Healthcare Policy Intern

Healthcare Policy & Public Health Intern — The Pediatric Collective

Location: Remote
Position Type: Internship
Schedule: Part-time during the academic year or full-time during the summer
Compensation: Paid

About The Pediatric Collective

The Pediatric Collective is an industry association. It brings together pediatric therapy companies, clinicians, parents, caregivers, researchers, and other industry leaders committed to improving access to high-quality care for children.

Pediatric therapy does not receive enough attention despite the enormous need. Families often face long waitlists for speech, occupational, physical, and behavioral therapy—in some communities, children may wait months or even years for an appointment. These delays can cause children to miss critical opportunities for early intervention.

The Pediatric Collective was created to help change that. We plan to elevate pediatric therapy as a national priority, increase awareness of the challenges facing children and families, share promising practices across the industry, and bring together organizations that can help develop meaningful solutions.

The Pediatric Collective is separate from Oaklin Lane and is intended to represent and include companies throughout the pediatric therapy industry.

To learn more, visit:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/tpcollective/

About the Role

We are looking for a curious, analytical, and mission-driven Healthcare Policy & Public Health Intern to help advance policies and initiatives that improve children’s access to pediatric therapy.

You will research the systemic barriers that prevent children from receiving timely speech, occupational, physical, and behavioral therapy. These may include provider shortages, reimbursement policies, insurance practices, licensing requirements, geographic disparities, limited public awareness, and insufficient investment in early intervention.

You will help translate research, data, and the experiences of families and clinicians into practical policy recommendations, educational resources, and industry initiatives.

This is not an observational internship. You will own meaningful projects, engage with leaders across healthcare and public policy, and help elevate pediatric therapy as a national priority.

What You’ll Do

Depending on your interests and experience, projects may include:

Researching federal and state policies affecting access to pediatric therapy

Examining Medicaid, commercial insurance, reimbursement, and coverage policies

Studying workforce shortages, licensing requirements, and barriers to expanding the supply of pediatric therapists

Comparing access, wait times, and health disparities across states and communities

Researching early-intervention programs and school-based therapy services

Analyzing legislation, regulations, policy proposals, and public-health initiatives

Developing policy briefs, issue summaries, reports, and educational materials

Translating complex policy topics into clear information for families, clinicians, and industry leaders

Gathering perspectives from parents, therapists, providers, researchers, and community organizations

Identifying successful programs and policy approaches that could be expanded or replicated

Supporting working groups, webinars, roundtables, and other policy-focused initiatives

Helping build relationships with professional associations, nonprofits, universities, and advocacy organizations

Presenting findings and recommendations directly to The Pediatric Collective’s leadership

Who Should Apply

We welcome undergraduate and graduate students from all academic backgrounds, including:

Public health

Public policy

Health policy

Healthcare administration

Political science

Economics

Social work

Sociology

Psychology or child development

Education or special education

Law

Speech-language pathology

Occupational or physical therapy

Other related disciplines

Prior healthcare-policy or public-health experience is not required. We care more about intellectual curiosity, analytical rigor, strong communication, and a genuine commitment to improving access to care for children and families.

Strong candidates will be:

Interested in healthcare access, equity, and public policy

Strong researchers, writers, and critical thinkers

Comfortable analyzing complex systems and regulations

Able to translate research into practical recommendations

Thoughtful when engaging with different stakeholder perspectives

Organized and attentive to detail

Comfortable working independently in a remote environment

Proactive, dependable, and eager to take ownership

Experience with policy research, data analysis, statistics, legislative research, or public-health programs is helpful but not required.

What You’ll Gain

Hands-on experience researching healthcare policy and public-health challenges

Ownership of projects that can help shape the national conversation around pediatric therapy

Exposure to reimbursement, insurance, workforce, licensing, and access-to-care issues

Opportunities to collaborate with families, clinicians, providers, researchers, and policy organizations

Experience developing policy briefs, reports, and practical recommendations

Direct interaction with The Pediatric Collective’s leadership

The opportunity to help improve access to pediatric therapy for children and families

How to Apply

Please submit your application through The Pediatric Collective LinkedIn page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/tpcollective/

Candidates should include a resume and a short explanation of why they are interested in advancing policies and public-health initiatives that improve access to pediatric therapy.