In this News Brief:
Leadership Issues Forum Wrap-Up
The FSBPT Board held the 2025 Leadership Issues Forum in Arlington, Virginia, on July 19-20. This is an annual meeting in which the Board invites Voting Delegates and Selected Administrators from all jurisdictions, as well as other stakeholders, including committee chairs and representatives from APTA, AAPT, FCCPT, CAPTE, PT Compact, and ACAPT. The weekend forum gives our leaders an overview of the topics and projects currently that are on the “front burner” for FSBPT and regulatory entities.
A total of 136 attendees discussed workforce data collection; the Examination, Licensure, and Disciplinary Database; demonstrating the value of state physical therapy boards; and many other critical and emerging issues. The presentation slides are available to members in the member portal. Please be on the lookout for the 2025 Leadership Issues Forum Report in the next issue of the News Brief.
2025 Excellence in Regulation Award Recipients
Please join us in congratulating Maryland and Nevada, our 2025 recipients of the Excellence in Regulation Award.
The Slate for the 2025 Elections
The Nominating Committee is pleased to announce the slate for this year’s elections, to take place virtually during the Annual Education Meeting, October 23-25. Please read the Candidate Statements to learn more about the candidates.
The Nominating Committee held a Candidate Forum on July 14 in conjunction with the 2025 Leadership Issues Forum to introduce the 2025 candidates for the Board of Directors and the Nominating Committee. A second Candidate Forum will also be held in the fall during the Annual Education Meeting.
Please join FSBPT in thanking the 2025 Nominating Committee Members, Robert Friberg (chair), Adrienne (Stacy) Price, and Bernardine Evans, for their work this year.
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David Relling, ND
President |
Ruggie Canizares, OR
President |
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Michele Thorman, WI
Vice President |
Deanne Yates, KS
Vice President |
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Mario Baker, OH
Nominating Committee |
Anne Thompson, GA
Nominating Committee |
2025 Candidate Statement for the Council of Board Administrators (CBA)
We are pleased to announce that Missy Anthony (OH) will be running for this year’s 2025 CBA Chair. We encourage you to read her candidate statement:
I have enjoyed the challenge of working to grow the Council of Board Administrators over the past two years, and I feel as if the work has only started. One thing I have learned in over 26 years of state government experience is that networking is key. One of the best ways to find answers to problems is to collaborate and exchange ideas with someone else—especially those in similar positions.
I would love to continue as CBA chair for another term. I will listen to the membership and foster a dialogue that will help us all be able to access the resources we need to continue the goal of excellence in regulation. Another priority is to work with members of the CBA to support growing leaders among the CBA ranks. I am happy to be able to bring a cross-profession point of view to the CBA as the Executive Director of an agency that regulates a total of ten professions and is always aiming to do it as efficiently as possible. I look forward to hearing from everyone and working together!
Share Your Webinar and Annual Education Meeting Ideas!
We are accepting presentation ideas and proposals for 2025 webinars and in-person sessions at the 2025 Annual Education Meeting in Spokane, Washington.
If you have a specific idea, please submit a proposal. However, we are also interested in learning about jurisdictions' experiences with regulatory topics and your general ideas on what issues we should examine. We encourage all board members, administrators, and other stakeholders to share topics and ideas with us. You can also watch webinars and meeting sessions on FSBPT's YouTube Channel to learn what we've recently covered.
Model Practice Act Moment
Each month, we will focus on a different statute section from the Model Practice Act and its accompanying commentary. Learn more by reading the Model Practice Act.
Article 4: Regulation of Physical Therapy
4.07 Disciplinary Actions; Penalties
Upon proof that any grounds prescribed in [Grounds for Denial of a License ]and Certificate[; Disciplinary Action, Article 4.04], have been violated, the board shall take the following disciplinary actions singly or in combination.
Commentary
Discipline serves two essential purposes: to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public, and to provide corrective action for those individuals who have been disciplined. The board needs the discretion to take appropriate disciplinary action against a licensee or certificate holder who has violated any law or rule and to determine appropriate action on a case-by-case basis based on at least the following considerations:
(a) The seriousness of the infraction,
(b) The detriment to the health, safety, and welfare of the public,
(c) Past and pending disciplinary actions relating to the licensee or certificate holder,
(d) The potential for remediation.
Further commentary discusses the various options for action that a board may take.
Available Funding Opportunities
The FSBPT Board is committed to supporting its member jurisdictions in their mission to protect the public. Join the ranks of states, including Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, and the Virgin Islands, that have all taken a big step toward both administrative efficiency and protecting the public. They are currently leveraging FSBPT Grants to enhance the ELDD, improve compact privilege implementation, and collect workforce data.
Your state should be next! Learn more about our available grants to help jurisdictions with enhancing your participation in or communication with our Examination, Licensure, and Disciplinary Database (ELDD), improving compact privilege implementation, or collecting workforce data.
FSBPT offers grant funding to support its member jurisdictions in their mission to protect the public. If you are interested in receiving a grant, please send an email to FSBPT's CEO, William A. Hatherill summarizing what you would like to have funded and why it is important or how it can improve efficiencies for your board.
Upcoming Webinars
We are hosting multiple upcoming webinars within the FSBPT Portal, allowing you to easily access member resources, groups, and events all in one place! Be sure to register for these upcoming webinars:
Regulatory Hour with Dale Atkinson: Proactive Boards
August 20, 4:00 p.m. ET
Regulatory Hour with Amigo Wade: First Amendment Applicability to State Boards
September 24, 4:00 p.m. ET
Regulatory Hour with Jennifer Semko: Legal Landscape Related to Artificial Intelligence
September 30, 4:00 p.m. ET
Regulatory Hour with Dale Atkinson: Final Orders
October 15, 4:00 p.m. ET
Regulatory Hour with Paul Welk: Expanding PT Practice into Health and Wellness Services
November 18, 4:00 p.m. ET
Regulatory Hour with Dale Atkinson: A Year in Review
December 17, 4:00 p.m. ET
To register, please log in to the FSBPT Portal, select "Events," and click on the event you'd like to register for.
Send Us Additional Recipients
Do you know of any individuals or groups that would be interested in receiving our monthly News Brief? Do you have new board members or staff starting in 2025? Or did someone forward this to you, and you'd like to be on our list?
Please send any referrals our way! Contact us via email at communications@fsbpt.org with information, ideas, or suggestions.
We appreciate your collaboration in our effort to further our mission to protect the public.
FSBPT Forum: Growing Public Protection: How PT Compact Committees Enhance Compliance and Mobility through Education
The PT Compact’s Compliance and Education & Outreach Committees work to enforce member board compliance with PT Compact requirements and educate various stakeholders about the benefits and use of compact privileges in physical therapy practice. This article is based on a presentation at the 2024 Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) Annual Education Meeting by Bernardine Evans, Susan Gile, and Jeff Rosa.
Spotlight on Member Resources: Member Resource Directory
This comprehensive directory empowers stakeholders with the knowledge and expertise they need to navigate the evolving healthcare regulatory landscape. Whether you're seeking in-depth articles, informative documents, or engaging webinars, the Member Resources Directory offers a wealth of FSBPT content to meet your needs and interests. This user-friendly platform provides a central repository for valuable resources spanning across a broad spectrum of topics, including telehealth, artificial intelligence, boundary violations, and much more. It also helps get you up to speed on the NPTE, the PT Compact, and the ELDD. Stay informed about the latest technological advancements, best practices for implementation, and regulatory updates.
Many Thanks to Our Volunteers
This month, we thank our generous volunteer members for their support of our mission.
- Exam Development Committee Chairs
In the News
FSBPT provides the following links for your education and awareness but does not endorse the content.
"Doctor accused of forging vaccine cards and injecting children with saline has all charges dropped," Chad Van Alstin, HealthExec, July 14, 2025
"The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi has dropped all charges against a Utah-based physician—and his three alleged accomplices—who was accused of giving children saline shots instead of the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the nullified criminal complaint, Michael Kirk Moore Jr., MD, a plastic surgeon, destroyed more than $28,000 worth of COVID vaccines provided by the government, injected his patients with placebos and forged thousands of vaccine cards to cover his tracks. According to the DOJ, Moore accepted cash kickbacks from parents in connection with the scheme, as most of those who received the saline jab were children. If convicted, he would have faced up to 35 years in prison."
"Microsoft Says Its New AI System Diagnosed Patients 4 Times More Accurately Than Human Doctors," Will Knight, Wired, June 28, 2025
“Microsoft’s researchers…built a system called the MAI Diagnostic Orchestrator (MAI-DxO) that queries several leading AI models—including OpenAI’s GPT, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, Meta’s Llama, and xAI’s Grok—in a way that loosely mimics several human experts working together. In their experiment, MAI-DxO outperformed human doctors, achieving an accuracy of 80 percent compared to the doctors’ 20 percent. It also reduced costs by 20 percent by selecting less expensive tests and procedures.”
"Governor Glenn Youngkin Issues Executive Order 51 Launching First-in-the-Nation Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) Empowered Statewide Regulatory Review," Governor of Virginia, July 11, 2025
"This new initiative will represent the first time that a government at the state level has used agentic, generative AI to streamline the regulatory process. It will use an AI tool to scan all of the regulations and guidance documents on the books and identify ways they can be streamlined. The tool will flag any areas in which the regulation contradicts the statute, identify redundancies, and highlight areas in which the regulatory language can be streamlined. And it will empower state agencies to continue using AI to facilitate future reviews of their regulations and guidance documents."
Board Report
This month’s board meeting concluded without any motions.
FSBPT Board of Directors
Members of the board of directors serve as liaisons to multiple jurisdictions.
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Stephen Curley Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia
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Craig Miller Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Utah
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David Relling Hawaii, New Jersey, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Virgin Islands
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Steven Scherger Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas
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Michelle Sigmund-Gaines Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming
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Michele Thorman Delaware, District of Columbia, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, Virginia, and Wisconsin
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Krista Wolfe Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont
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Charles E. Reiter The public member of the board does not serve as a liaison to jurisdictions
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Did you know...?
FSBPT’s Board of Directors wants members to know staff is available to assist any jurisdiction with writing statutory or regulatory language. When you are crafting new laws or regulations/rules, especially involving FSBPT products such as the NPTE or Coursework Tool, or controversial topics such as dry needling, FSBPT is a resource to remember!
Staff Contact Information
Staff Contact Information
If you have questions, challenges or ideas, we want to hear from you!
(703) 299-3100
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Subject
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Point of Contact/Email Address
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ADA accommodations
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Christine Sousa
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Assessment or examination development questions
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Lorin Mueller npte@fsbpt.org
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Continuing competence
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Jeffrey M. Rosa
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Credentials review
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Jaime Nolan, FCCPT
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ELDD- Exam, Licensure and Disciplinary Database participation
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eldd@fsbpt.org
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Exam registration processing
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Christine Sousa
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Foreign educated issues
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Leslie Adrian
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Immigration
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Jamie Nolan
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JAM- Jurisprudence Assessment Module
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JAM@fsbpt.org
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Legislation or Model Practice Act
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Leslie Adrian
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Meeting arrangements
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Paul Delaney
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NPDB reports/questions
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Angela Burnham
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PTC- Physical Therapy Compact
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compact@fsbpt.org
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PEAT®- Practice Exam & Assessment Tool
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peat@fsbpt.org
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Reimbursement of expenses and other financial matters
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David Sigman, ext. 226
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School reports
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schoolreports@fsbpt.org
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Score transfer & reporting
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Christine Sousa
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SCP PET- Supervised Clinical Practice Performance Evaluation Tool
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scppet@fsbpt.org
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Security issues
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Susan Newman security@fsbpt.org
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Anything else, including news to share with members
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William A. Hatherill Caitlin Jennings Communications@fsbpt.org
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From the hydrangea-covered 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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