-specific prenatal interventions improve maternal quality of life, emotional regulation, and coping — with benefits that persist into the postpartum period (Karakus & Akyurek, 2026).
Despite this evidence, prenatal therapy remains vastly underutilized. The gap between what the research supports and what is actually available to pregnant individuals represents one of the biggest opportunities in our profession right now.
In this course, we'll welcome Marissa Ruhl from Thrive OT, who is paving the way in offering these services and will share what she has learned about helping to build a thriving practice around this massive need.

See full course details here:
https://otpotential.com/continuing-education/course/prenatal-therapy 
See all OT CEU courses here:
https://otpotential.com/ceu-podcast-courses

Check our our live webinar schedule here:
https://otpotential.com/live-ot-ceu-webinars

Support the show by using the OTPOTENTIAL Medbridge Code:
https://otpotential.com/blog/promo-code-for-medbridge

Try 2 free OT Potential courses here:
https://otpotential.com/free-ot-ceus
Support the show