For independent contractor therapists
Join Right Start as an independent Illinois EI therapist
You create your own schedule, work in the towns you prefer, and keep your autonomy and independence. Right Start handles all billing and collections, and you are paid twice per month by direct deposit, with no waiting on Medicaid or insurance. You also have access to telehealth and live video visits.
Questions? Call 877-960-5006 or email support@rightstartpediatrics.com
How to apply
Apply online or email us at support@rightstartpediatrics.com.
Apply online
Fill out the application
Your name, email, phone, discipline, credential status, the cities you want to cover, and the hours you would like.
We follow up
The Right Start office gets back to you by phone or email. You can also call 877-960-5006 or email support@rightstartpediatrics.com any time.
Talk through the fit
The Right Start office walks through how the 1099 independent contractor arrangement works and answers questions about rates and terms, which are discussed directly.
Sign and get set up
You sign an independent contractor agreement under your own EIN. Right Start guides you through EI credentialing, IMPACT, license steps, and the required online EI trainings and CEU. Help is support, not a guarantee of approval. Already enrolled through another payee? See what switching involves.
Start seeing children
You choose your cities and create your own schedule. Services are authorized through the child’s Child & Family Connections (CFC) office, and Right Start bills as your payee. You are paid consistently, twice per month by direct deposit, with no waiting on Medicaid or insurance.
Where you can work
Home- and community-based visits across Illinois. You choose the cities you want to cover.
- Chicago
- Naperville
- Aurora
- Joliet
- Elgin
- Schaumburg
- Evanston
- Oak Park
- Wheaton
- Orland Park
- Waukegan
- Rockford
- Peoria
- Springfield
- Champaign
- and everywhere else in Illinois
- Telehealth and live video visits are available
Disciplines we work with
Right Start works with independent therapists in these disciplines. Other licensed pediatric disciplines are welcome to talk with the Right Start office too.
Speech-Language Pathology (SLP)
Early intervention speech work is coaching and play inside a child’s everyday routines: snack time, bath time, a walk around the block.
Good fit: An Illinois-licensed speech-language pathologist, or working toward your Illinois license.
Occupational Therapy (OT)
Sensory play, self-feeding, and little hands learning to grasp, stack, and explore, often on a living-room rug or at the kitchen table.
Good fit: An Illinois-licensed occupational therapist, or working toward your Illinois license.
Physical Therapy (PT)
Movement in real life: rolling on the family-room floor, cruising along the couch, first steps across the backyard, with caregivers coached so progress continues between visits.
Good fit: An Illinois-licensed physical therapist, or working toward your Illinois license.
Developmental Therapy (DT)
Illinois Early Intervention’s whole-child discipline: play, relationships, and learning across every area of development, with caregivers right there in the room.
Good fit: A developmental therapist with the Illinois EI credential, or working toward it.
Feeding/Swallowing
Bottle and breast feeding challenges, the move to new textures, and calmer mealtimes, often best worked on at home.
Good fit: A licensed SLP, OT, or other licensed clinician with pediatric feeding and swallowing experience.
Questions independent therapists ask
Do I need an Illinois EI credential already?
Not necessarily. If you have it, great. If not, you have access to EI credentialing, IMPACT, and license help through Right Start. That help is support, not a guarantee of approval.
Where do visits happen?
In the child’s home or community (natural environments), not a walk-in clinic. Telehealth and live video visits are available. You decide which cities you cover, anywhere in Chicagoland or throughout Illinois.
How and when do I get paid?
Right Start handles all billing and collections, and you are paid twice per month by direct deposit, with no waiting on Medicaid or insurance. Rates and contract terms are discussed directly with the Right Start office.
What tools do I have access to?
You have access to telehealth and live video visits, and to fast speech-to-text notes so documentation takes less typing.
Is Right Start only in Naperville?
No. Our admin office is at 50 S. Main St., Suite 200, Naperville. Therapists work with Right Start across Chicagoland and throughout Illinois.
Our standing in Illinois EI Our founder is a Provider Representative on the Illinois Interagency Council on Early Intervention. Independent therapists host and help train student clinicians, with placements for OT, PT, SLP, and DT students. The independent contractors who work with Right Start hold their own Illinois licenses and Early Intervention credentials, and many are active in professional associations such as ILOTA, IPTA, ISHA and IDTA.
Ready to spend more time on play and less on paperwork?
The Right Start office would love to hear from you. Call 877-960-5006 or email support@rightstartpediatrics.com.