The following resources may assist jurisdictions as they determine the risk to the public and the requirements for relicensing individuals who have had a period of professional disuse as a provider of physical therapy services.

• Applicant for Re-Entry Cover Sheet (2024)

  This customizable cover sheet was created as a resource for member boards to collect pertinent information from reentry applicants and improve administrative processes. This allows boards to have all the information they might want in one place and assist in making a decision on a reentry applicant’s road to relicensure.

• Reentering Physical Therapy Providers: Structured Learning Options (2022)

  This report focuses on what is necessary for the reentering physical therapist or physical therapist assistant to relearn to competently return to practice/work and suggestions of structured learning activities as to means to review/relearn the critical work activity (CWA).

  Read the Executive Summary.

• Competence in Physical Therapy: A Framework for Understanding Effects of Disuse on Physical Therapy Performance (2021) 

  The Healthcare Regulatory Research Institute contracted with a cognitive psychologist to develop this report whose main area of research is the development of expertise and skill in complex domains. Subject-matter experts classified Physical Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant critical work activities in terms of the type of task/activity and type of ability required. The critical work activities were then rated for the expected rate of loss due to disuse and how quickly minimal competence can be regained. The results provide a scientific basis for policy recommendations concerning retraining after a period of disuse.

• Re-Entry Information for Licensees (2023)

  This resource provides jurisdictions with re-entry information they may wish to share with licensees proactively at renewal or once a license has lapsed.

Demographic Research

• Exploring Practice Re-entry Among PTs and PTAs: Summary Report March 2022

  The Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) conducted an exploratory study of the impact of extended leaves of absence on physical therapy practice, using existing practice analysis data. The study represents a first step toward understanding the nature, causes, and effects of extended leaves of absences on practitioners and the overall practice. This document provides a summary of the study methodology and initial results. Data for the study were collected in 2021 during FSBPT’s annual practice analysis survey and consist of (a) information about respondents and (b) characteristics of the work they perform.

• Practice Re-entry Study for the Physical Therapy Profession: Report Memo 2022

  This memo summarizes the methodology and results of the practice re-entry study conducted by the Federation State Boards of Physical Therapy/Healthcare Regulatory Research Institute in partnership with the Human Resources Research Organization between March and December 2022. The study was designed to explore factors thought to contribute to a physical therapist’s or physical therapist assistant’s decision-making and overall experience of leaving and returning to practice. Because there is virtually no research on this phenomenon to date, the results presented herein represent an important first step toward understanding the scope and impact on individuals and the profession overall.