HB 347: "An Act relating to occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants; relating to the practice of physical therapy; and relating to the practice of occupational therapy."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 347 01 "An Act relating to occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants; relating 02 to the practice of physical therapy; and relating to the practice of occupational 03 therapy." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 08.84 is amended by adding a new section to read: 06 Sec. 08.84.095. Scope of practice for occupational therapists and 07 occupational therapy assistants. (a) An occupational therapist may provide 08 occupational therapy to a person whose ability or opportunity to participate in 09 activities of daily living, play, leisure, or an occupation is or may be limited or 10 restricted because the person has or is at risk of having an injury, disorder, 11 impairment, or disability that limits or restricts the person's ability to engage in an 12 occupation or other goal-oriented task or activity. The therapist may evaluate, analyze, 13 and diagnose the cause of the limitation or restriction and intervene with occupational 14 therapy to decrease or eliminate the cause, help the person recover from or adjust to
01 the limitation or restriction, and restore the person's ability to engage in an occupation 02 or other goal-oriented task or activity. 03 (b) An occupational therapist may initiate and provide occupational therapy, 04 including therapy under (c) of this section, without a referral from another provider of 05 health care services. 06 (c) The services an occupational therapist may provide to a person include 07 (1) treating a person's pain; 08 (2) habilitating, rehabilitating, and working with a person to adjust 09 physical, neuromusculoskeletal, cognitive, psychosocial, sensory-perceptive, visual, or 10 other aspects of performance in a variety of contexts to improve or maintain the 11 person's ability to engage in an occupation or other goal-oriented task or activity, 12 regardless of the person's ability-related needs; 13 (3) evaluating and treating a person to promote, enhance, or restore the 14 person's ability to safely perform activities of daily living and instrumental activities 15 of daily living and safely engage in sleep, rest, education, work, play, leisure, health 16 management, and social participation; 17 (4) administering, evaluating, and interpreting tests and measurements 18 of a person's bodily functions and structures; 19 (5) establishing, remediating, preventing, or compensating for a barrier 20 to a person's performance skills; in this paragraph, a barrier to a person's performance 21 skills may include the person's bodily structures and functions, habits, routines, roles, 22 environmental and personal factors, and physical, neuromusculoskeletal, cognitive, 23 psychosocial, sensory perception, communication, interaction, and pain management 24 skills; 25 (6) managing a person's ability to eat, feed themselves, or swallow to 26 improve or maintain eating and feeding performance; 27 (7) designing, fabricating, applying, or ?tting assistive technology or 28 an adaptive or orthotic device; 29 (8) training a person to 30 (A) use assistive technology or an adaptive, orthotic, or 31 prosthetic device; and
01 (B) manage the person's seating and positioning; 02 (9) adapting environments and assessing, recommending, and training 03 a person on the techniques the person may use to enhance the person's functional and 04 community mobility; 05 (10) preventing pain and dysfunction, restoring function, or reversing 06 or arresting the progression of a pathology; 07 (11) applying an adjunctive intervention or therapeutic procedure to 08 prepare for or use with occupation-based activities; in this paragraph, "adjunctive 09 intervention or therapeutic procedure" includes a thermal, mechanical, electrophysical, 10 or instrument-assisted treatment modality, wound care, and manual therapy; and 11 (12) promoting a person's good physical and mental health and 12 wellness, regardless of the person's ability-related needs. 13 (d) An occupational therapist may allow an occupational therapy assistant to 14 assist with or administer occupational therapy that the occupational therapy assistant is 15 professionally competent to assist with or administer, including assessing a patient in 16 an evaluation delegated to the occupational therapist assistant and preparing reports on 17 the assessment for the occupational therapist. The occupational therapist shall 18 supervise the occupational therapist assistant when acting under this subsection. 19 (e) In this section, "health" means a person's physical or mental health. 20 * Sec. 2. AS 08.84.190(3) is amended to read: 21 (3) "occupational therapy" means [, FOR COMPENSATION,] the use 22 of purposeful activity, evaluation, treatment, and consultation with persons [HUMAN 23 BEINGS] whose ability to cope with the tasks of daily living are threatened with [,] or 24 impaired by developmental deficits, learning disabilities, aging, poverty, cultural 25 differences, physical injury or illness, or psychological and social disabilities to 26 maximize independence, prevent disability, and maintain health; ["OCCUPATIONAL 27 THERAPY" INCLUDES 28 (A) DEVELOPING DAILY LIVING, PLAY, LEISURE, 29 SOCIAL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL SKILLS; 30 (B) FACILITATING PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR AND 31 SENSORY INTERGRATIVE FUNCTIONING;
01 (C) ENHANCING FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE, 02 PREVOCATIONAL SKILLS, AND WORK CAPABILITIES USING 03 SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED EXERCISES, THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITIES 04 AND MEASURES, MANUAL INTERVENTION, AND APPLIANCES; 05 (D) DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND APPLICATION OF 06 SPLINTS OR SELECTIVE ADAPTIVE EQUIPMENT; 07 (E) ADMINISTERING AND INTERPRETING 08 STANDARDIZED AND NONSTANDARDIZED ASSESSMENTS, 09 INCLUDING SENSORY, MANUAL MUSCLE, AND RANGE OF MOTION 10 ASSESSMENTS, NECESSARY FOR PLANNING EFFECTIVE 11 TREATMENT; AND 12 (F) ADAPTING ENVIRONMENTS FOR THE DISABLED;] 13 * Sec. 3. AS 08.84.190(4) is amended to read: 14 (4) "occupational therapy assistant" means a person who, [ASSISTS 15 IN THE PRACTICE OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY] under the supervision of a 16 licensed [AN] occupational therapist, administers or assists with administering 17 occupational therapy; 18 * Sec. 4. AS 08.84.190 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 19 (8) "test and measurement" includes imaging, electrodiagnostic and 20 electrophysiological methods or techniques, and other methods or techniques 21 generally accepted by the physical therapist or occupational therapist professions in 22 the state for use in obtaining information about a patient in order to administer 23 therapy.