It is no secret that the Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) industry is an aging one, professionally speaking.
In May 2019, I quoted the University of Pittsburgh’s Mark Schmeler, Ph.D., OTR/L, ATP, who said the average age of an industry Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) — which includes clinicians — was 52. The age of the average American worker at the time was 42.
Numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that age — approximately 42 years old — holding steady as of 2024. Meanwhile, for CRT — yes, some younger clinicians, providers, engineers and technicians have joined the industry since 2019 … while industry veterans are now six years older.
Born from H.R. 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill signed in July 2025, the U.S. Department of Education’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Negotiated Rulemaking Committee has recommended that doctorates in occupational and physical therapy be defined as graduate degrees rather than professional degrees.
This classification would impact the options that occupational and physical therapy students have when funding their educations. Also currently on the graduate rather than the professional list: speech-language pathologists, registered nurses, physician associates/assistants, and audiologists.
“APTA is deeply concerned by the recent recommendation from the RISE Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, which, if enacted, would designate the doctor of physical therapy degree — and dozens of other health care professional degrees — as a graduate degree rather than a professional degree,” the American Physical Therapy Association said in a November 2025 press release. “If this proposed definition is adopted via official rulemaking by the Department of Education, the ability to borrow for federal student loans would be severely reduced, threatening to limit the physical therapy workforce at a time of nationwide shortages.”
APTA urged Congress to intervene, “as the proposed definition runs contrary to Congressional intent.”
The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), in an October 2025 press release, noted H.R. 1’s changes to federal financial aid for higher education. “One of the changes that is the most impactful for occupational therapy was the elimination of the Grad PLUS loan program, leaving post-baccalaureate students with only one federally administered borrowing option, the Direct Unsubsidized Loan program,” the release said.
The changing of physical and occupational therapy programs from professional to graduate status would reduce the amounts that students can borrow. “For programs defined as graduate programs, students may borrow $20,500 per year up to a lifetime cap of $100,000,” AOTA said. “For programs defined as professional programs, students may borrow $50,000 per year with a lifetime cap of $200,000.”
AOTA said H.R. 1 “seemed to set a broad definition for which degrees should be considered professional, using language in regulations defining these degrees as ones where ‘professional licensure is also generally required.’ During negotiations on the bill, Congressional offices communicated that they intended the definition to include a wider range of post-baccalaureate health professions that required licensure.”
Of course, occupational and physical therapists practicing in the United States and its territories must be licensed. But occupational and physical therapy are not currently listed as professional degrees.
So what’s next?
APTA “strongly opposes this proposal and will continue to engage with the Department of Education to advocate for the profession, most especially when the proposed rule is published for public comment in early 2026. Although this recommendation is not final and is subject to additional steps that include a public comment period, APTA believes the idea is misguided and misinformed and will have a significant negative impact on the health of our communities and country by diminishing the number of quality health care professionals available to an already strained workforce.”
And AOTA “led the creation of a broad coalition of over 40 national organizations to advocate that ED [Department of Education] use the broadest list of professional degrees, as we believe was the intent of Congress. We are continuing to work with ED, Congressional champions, and coalition partners to obtain clarification and urgent regulatory changes before this policy causes serious long-term damage to the profession.”
Simultaneously, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for physical therapists to grow 11% from 2024 to 2034, and employment for occupational therapists to grow 14% during that same period — rates described as “much faster than average.” Those forecasts are driven by an aging U.S. population expected to need functional and mobility support, the Bureau added.
With new treatments for mobility-affected conditions such as muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy continuing to extend life expectancies and functional possibilities, it’s reasonable to extrapolate that the specific need for seating and wheeled mobility clinicians will also continue to grow. And industry veterans are painfully aware of how challenging it already is to recruit clinicians to join this very specialized niche.
So when the proposed rule is released in 2026, I’ll submit my feedback during the public comment period. I’ll explain, in language that’s as approachable as I can make it, how CRT clinicians play critical roles in helping wheelchair riders to optimize function and independence from early childhood onward — as they attend toddler playdates and enter elementary school, through their years in middle school, high school and college, and as they establish careers and families.
Bringing new clinicians into CRT is difficult enough as it is. We don’t need anything else to block their paths as they make their ways here.
