Re: PT Practice Act--cause for concern

Re: PT Practice Act--cause for concern

NATIONAL MODEL PRACTICE ACT FOR PHYSICAL THERAPISTS:
CAUSE FOR CONCERN TO O&P

There is a movement afoot reportedly in all 50 states to enact legislation to
clarify the practice of physical therapy. The intent of such a model
practice act is to create uniformity from one state to the next, rather than
have a patchwork of diverse scopes of practice as defined by each separate
state legislature.

A review of the physical therapy model practice act, however, appears to be
an encroachment into the scope of practice of prosthetists and orthotists
across the country. The proposed act states in Article 1D (2): The
'Practice of Physical Therapy' means: ...Alleviating impairments and
functional limitations by designing, implementing and modifying therapeutic
interventions that include, but are not limited to...assistive and adaptive or
thotic, prosthetic, protective and supportive devices and equipment.
[italics mine] The ambiguity in that language is enough to cause
consternation to all of us in our field.

In all likelihood, there are some states in which the physical therapy model
practice act has already been enacted into law. States like Washington which
retain lobbyists may already be aware of these developments and may have been
alerted to the status of the local physical therapy efforts in this regard.
Further, in those states where O&P licensure is already in place, the O&P
community has greater clout for insisting on providing input regarding any
reference to prosthetics and orthotics in a new state bill that revises the
physical therapy scope of practice.

If you practice P&O in a state which lacks O&P regulation in the form of
licensure and your state association does not retain a lobbyist, you may be
in for a rude surprise. The fact is that a legislative bill codifying that
physical therapists are licensed to design, implement and modify ...orthotic
and prosthetic devices may already have become state statute in you locale
or is about to be. In that scenario, it is not hyperbole to state that
physical therapists will be licensed to perform prosthetics-orthotics in your
state while you are not!

Any legislation pertaining to the implementation of the national physical
therapy
model practice act in your state may be readily found through a search of
your state's legislative web site.

David Varnau, LPO, CPO