Interprofessional practice: how OTs, PTs, and SLPs work as one team
Many patients and students see an OT, a PT, and an SLP at the same time, in a hospital, a rehab unit, a school, or early intervention. This page covers the shared framework for team-based care, what ASHA says about interprofessional practice, and where payer and licensure rules set limits.
Quoted from official pages checked November 12, 2026. Confirm current requirements and dates on those sites. This page is not legal advice and does not guarantee eligibility, certification, or licensure.
The shared framework: IPEC core competencies
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) page states that since 2011 IPEC “has defined core competencies to guide interprofessional education and team-based care for improved outcomes across health professions.” It names four domains: Values and Ethics; Roles and Responsibilities; Communication; and Teams and Teamwork. From the Version 3 competency statements (PDF):
- Values and Ethics: “Work with team members to maintain a climate of shared values, ethical conduct, and mutual respect.” And: “Maintain competence in one’s own profession in order to contribute to interprofessional care.”
- Roles and Responsibilities: “Use the knowledge of one’s own role and team members’ expertise to address individual and population health outcomes.” One statement reads: “Differentiate each team member’s role, scope of practice, and responsibility in promoting health outcomes.”
- Communication: “Communicate in a responsive, responsible, respectful, and compassionate manner with team members.”
- Teams and Teamwork: “Share team accountability for outcomes.”
What ASHA says
ASHA’s IPE/IPP page states: “Changes to health care and education have made working in teams and across specialties more important than ever.” It describes interprofessional education this way: “IPE can range from a college class to a professional development workshop. But it always involves learning from and with people in other disciplines.” The page links ASHA’s examples, implementation tips, and research on interprofessional practice.
Where the three professions meet
These overlaps are described on this site’s own role and practice pages, each from its official sources:
- Feeding and swallowing: dysphagia.
- Stroke, brain injury, and neurologic care: stroke rehabilitation and TBI rehabilitation.
- Seating, positioning, and devices: assistive technology, AAC, and wheelchair coverage.
- Schools and early intervention: IEPs and IFSPs and working in schools.
- Roles side by side: OT vs PT, OT vs SLP, and PT vs SLP.
Limits set by payers and licensure
- Medicare. How Medicare treats group therapy, concurrent therapy, and co-treatment depends on the setting and its manual. CMS’s wording for Part B outpatient therapy and SNF residents is quoted on Medicare group therapy, concurrent therapy, and co-treatment.
- Scope of practice. Each profession’s scope is set by its own state practice act and board rules. Working as a team does not widen any one profession’s scope; check each board’s rules (see the state directory and the SLP board directory).
- Supervision. Assistant and aide supervision rules differ by profession: see supervision.
What this page does not do
It does not compare state scope-of-practice rules or set billing rules. AOTA and APTA interprofessional pages were tried on November 12, 2026; one returned an empty page and one a not-found page, so neither is quoted here.