Director of Rehabilitation Services Recruiters
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire a rehabilitation director who can lead PT, OT, and SLP teams while controlling documentation and daily therapy operations.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
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What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
- Rehab Director
- Therapy Manager
- Outpatient Therapy Director
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
Your director decides how therapists are scheduled, what reports need follow-up, and where discipline leaders need help. You need someone who can separate a demand problem from a staffing or documentation problem. Healthcare Headhunters screens for management work that matches your setting.
This is not only a clinician-versus-manager choice. A licensed therapist may know the work but lack budget, labor, or performance-management exposure. A report-focused manager may struggle to lead therapists. Decide whether your immediate concern is incomplete records, uneven schedules, staff turnover, weak accountability, or conflict between disciplines.
The setting changes the interview. An IRF director may work with IRF rules and interdisciplinary records. An outpatient director may spend more time on authorizations, cancellations, schedule gaps, charge capture, and productivity. We ask what the candidate personally managed instead of treating general leadership experience as the same thing.
What do we check before you see anyone?
License status. We verify an active, unencumbered PT, OT, or SLP license and ask where the candidate holds it. You complete your own credentialing and confirm what your state and role design require. IRF rules or outpatient operations. We ask what reports they reviewed, what documentation issue they found, and what they changed.
- For outpatient roles, we ask about authorizations, cancellations, charges, and visit schedules.
- Multi-discipline supervision. PT, OT, and SLP teams have different schedules and documentation patterns. We ask how the candidate handled a disagreement over handoffs, shared space, visit allocation, or access to an assistant.
- Productivity decisions. We ask how they distinguish low referral volume from poor scheduling or unfinished notes. We also ask what they do before asking therapists to add visits or take larger caseloads.
- Documentation follow-up. A director should be able to explain who reviews late or incomplete records and how trends reach supervisors. We ask how they checked whether coaching corrected the pattern.
- Accountability and retention. We ask about a therapist with attendance, caseload, or documentation concerns. The candidate should describe expectations, follow-up dates, escalation, and what they learned if the problem continued.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We recruit from rehab managers and outpatient clinic directors. Some lead one clinic and want broader authority. Others lead hospital-based or post-acute therapy teams and may seek clearer decision rights, a different patient mix, or a shorter commute. A leadership change, limited promotion path, or mismatch over schedules and operating goals can prompt a move.
We ask why a person will consider your opening. We do not treat interest in a new role as proof of dissatisfaction or poor performance.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is choosing the strongest therapist without asking who built schedules, reviewed reports, addressed denials, or corrected recurring documentation gaps. Another is interviewing PT, OT, and SLP as one group. Ask how the candidate handled a dispute about handoffs, shared space, or visit allocation.
Assuming outpatient leadership transfers directly to an IRF role. Test their knowledge of the records, reports, and team coordination your setting uses.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us your setting, reporting line, therapy disciplines, license expectation, staffing pressure, and first problem to address. We discuss license status, work history, documentation oversight, productivity decisions, discipline supervision, and reasons for a move. Ask candidates to walk through a schedule shortfall, a documentation concern, and a discipline conflict.
Set the operating brief
We use those details to frame outreach and screening questions.
Review screened leaders
You review candidates against the work your department needs done.
Interview against the work
Your team completes credentialing, references, and clinical assessment before making a hiring decision.
Where this search connects
Imaging, Lab, Rehab & Diagnostic Services Leadership
SpecialtyHospitals & Health Systems
SettingAcademic Medical Centers
SettingChildren's Hospitals
SettingAmbulatory Surgery Centers & Surgical Hospitals
SettingDirector of Rehabilitation, Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility
Role in a settingDirector of Imaging (Radiology Director)
Related roleMedical Physicist
Related roleMedical Dosimetrist
Related roleDirector of Laboratory Services
Related roleNational median annual wage. SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers.
BLS reports Medical and Health Services Managers as one occupation. It does not publish a separate estimate for Director of Rehabilitation Services, its setting or its engagement terms.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025-05, released 2026-05-15. View source. See the full guide.
Open roles
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Can a therapy manager move into a director role?
A therapy manager may be ready if they have directed staffing across disciplines and handled department spending decisions. We test whether the manager has made decisions beyond daily supervision, including labor planning, documentation follow-up, coaching, and budget decisions. Title alone does not show director-level judgment.
Must the director hold a PT, OT, or SLP license?
This search calls for an active, unencumbered PT, OT, or SLP license. We verify the credential and license status during screening. You confirm the final licensure standard through your own credentialing process.
How do you separate IRF experience from outpatient experience?
We ask what rules, reports, records, and staffing decisions the candidate managed directly. IRF discussions cover IRF rules and interdisciplinary documentation. Outpatient discussions cover authorizations, cancellations, schedules, charges, and productivity.
Should we request documentation samples or audit plans?
You can ask about a de-identified improvement plan or audit response if your interview process permits it. Do not request protected information. Ask how the candidate identified the pattern, assigned work, and checked the result.
What candidate replacement terms apply if a permanent rehabilitation director hire does not work out after placement?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Tell us what is breaking down in your therapy department and what authority the new director will have. We will build the search around those daily decisions.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
Which other positions in this family should you consider?
Pathologists' Assistant · Outpatient Therapy Clinic Director
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.