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.