CAREER OPPORTUNITY

Physical Therapist II — Acute Care

Leading Not-for-Profit Health System | Inpatient Rehabilitation Services

Crescent City, California (Redwood Coast) | Full-Time, 40 hrs/wk | Days, 8-hour shifts | On-site

COMPENSATION $60.48 – $75.59 per hour ≈ $125,800 – $157,200 annualized at 40 hours per week, before differentials and overtime PLUS a sign-on bonus of up to $20,000 Full benefits eligibility  •  Employer covers ~95% of medical plan costs  •  Merit increases  •  Employer-matched retirement plan

 

You did not spend seven years earning a doctorate so you could chart until 8 p.m. and be measured by units billed. Yet roughly half of physical therapists now report burnout, seven in ten are working at or beyond capacity, and real PT wages have lost ground to inflation since 2019. Somewhere along the way, the profession you chose stopped paying you back — financially or otherwise.

This role is the correction: a top-of-market hourly rate that is roughly 22 to 53 percent above the national median for physical therapists, a sign-on bonus of up to $20,000, a 36-day-a-year paid-time-off ceiling, and a hospital where you are the rehabilitation expert in the building — not a productivity line item.

Our client — a Forbes-recognized, not-for-profit health system that covers about 95 percent of its employees' medical plan costs — is seeking an experienced Physical Therapist II for the acute care and inpatient rehabilitation service at its community hospital on California's far-north Redwood Coast. You will assess and treat hospitalized adults across orthopedic, neurologic, post-surgical, cardiopulmonary and medically complex presentations, drive early mobility and safe discharge planning in partnership with hospitalists, nursing, case management and OT/SLP colleagues, and supervise PT assistants, aides and students. Referrals come from the emergency department, the medical-surgical and ICU floors, the surgical service and the hospital's inpatient rehabilitation program. You will function as a valued member of a multidisciplinary team whose clinical judgment shapes the plan of care — not as an interchangeable provider buried under paperwork.

•     Pay that actually leads the market — $60.48 to $75.59 per hour is a top-of-market range for hospital-based physical therapy in California and sits well above the national PT median of $49.40 per hour. Add a sign-on bonus of up to $20,000, shift differentials and annual merit increases, and a Physical Therapist II here earns the kind of income most acute care PTs assume requires a move to travel work.

•     Autonomy and clinical authority — In a 49-bed hospital, you are the rehabilitation authority on the floor. Physicians ask what you think. Your assessment determines mobility orders, discharge disposition and equipment needs. No one second-guesses your plan of care from a corporate productivity dashboard.

•     A caseload built for quality, not throughput — Acute care in a community hospital means a manageable, varied census: total joints one morning, a stroke recovery the next, a ventilated ICU patient the day after. You will actually finish your documentation during your shift.

•     Real collaboration — Daily interdisciplinary rounds with hospitalists, nurses, case managers and therapy colleagues. Small-hospital medicine means you know every physician by first name and every conversation is a two-way one.

•     A schedule you can plan a life around — Full-time days, 8-hour shifts, with weekend coverage shared on an as-needed rotation rather than mandated every other weekend. PTO accrues from day one and climbs to roughly 36 paid days per year with tenure.

•     An employer that invests in you — Tuition reimbursement, paid clinical certification support, structured mentorship and career pathways, and a system-wide culture where 85 percent of employees say it is a great place to work. Mentorship is one of the strongest documented protective factors against PT burnout — and it is built into this organization.

•     Evaluate hospitalized patients and design individualized rehabilitation plans that restore mobility, reduce pain and rebuild strength after surgery, injury, stroke or acute illness.

•     Lead early mobility and safe-discharge decisions — your functional assessments directly inform disposition, durable medical equipment and home-versus-facility recommendations.

•     Deliver hands-on treatment across orthopedic, neurologic, cardiopulmonary and medically complex populations, adjusting the plan with attentive clinical observation as each patient progresses.

•     Educate patients and families on precautions, home programs and realistic recovery expectations, communicating clearly with people on the hardest day of their year.

•     Supervise and mentor physical therapist assistants, rehabilitation aides and assigned students, elevating the clinical standard of the whole department.

•     Document to the standard — timely, defensible, compliant charting that supports continuity of care and protects patient privacy and safety.

•     Contribute to a rural hospital's mission as a visible clinical leader in a community where your work is noticed and appreciated.

Required

•     Graduate of an accredited physical therapy program (DPT or equivalent qualifying degree).

•     Current California Physical Therapist license (or eligibility with license in hand before start date).

•     BLS — Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers (AHA or equivalent).

•     Two or more years of recent, relevant physical therapy experience.

•     Demonstrated critical thinking, sound independent judgment and professional written and verbal communication.

Preferred

•     Acute care hospital or inpatient rehabilitation experience, including ICU and post-surgical mobility.

•     APTA board certification (GCS, NCS, OCS or CCS) or documented specialty coursework.

•     Experience supervising PTAs, aides and clinical students.

•     Familiarity with an enterprise electronic health record and interdisciplinary rounding.

•     A track record of collaborative, team-oriented practice in a small-hospital setting — or the desire to build one.

Category	What You Receive
Compensation	$60.48 – $75.59 per hour (≈ $125,800 – $157,200 annualized). Sign-on bonus of up to $20,000. Annual, market-benchmarked pay review with performance-based merit increases. Shift differentials, weekend/on-call premiums and overtime for hourly staff.
Health & Wellness	Employer covers approximately 95% of medical plan costs — employees report zero-premium family coverage on the system's in-network EPO option. Medical, dental and vision for you, your spouse or domestic partner, and dependents. Free, confidential Employee Assistance Program staffed by licensed therapists, plus legal and financial counseling. Strong mental-wellness support.
Financial Security	Employer-matched retirement savings plan with pre-tax and Roth options, plus additional employer contributions and a pension component at eligible entities. Employer-paid life insurance and long-term disability. Voluntary accident, hospital-indemnity and critical-illness coverage. Dependent-care FSA, identity protection, legal plan and pet insurance.
Growth & Development	Tuition reimbursement and clinical certification support. Structured mentorship and defined career pathways. Access to a system-wide learning catalog — employees completed more than 9,000 development programs in a single year.
Work-Life Balance	Paid time off from day one — roughly 26 paid days in year one (including holidays), rising to about 36 days per year with tenure. Full-time days, 8-hour shifts, shared as-needed weekend coverage. Employee discount programs. A 10-minute commute in a town without traffic.

 

Our client is one of Northern California's largest not-for-profit integrated health systems, with more than 60,000 employees, clinicians and physicians across a network of hospitals, medical foundations, home health and hospice services and outpatient centers. In 2025 it was named one of Forbes' Best-in-State Employers for California — one of only 13 healthcare organizations in the state to earn the honor — and Healthgrades has ranked hospitals within the system among America's 50 Best. The organization invested nearly $9 billion in employee pay, retirement and benefits in a single year, and 88 percent of its workforce participates in its annual experience survey, with 85 percent recommending it as a great place to work.

The hospital you would join is a 49-bed acute care facility and the only hospital serving its rural region on the California–Oregon border. It provides 24/7 emergency care, surgery, acute inpatient rehabilitation, maternity, pulmonary and COPD care, behavioral health and Joint Commission-accredited home health and hospice services. U.S. News & World Report has recognized it as a Best Hospital for Maternity Care (2025) and High Performing in Pneumonia (2024–2026), and Healthgrades awarded it Five Stars for COPD treatment. The hospital is actively expanding behavioral health services and continuing to invest in its emergency, laboratory, imaging and outpatient capabilities, with telehealth specialty consultations connecting rural patients to the broader system's subspecialists.

Culturally, this is small-hospital medicine backed by big-system resources: a tight-knit team where the rehabilitation department is respected as essential to patient flow and outcomes, supported by the benefits, technology and career infrastructure of one of the most recognized health systems in the West.

Crescent City sits where the world's tallest trees meet the Pacific. Redwood National and State Parks begin minutes from the hospital; the Smith River — California's last major undammed river — offers world-class salmon and steelhead fishing; and miles of uncrowded beaches, sea stacks and tide pools line the harbor. Home prices are the story here: the median home value is roughly $306,500, and the San Francisco Chronicle has called Crescent City the last affordable city on the California coast, with beach homes still available under $400,000. At $125,000 to $157,000 a year, a physical therapist here lives at a standard that is out of reach in Sacramento, the Bay Area or Southern California — with no traffic, no smog and a national park as your backyard. Oregon's tax-free shopping is 20 minutes north; Medford and Eureka are within a few hours' drive.

 

READY TO MAKE YOUR NEXT MOVE? Contact your Bileddo Associates recruiting representative for a confidential conversation about next steps. Your inquiry is held in strict confidence — no employer hears your name without your say-so. Client identity and full application details will be shared with qualified, vetted candidates.

 

Our client is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. The compensation range shown is the client's posted hiring range and is provided in compliance with California pay transparency law; placement within the range is based on experience, credentials and internal equity.