BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 198
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 25, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Richard S. Gordon, Chair
SB 198 (Price) - As Amended: June 18, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Physical Therapy Board of California.
SUMMARY : Reorganizes and recasts the Physical Therapy Act
(Act), eliminates redundant and outdated provisions, updates and
clarifies numerous provisions, makes other technical and
conforming changes, and renumbers various sections within the
Act. Specifically, this bill :
1)Reorganizes and recasts the Act, eliminates redundant and
outdated provisions, updates and clarifies numerous
provisions, makes other technical and conforming changes, and
renumbers various sections within the Act.
2)Clarifies and reorganizes defined terms including the "board,"
"physiotherapy," "physical therapist," and "physical therapist
assistant" and redefines "physical therapist technician" to be
equivalent to a "physical therapy aide."
3)Specifies that the members of the Physical Therapy Board (PTB)
shall consist of four physical therapists, only one of whom
shall be involved in physical therapy education, and three
public members.
4)Clarifies and reorganizes provisions regarding the
qualifications of professional and public members.
5)Clarifies and reorganizes provisions regarding board member
appointing authority and specific appointments.
6)Clarifies and reorganizes provisions regarding the following:
a) Qualification of applicants for licensure;
b) Examinations of physical therapists (PTs) and physical
therapist assistants (PTAs);
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c) Issuing licenses for the practice of physical therapy in
California; and,
d) Suspending and revoking licenses, and otherwise
enforcing the provisions of the Act.
7)Requires the PTB to do the following:
a) Administer a continuing competency program;
b) Participate in Federation of State Boards of Physical
Therapy (FSBPT) meetings;
c) Publish a newsletter;
d) Provide timely orientation and training to new board
appointees; and,
e) Adopt and administer a program of education in matters
relevant to the regulation of physical therapy.
8)Clarifies for purposes of selecting physical therapy
consultants that PTB may enter into contracts to enforce the
Act.
9)Provides additional authority for PTB to employ an executive
officer and other individuals to fill specified positions, and
allow the PTB to fix compensation to be paid for services and
may incur other expenses as it may deem necessary.
10)Specifies that the Attorney General shall act as legal
counsel for the PTB for any judicial and administrative
proceedings and his or her services shall be charged against
it.
11)Clarifies that all enforcement proceedings, including those
related to probationary restrictions, are governed by the
Government Code.
12)Specifies the number of times PTB may meet and that four
members of PTB shall constitute a quorum.
13)Requires that PTB comply with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting
Act.
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14)Revises and clarifies the scope of practice for PTs.
15)Conforms the requirements for maintaining patient records
with regulations adopted by the PTB, and grants authority to
PTB to establish other requirements as necessary.
16)Provides that the Act does not authorize a PT to diagnose
disease, practice medicine, surgery, or any other form of
healing except as authorized under the PT's scope of practice.
17)Requires a PT to be responsible for managing all aspects of
the care of each patient as set forth in regulation, and also
for the supervision of PTAs and aides, as specified.
18)Authorizes PTB by regulation to prescribe, amend, or repeal
any rules contained within the code of professional conduct
appropriate to the establishment and maintenance of integrity
and dignity in the profession of physical therapy, and
provides that every licensee shall be governed and controlled
by the rules and standards adopted by PTB.
19)Clarifies and conforms the requirements for a licensed PTA
and supervision of PTAs to current regulations of PTB.
20)Clarifies and conforms the requirements for an unlicensed
physical therapy aide and supervision of aides to current
regulations of PTB.
21)Adds authority for PTB to provide for licensure exemptions
for specific purposes for a limited period of time for PTs or
PTAs from another jurisdiction of the United States, from
another country, or in consultation with a licensed PT within
California.
22)Authorizes PTB to establish specific application and
licensure requirements in regulation.
23)Authorizes PTB to define in regulation what a "complete
application" is and adds requirements for the supervision of a
PT or PTA applicant, and adds other requirements applicable to
the license for which the applicant is applying.
24)Specifies that a person having, in the opinion of the PTB,
training or experience or a combination of training and
experience equivalent to that obtained in an approved physical
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therapist assistant education program and who meets specified
requirements, may apply for licensure as a physical therapist.
25)Reorganizes and consolidates renewal requirements and
exemptions, or waivers for renewal.
26)Specifies education requirements for both PTs and PTAs and
provides that curriculum requirements shall be those as
prescribed by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical
Therapy (CAPTE) or the Accreditation Council of Canadian
Physiotherapy (ACCP) and shall include a combination of
didactic and clinical experiences; clinical experience shall
include at least 18 weeks of full-time experience with a
variety of patients.
27)Provides that PTB shall approve those PT and PTA education
programs that prove to PTB's satisfaction that they comply
with the minimum PT or PTA educational requirements, and
provides that those education programs that are accredited by
CAPTE or ACCP shall be deemed approved by the PTB unless PTB
determines otherwise.
28)Provides that nothing shall prohibit PTB from disapproving
any foreign PT or PTA educational program, or denying an
applicant, if in the opinion of PTB, the instruction received
was not equivalent to that required under the Act.
29)Reorganizes provisions related to licensing applicants who
have been issued a diploma by a PT education program that is
not approved by PTB and is not located in the United States,
as long as they meet other specified requirements, and allows
PTB to establish application requirements in regulation.
30)Revises and specifies additional grounds for unprofessional
conduct and for PTB to cite, discipline, deny a license,
suspend or revoke a license, or impose probationary conditions
upon a licensee.
31)Allows PTB to issue a public letter of reprimand and to
require specified training and/or education for the licensee.
32)Specifies that if a licensee fails or refuses to comply with
a request for medical records of a patient that is accompanied
by a patient's written authorization for release of the
records within 15 days, the licensee shall pay to PTB a civil
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penalty of $1,000 per day, unless the licensee is unable to
provide the documents for good cause.
33)Clarifies that PTB is within the jurisdiction of the Health
Quality Enforcement Section of the Attorney General and the
Medical Quality Hearing Panel of the Office of Administrative
Hearings.
34)Renames the "Diversion Program" as the "Substance Abuse
Rehabilitation Program" and makes conforming name changes.
35)States that no reimbursement is required by this bill
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a
local agency or a school district will be incurred because
this bill creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a
crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or
infraction within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California
Constitution.
36)Makes other technical and clarifying amendments.
EXISTING LAW establishes the Act which provides for the
licensing and regulation of PTs and PTAs by PTB. (Business and
Professions Code (BPC) Section 2600 et seq.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of this bill . This bill is a non-controversial
comprehensive overhaul of the Act. This revision has been in
process since 2004 by PTB, stakeholders, and the public to
clarify, update, and align the Act with best practices. This
bill is sponsored by the PTB.
2)Author's statement . According to the author, this bill
"reorganizes and recasts the Act, eliminates redundant and
outdated provisions, updates and clarifies numerous
provisions, makes other technical and conforming changes, and
renumbers various sections within the Act."
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3)PTB history . The Physical Therapy Examining Committee was
created in 1953 and became PTB in 1996. The PTB is charged
with protecting the public from the incompetent,
unprofessional and criminal practice of physical therapy. The
PTB underwent Sunset Review in 2013 and was found to be
functioning well.
The PTB consists of seven members (four PTs and three public
members), who serve four-year terms, with a maximum of two
terms. The PTB regulates approximately 21,863 active PT
licensees and 5,381 active PTA licensees.
The PTB is funded through license and application fees, and
receives no General Fund monies.
4)Act revision . According to PTB, in response to public and
licensee concerns that the Act was complex and difficult to
use, PTB established the Physical Therapy Practice Act Review
Task Force (Task Force) in 2004. The Task Force was charged
with reviewing the Act for accuracy and currency. The Task
Force referenced the Model Practice Act developed by the
Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) and the
American Physical Therapy Association's (APTA) revised Guide
to Physical Therapist Practice in developing the proposed
revisions to recommend to the PTB.
The Task Force was comprised of various individual licensees and
representatives from the California Physical Therapy
Association (CPTA), as well as PTB staff and legal counsel.
As noted, the CPTA was involved in drafting the proposed
revisions initially, and recently has stated that it supports
the updated proposed revisions. In addition to collaboration
with the profession, PTB also exercised all available efforts
to ensure public access. PTB conducted all business regarding
the proposed revisions in a public forum, opened all agenda
items for public comment at every meeting, and webcasts
meetings and posts all meeting materials online, including the
proposed revisions to the Act.
The proposed revisions that were adopted by the PTB primarily
reorganize the provisions within the Act for clarity, and
clean-up outdated provisions. Consequently, the proposed
revisions need to be taken together as they are intended to
coincide; if some of the proposed revisions are taken without
the others, in most cases, this may result in duplicative or
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lost provisions.
5)Related legislation . SB 305 (Price) of 2013, extends until
January 1, 2018 the provisions establishing the Naturopathic
Medicine Committee, the Speech-Language Pathology and
Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board, the Board of
Occupational Therapy, PTB, the Board of Optometry, and the
Respiratory Care Board of California and makes other technical
changes. This bill is pending in the Assembly Business,
Professions and Consumer Protection Committee.
AB 1000 (Wieckowski and Maienschein) of 2013, allows patients
to directly access physical therapy services for 45 calendar
days or 12 visits, whichever comes first, after which the
patient must get approval through the physical therapist's
plan of care and an in-person examination by a physician and
surgeon or podiatrist, and expands the types of licensed
professionals permitted to work for a professional
corporation, as specified. This bill is pending in the Senate
Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Physical Therapy Board of California (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Sarah Huchel / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301