On August 6, 2012, the Board of Directors for the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy passed a motion to defer the effective date of the planned and previously-approved NPTE fee increase from January 1, 2013 to January 1, 2014. This means that the NPTE fee will remain $370 at least until January 1, 2014.

The $400 fee had originally been approved by the Board of Directors in 2010 after reviewing a long-range financial forecast based on the then-current operations and the additional costs associated with initiatives requested by the jurisdictions. The forecast covered a seven-year period in order to provide jurisdictions with two-years’ advance notice and to keep with our historical practice of increasing fees no more frequently than every five years. 

Revised Forecast of Operating Needs:
In preparing the revised forecast, we first prepared a forecast based on current operations. The budget for 2012, adjusted for known variances, was used as the first year of the four-year forecast. The key assumptions for the revised forecast follow:

• NPTE volume was forecast to increase by 5% in 2013 and 3% annually thereafter.
• Current exam rates were increased to $400 effective January 1, 2014.
• It should also be noted that the revised forecast reflects some miscellaneous fee reductions beginning in 2013 to include: an extension of the time period for PEAT from 30 days to 60 days at no additional charge; and, to make individual score reports available for download at no charge for 30 days starting five days after scores are released to jurisdictions.
• There will be additional staff added during the forecast period, principally in the areas of exam services and assessment.
• Additional meetings will be held starting in 2012 related to the item writing and exam development to meet the demands of fixed-date testing.
• Inflation factors for expenses were generally forecast at an annual increase of 3% to 5%.

As noted in prior years, because the examination is the primary source of revenue and because many of our expenses are fixed, the Federation is very susceptible to financial difficulties if the volume declines unexpectedly. 

The Board of Directors is encouraged by the positive feedback that it has received regarding the improvements in operations over the past several years and we are very pleased to announce deferral of the fee increase. We appreciate the continued cooperation and support of the membership. It is a pleasure to serve each of you.