Forum - Fall 2014
Table of Contents
Regular Columns:
Additional Articles:
Spotlight on Portability
In an ever shrinking world, access to the right resource at the right time has become the expectation not the exception.
How do we ensure that licensed PTs and PTAs are available to meet the demand of today’s consumers? We believe it’s time to move forward in increasing portability for licensees to ensure that the public has access they need to qualified, regulated professionals.
Our goal is to remove artificial barriers to licensure while maintaining the crucial aspects of public protection that state boards are in place to provide.
2014 CBA Forum Report
There has been a lot of turnover in the Council of Board Administrators (CBA). To put it into perspective, we have a total of 53 physical therapy member boards in FSBPT. So far this year, we have sent 13 “Welcome to the Federation” emails to new administrators, not to mention 10 welcome emails sent in 2013!
This column addresses the legislative and regulatory activity and topics of interest currently being addressed in various jurisdictions. Specific topics discussed in this article are direct access, military/veteran licensing, telehealth, spinal manipulation, endorsement for foreign educated PTs.
Let’s Have Moratorium on Moratoriums
The separation of and interaction among the branches of government can be crucial to the success of any regulatory structure. The legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government were created to allow for the separation of powers and to provide a “checks and balances” approach to governance.
This summer, FSBPT launched a new version of the Practice Exam and Assessment Tool (PEAT), designed to implement several improvements over the previous version. These improvements had been requested by educators, PEAT users, FSBPT staff and their technical advisors.
A major improvement was to provide an actual score on PEAT that could be used to guide candidates in their preparation for the NPTE. This improvement was our most difficult challenge.
The creation and implementation of a Physical Therapy Licensure Compact is a complicated process. Currently, it is in the hands of the PT Licensure Compact Drafting Team.
Consistency in sanctioning is a question often raised by board members, licensees and their attorneys and as an issue on appeal. It is always important to include consistency and fairness in any disciplinary process.
This article describes a framework for developing disciplinary guidelines for your disciplinary process in order to have consistency and fairness in the decision-making process. You will find resource documents at the end of the article to assist in developing your board's disciplinary guidelines.
The reality of high-tech cheating affects the entire testing industry and requires high-tech methods of detection and prevention. The testing threat is greater now than 10-15 years ago. The opportunity to compromise large chunks of tests and large numbers of candidates getting scores that are not validly obtained means there must be great vigilance in policing the tests.
The legal authority for physical therapists to perform Dry Needling (DN) is of concern in many states and the status changes almost daily.
The following top recent legal cases that impact licensing boards will be covered in this article.
- ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Accommodations:
- LSAT settlement re: transcript notations
- Tenth Circuit on restricted nursing licenses
- Washington state dry needling litigation
- In re Sergio Garcia: attempt to obtain licensure by an undocumented immigrant
- Supreme Court of Connecticut: what burden of proof does the state have to satisfy in a disciplinary proceeding involving a licensed professional
- Antitrust Case in the U.S. Supreme Court: Update on North Carolina State Dental Board case
Seeing the difficulty that Foreign Education Physical Therapists (FEPTs) had in becoming licensed in the U.S., the Oregon PT Board expedited the credentialing process for them.
The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy has been working to solve problems dealing with licensing Foreign Education Physical (FEPTs) in the U.S. The State of Virginia took part in FSBPT’s pilot program in trying to smooth the way for FEPTs while maintaining the integrity of the system.
Jurisdiction licensing boards are in a unique position to identify fraudulent billing practices in physical therapy. Through its routine investigation and adjudication of complaints, which may include a review of the documentation and billing records, licensing boards have a major role to play in the in the detection of fraud and abuse in physical therapy.
Jurisdiction licensing boards and their attorneys have a complicated dance as partners. They need to know the steps, communicate well with their partner, and trust that each knows their own part well.