Legislature(2021 - 2022)BARNES 124
03/05/2021 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB99 | |
| HB45 | |
| Marijuana Control Board | |
| HB45 | |
| Occupational Safety and Health Review Board | |
| Board of Physical and Occupational Therapy | |
| Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers & Land Surveyors | |
| Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission | |
| Board of Pharmacy | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 99 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 45 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 99-PHYSICAL/OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY BD/PRACTICE
3:20:47 PM
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that the first order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 99, "An Act relating to the State
Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board; relating to the
practice of physical therapy; and relating to the practice of
occupational therapy."
3:22:29 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MATT CLAMAN, Alaska State Legislature, presented
HB 99 as prime sponsor. He paraphrased the Sponsor Statement
[included in the committee packet], which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
House Bill 99 amends the governing statutes for
physical therapists, physical therapy assistants,
occupational therapists and occupational therapy
assistants practicing in Alaska. The changes are
designed to bring Alaska statutes in line with
national standards and terminology, and overall make
the administrative experience of these professionals
up to date. This bill is supported by the State
Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board, which
believes HB99 will help the Board in its work to
protect the public.
In an effort to place public interest first and
foremost, the Physical Therapy and Occupational
Therapy Associations support a more balanced
representation on its Board and proposes to replace
the seat for a physician with an occupational
therapist or occupational therapy assistant.
When the membership of the board's guiding statute was
first enacted, physicians supervised physical and
occupational therapists. Physician supervision is no
longer required since PT/OT are independent
professions with the entry level degree for Physical
and Occupational Therapy being at the doctoral level.
This change would bring improved representation from
both professions to the board.
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN added that HB 99 also would enable the
State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board to
discipline a therapist who commits infractions under AS
08.84.120, such as gross negligence, conviction of a felony, or
abuse of alcohol. He shared that the board currently has the
ability to revoke or deny licenses based on infractions, but has
no ability to discipline. He continued that it would also add
language to ensure that therapists educated outside of the U.S.
have training that is equivalent to that of therapists educated
in the U.S. It would also except therapists trained in an
English language program from having to take an English
proficiency test. He continued that it would update language in
statute that references an accrediting entity that no longer
exists, and makes the language more general. He concluded that
HB 99 would not require a restructuring of statute, but it
contains a number of "long awaited changes."
3:25:19 PM
JOEY BOSWORTH, Staff, Representative Matt Claman, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of Representative Claman, prime sponsor,
presented the Sectional Analysis for HB 99. He paraphrased the
Sectional Analysis, which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Section 1
AS 08.84.010. Creation and membership of the board.
Removes the seat for a physician and balances out the
board with 3 physical therapists or physical therapy
assistants and 3 occupational therapists or
occupational therapy assistants along with one public
member, to make up the 7-member board. It also changes
the term "physical therapy assistant" to "physical
therapist assistant" in this section and
throughout the entire statute. This change is to
conform to the industry title used nationally.
Section 2
AS 08.84.030. Qualifications for licensing.
Allows the board to have broader authority over what
entities will have accreditation oversight over
physical therapy & occupational therapy education
programs. Some of the accrediting entities listed in
statute are now either renamed or no longer exist,
making that statute obsolete.
Section 2 removes language from the statute relating
to additional supervised field work that occupational
therapists must complete as these requirements are
covered by the accrediting bodies.
Section 3
AS 08.84.032. Foreign-educated applicants.
Changes the section headline from "trained" to
"educated." New language is added that requires
foreign-educated physical therapist or physical
therapy assistant students to have attended a
"substantially" equivalent educational program that is
accredited by a U.S. accreditation entity that has
been approved by the board. Outdated and obsolete
language is removed that can be found on page 4, lines
3-9 of this bill.
Added to subsection (3) of this section is language
that would require that a physical therapist or
physical therapist assistant pass a test demonstrating
competency of the English language only if their
program was taught in a foreign language. Subsection
(4) requires that a foreign-educated applicant is a
legal alien or a U.S citizen. Subsection (7) requires
them to pay the required fee and meet any other
qualifications for licensure set by the board under
08.84.010(b).
All the above changes in Section 3 are replicated for
occupational therapists or occupational therapy
assistants on page 4, lines 27-31 and over to page 5,
lines 1-22.
3:27:25 PM
MR. BOSWORTH continued paraphrasing from the Sectional Analysis
for HB 99, which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Section 4
AS 08.84.060. Licensure by acceptance of credentials.
Makes conforming terminology changes.
Section 5
AS 08.84.065(c). Temporary changes.
Makes conforming terminology changes.
Section 6
AS 08.84.075(b). Limited permit.
Makes conforming terminology changes.
Section 7
AS 08.84.075(c). Limited permit.
Changes language that would now require that a limited
permit is valid for 120 consecutive days
Section 8
AS 08.84.075(d). Limited permit.
Allows only one limited permit per 12-month period.
Section 9
AS 08.84.090. Licensure.
Updates licensure terminology.
Section 10
AS 08.84.120(a). Refusal, revocation, and suspension
of license.
Adds disciplinary action as a possibility to actions a
board might consider for an infraction of their
licensure and updates terminology in item (7) and
states in (9) that failure to comply with the law or
regulations or order of the board might result in
disciplinary action or suspension of a license.
3:28:15 PM
MR. BOSWORTH continued paraphrasing from the Sectional Analysis
for HB 99, which continued as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Section 11
AS 08.04.130(a). False claim of license prohibited.
Adds updated credentialing and terminology.
Section 12
AS 08.84.130(b). False claim of license prohibited.
Updates terminology.
Section 13
AS 08.84.190. Definitions.
Adds a new paragraph defining the updated term
"physical therapist assistant."
Section 14
AS 11.41.470(1). Definitions.
Updates definitions in criminal law/sexual assault
statute.
Section 15
AS 47.17.290(14). Definitions.
Updates terminology under definitions in child
protection statute.
Section 16
AS 08.84.190(7). Definitions
Repeals subsection (7), which is the definition using
outdated term of physical therapy assistant; according
to Leg. Legal, when the actual "term" used for the
definition is being changed, the
entire citing must be repealed. The new definition is
set out on page 8, Section 13, lines 11-14.
Section 17
Applicability
Sets out the applicability clauses for licensure for
sections 2 and 3 of this Act and
for sections 7 and 8.
Section 18
Uncodified law
Transition language for the board vacancy and
appointments for the PT/OT board, and states that the
changes do not apply to current licensees until it is
time for their licensure renewal and then all changes
to the law will apply.
3:30:17 PM
ALEC KAY, President, Alaska Chapter, American Physical Therapy
Association (APTA), shared that the Alaska Chapter of the APTA
represents over 450 physical therapists and physical therapist
assistants. He stated that HB 99 would modernize language and
eliminate antiquated language. He shared that the concept
behind the bill came from the State Licensing Board and would
help the board protect the public better. He reiterated his
support of the passage of the bill.
3:32:05 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY asked Mr. Kay whether APTA supports the
bill.
MR. KAY replied yes, and he restated that the idea came from the
State Licensing Board.
3:33:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN asked Mr. Kay whether there is any risk
in removing the physician from the board. He asked whether
there is a benefit to having a physician on the board, and asked
if it is typical in other states to have a physician on the
board.
MR. KAY responded that the presence of the physician is a
remnant of an older time when physical therapists were
functioning under the American Medical Association (AMA). He
shared that it is not typical to have a physician on other
professional health boards. He noted that he served on the
board in the mid-2000s and that it was very rare for the
physician seat to be filled, and when it was, the member rarely
attended meetings and did not add much to the process. He
mentioned that members have a letter in the committee packets
from a physician acknowledging that it is not necessary.
3:35:24 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN shared the example of the State Board of
Optometry as a professional health board that doesn't have a
physician seat either.
3:35:37 PM
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ shared that historically, many health care
boards had physicians on the board, but the practice has been to
move away from this requirement as the health care boards have
diversified and professionalized. She explained that patients
no longer need a physician's referral to see a physical
therapist and opined that it makes sense to make this
modernization.
3:37:10 PM
CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that HB 99 was held over.