2021 Webinar Series
FSBPT is kicking off our 2021 Webinar Series with a presentation by Dale Atkinson! Dale will present an overview of recent cases and legislation impacting the regulatory community from 4:00-6:00 p.m. ET on January 28. Register Now!
Next up, Chuck Gallagher will talk about the human side of ethics at 4:00 p.m. on February 10. In 1987, at the height of his career, Chuck Gallagher made some bad choices. He went from wearing a business suit to an orange jumpsuit. Chuck has experienced firsthand how easy it is to move from ethical to unethical. Having rebuilt his life — the lessons Chuck learned allow him to share a unique perspective that will raise ethics awareness to a new level. Register Now!
Look out for more information soon on upcoming webinars with Jennifer Semko on intriguing recent legal cases and other interesting speakers and topics.
Additionally, we are accepting presentation ideas and proposals for webinars we will be hosting throughout 2021. Please submit your proposal by March 1, 2021.
If you have a topic of interest but you do not have suggested speakers or an official proposal, please share the topic with us. We welcome ideas!
2021 Leadership Issues Forum and Annual Meeting & Delegate Assembly
This year, FSBPT has not budgeted for an in-person Leadership Issues Forum or Annual Meeting & Delegate Assembly. Instead, these events will be held virtually:
Leadership Issues Forum (LIF)
July 17-18 | Virtual
Delegate Assembly
October 22-23 | Virtual
Jurisdictions will still need to select the following roles so we can properly register them:
- Voting Delegate
- Alternate Delegate
- Selected Administrator
We will email administrators instructions on selecting delegates and identifying the selected administrator soon.
Topics at the Leadership Issues Forum
FSBPT strives to be a deliberative organization and seeks to present new approaches and changes in a purposeful manner before our Leadership Issues Forum (LIF). Providing topics in advance allows the board an opportunity to carefully prepare topics for consideration. Bringing topics to LIF where our members have plenty of time to engage in thoughtful dialogue allows us to truly get member input into important topics. A number of topics have been presented at consecutive LIF meetings to make sure they are vetted properly, like the most recent bylaw changes or the disciplinary action guidelines. We welcome your input into future topics for LIF and look forward to hearing from you all!
Testing Windows for April and July NPTE Administrations
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, FSBPT will continue to add testing windows to the scheduled NPTE fixed-date administrations in April and July. Some Prometric sites will continue to operate at reduced capacity and some test centers may not be open depending on the status of the outbreak in different locations. In order to help candidates who are unable to find a seat on the fixed dates, FSBPT will add two-week windows to all administrations through July.
- April PT and PTA candidates will receive an updated Authorization to Test (ATT) letter, including the testing window, the week of January 18.
- Registration for the July PT and PTA windows will open by the beginning of February.
- FSBPT will make a determination on the October exam administrations in the coming months.
FSBPT will continue to post up-to-date information to the COVID-19 page on our website.
New FSBPT Interface for Members, Educators, and Candidates
We will deploy a new online interface for our members to use in the latter half of 2021. This new interface will combine several existing interfaces and will allow one portal for states to approve candidates for exams, retrieve scores, file disciplinary action reports, and update contact information for state board members and staff, among other things. We will send board staff a detailed survey about system features, but as we head into the year, we welcome your high-level thoughts on what we can do to make electronically interacting with us easier. Please send your comments and ideas to Christine Sousa.
ELDD Star Ratings
FSBPT started generating the Exam, Licensure, and Disciplinary Database (ELDD) Participation Star ratings in 2013. The index looks at more than twenty-five individual measurements for each jurisdiction and aggregates them into an overall scale of one (no participation) to five (full participation).
Since FSBPT is currently in the process of moving to a new online processing system, we have decided to take this opportunity to re-evaluate the star rating process. Following the posting of the 2020 Q4 ratings, we will be suspending the compilation of jurisdictions’ ratings.
This year, FSBPT plans on establishing an ELDD task force to provide input from the membership on how to improve the value of the ELDD to the member boards and how to improve the rating system, including which elements should be considered. If you are interested in being considered for this task force, please email communications@fsbpt.org no later than February 5.
Missouri Workforce Patterns
In collaboration with the University of Missouri Center for Health Policy, the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts published the first Missouri Physical Therapy Workforce Report. The report describes the workforce patterns of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in Missouri. The goal of the project is to better understand the demographic makeup and geographic distribution of PTs and PTAs, their educational backgrounds and specializations, and the populations that they serve. A total of 1,704 PTs and PTAs responded to the survey, with a response rate of 18.5 percent; the survey data was collected in conjunction with the 2020 licensure renewal.
2021 NPTE Policies
The 2021 NPTE Policies were approved by the FSBPT Board of Directors at their December 2020 meeting. The 2021 NPTE Policies will become effective in sixty days, on March 5, 2021. You can view these policies by logging into the FSBPT Member's Area and going to FSBPT Governance>Policies & Guidelines.
North Dakota Releases the Sixth Biennial Report on Health Issues
The Sixth Biennial Report on Health Issues for the State of North Dakota analyzes the state's unique challenges and opportunities. The report shares some interesting findings on PTs and PTAs:
"A majority (64.2%) of all PTs were found to practice in an urban area and just
over half (50.3%) of PTAs practice in an urban area as well.... A majority of PTs (90.4%) reported no planned changes to their state of practice in the near future, some (4.5%) expected to increase their hours of physical therapy or direct patient care, while 5.2% expected to decrease their hours or leave the field of physical therapy. A majority of PTAs (86.7%) reported no planned changes, 9.8% expected to increase their hours of physical therapy or direct patient care, and 3.5% expected to decrease their hours or stop working in the field of physical therapy."
CBS News Investigates how Medical Boards Discipline Doctors
CBS News recently conducted a year-long investigation into how medical boards discipline doctors who regularly injure patients.
The investigators talked to more than 100 malpractice attorneys in all fifty states and heard a common refrain: boards do a good job weeding out doctors who have broken the law—however, when doctors injure their patients via malpractice, doctors often look the other way.
The former executive director of the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licenses, John Hall, told the reporters, "What folks have to realize is that the medical board is not a substantial barrier to them being injured by a physician." He also said the board has an interest in protecting the doctors as they are doctors themselves.
Robert Oshel worked with the National Practitioners Databank for fifteen years. His research showed that more than half of malpractice payouts are for 1.8 percent of doctors. Additionally, of that 1.8 percent, "Only one in seven have had action taken against them by any state." Additionally, the database also does not share the names of doctors, which could save lives.
Immunity for Occupational Licensing Boards
FSBPT joined eleven other organizations in signing a letter of support for a bill that would provide immunity for damages in cases against occupational licensing boards in some circumstances and establish the standards for immunity. We encourage you to also contact your respective member of the United States House of Representatives and your senators in support of such a bill. Find out how to contact your representative and feel free to use the draft message below:
I am writing to share my support of legislation that seeks to protect state boards, board members, and staff from damage awards by private plaintiffs, while still allowing for enforcement of antitrust laws by federal and private actors seeking to enjoin anticompetitive behavior of licensing boards. The bill should also condition immunity from damages liability on licensing boards meeting certain standards. I believe that such legislation is a balanced approach to competition policy that retains enforcement mechanisms against anticompetitive activities while ensuring that current and prospective state licensing board members will continue to be willing to serve and are not dissuaded because of uncertainty over any potential personal liability arising from their public service. I hope you will support such a bill.
FSBPT Forum: It's Not Burnout! It is Moral Injury: Why Should Regulators be Concerned?
The concept of Moral Injury is relatively new to health care but closely related to the notions of burnout and moral distress. This article is based on a 2020 Annual Meeting Webinar presented by Nancy Kirsch. Read more.
Spotlight on Member Resources: Model Practice Act
The Model Practice Act (MPA) is the preeminent standard and most effective tool available for revising and modernizing physical therapy practice acts. The continuing movement to update physical therapy practice acts helps ensure that these documents provide the legal authority to fully protect the public while allowing for the effective regulation of the profession. The legislative language presented in the Model Practice Act is provided to state legislatures and members of the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy as a resource; actual legislative language will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Our Gratitude for Volunteers
This month, we thank all of our generous volunteer members for their support of our mission.
In the News
"The Future of Telehealth in the U.S. and Across the Globe," In Touch Health
"Telehealth continues to grow at an accelerated rate around the world. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.9% over the forecast period 2019 to 2026 as more hospitals and healthcare facilities bring this technology online. Telehealth has the potential to reduce healthcare costs, improve patient outreach and health outcomes, and change the way providers treat their patients."
"Occupational Licensing Final Report: Assessing State Policies and Practices," National Conference of State Legislators, December 4, 2020
"Since early 2017, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), in partnership with The Council of State Governments (CSG) and the National Governors Association (NGA Center) for Best Practices, has produced numerous resources. These resources are designed to help state policymakers better understand the variances in licensing laws and the challenges they present for many workers. The partner organizations worked with teams from 11 states (consortium states) to help them address their goals around licensing access and portability.
"This report summarizes the four-year project’s key deliverables; the legislative, executive and regulatory trends the partners observed across the country and in consortium states; and lessons learned throughout the project. Below are the main highlights from each section of the report."
Board Liaisons to Jurisdictions
Members of the Board of Directors serve as liaisons to multiple jurisdictions. Current liaison relationships are listed here for your reference.
 Tom Caldwell
Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas |  Ruggie Canizares
Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah |  Ellen Donald
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina |  Joni Kalis
Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming |
 Nancy Kirsch
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont |  Adrienne Price
Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia |  David Relling
Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands |  Charles E. Reiter
The public member of the board does not serve as a liaison to jurisdictions. |
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Staff Contact Information
Staff Contact Information
If you have questions, challenges or ideas, we want to hear from you!
(703) 299-3100
| Subject | Point of Contact/Email Address |
| ADA accommodations | Christine Sousa |
| Assessment or examination development questions | Lorin Muelle
Susan Newman
npte@fsbpt.org |
| Continuing competence | Jeffrey M. Rosa
competencestaff@fsbpt.org |
| Credentials review | Jaime Nolan, FCCPT |
| ELDD- Exam, Licensure and Disciplinary Database participation | eldd@fsbpt.org |
| Exam registration processing | Christine Sousa |
| Foreign educated issues | Leslie Adrian |
| Immigration | Jamie Nolan |
| JAM- Jurisprudence Assessment Module | competencestaff@fsbpt.org |
| Legislation or Model Practice Act | Leslie Adrian |
| Meeting arrangements | Paul Delaney |
| NPDB reports/questions | Angela Burnham |
| PTC- Physical Therapy Compact | compact@fsbpt.org |
| PEAT®- Practice Exam & Assessment Tool | peat@fsbpt.org |
| Reimbursement of expenses
Other financial matters | Linda Michelsen |
| School reports | schoolreports@fsbpt.org |
| Score transfer & reporting | Christine Sousa |
| SCP PET- Supervised Clinical Practice Performance Evaluation Tool | scppet@fsbpt.org |
| Security issues | Susan Newman
security@fsbpt.org |
| Anything else, including news to share with members | William A. Hatherill
Caitlin Jennings
Communications@fsbpt.org |
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| | Sign off: That's all the news today with the approaching future vaccine availability and the chilling banks of the Potomac, where the fish are faster, the fishing boats are longer, and the fishermen are still full of stories. - William A. Hatherill, CEO
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