The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Alexandria, VA, announced in an April 30 press release that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has signed HB 1034, granting Hoosiers direct access to evaluation and treatment by a physical therapist without a physician referral. Ensuring a patient's choice of which healthcare professional ...

My newest thought project for this week is to better understand how physical therapist staffing is predicted for a new clinic. How does a new healthcare company or private practice facility estimate what kind of staffing it will need in a new location? My general understanding of private practice is that due to limited funds, staffing will start ...

I learned this expression while working in England. It was a way of getting to the core of something, often a product, to determine the original intent and whether it was accomplished. I wonder that about continuing education requirements. Florida has had them (12 hours/year) since I've been practicing (a long time) while New York has only ...

So I'm back in the US about six months now and I've got a massive amount of continuing education to do. Before anyone starts wagging fingers about ''serves you right'' or anything else that sounds like your mother scolding, I had to do lots of CPD (continuous professional development) in the UK... none of it counts here. The UK accepts everything ...

The American Physical Therapy Association, Alexandria, VA, put out a press release yesterday detailing the role that therapy professionals and students played in helping victims of the tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon. The release stated: ''A team of 70 members of APTA's Massachusetts Chapter, stationed at the Boston Marathon finish line on ...

Anyone who reads my blog with regularity knows the last year has been a struggle for me. I lost my beloved job. I was fired for being ethical. I encountered more than my share of unethical and self-serving people. During all of that, I hung on and kept going to work. Every so often I made a difference to someone, which kept me going. For the ...

I'm a peer reviewer for the Texas continuing education program. I review submissions for neuro, geriatric, acute and general so I get to see a lot what is being proposed for continuing education. Texas has a specific form that must be completed for each course submitted for review. It includes speaker qualifications, specific goals, a statement of ...

According to Medicare, I'm able to work under the direction of an MD. Imagine what that could do to the outpatient market in some areas. As a PTA, I could set up a clinic, hire an MD and begin to provide care based on the MD's plan of treatment. Of course the state rules would try to prevent this but I'm pretty sure federal law trumps state law ...

As I was perusing the various state board websites, I noticed several states offered licenses to PTs but required the PTA to have a certificate to practice and provide therapy care. I've been awarded certificates in achievement, performance and even have one as a geriatric wellness specialist. My children come home from school with certificates in ...

As part of a very in-depth project for our ''Leadership and Professional Development'' course, I'm in charge of justifying the purchase of an electronic health record (EHR) for our theoretical outpatient private practice. I've been spending a lot of time researching the benefits, processes and considerations for EHR implementation, and I'm ...