Medicare will pay for physical therapy when it’s required to help patients regain movement or strength following an injury or illness. Similarly, it will pay for occupational therapy to restore functionality and speech pathology to help patients regain the ability to communicate.
However, Medicare will only pay for these services if the patient’s condition is expected to improve in a reasonable, predictable amount of time, and if the patient truly needs a skilled therapist to administer a maintenance program to treat the injury or illness at hand.