Florida Senate - 2020 SB 792
By Senators Albritton and Harrell
25-00774A-20 2020792__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to physical therapy; amending s.
3 486.021, F.S.; revising the definitions of the terms
4 “physical therapy assessment” and “practice of
5 physical therapy”; amending s. 486.025, F.S.; revising
6 the powers and duties of the Board of Physical Therapy
7 Practice; providing an effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. Subsections (10) and (11) of section 486.021,
12 Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
13 486.021 Definitions.—In this chapter, unless the context
14 otherwise requires, the term:
15 (10) “Physical therapy assessment” means observational,
16 verbal, or manual determinations of the function of the human
17 movement systems musculoskeletal or neuromuscular system
18 relative to physical therapy, including, but not limited to,
19 range of motion of a joint, motor power, motor control, posture
20 postural attitudes, biomechanical function, locomotion, or
21 functional abilities, for the purpose of physical therapy making
22 recommendations for treatment.
23 (11) “Practice of physical therapy” means the performance
24 of physical therapy assessments and the treatment of any
25 disability, injury, disease, or other health condition of human
26 beings, or the prevention of such disability, injury, disease,
27 or other health condition of health, and the rehabilitation of
28 such disability, injury, disease, or other health condition as
29 related thereto by alleviating impairments, functional
30 limitations, and disabilities by designing, implementing, and
31 modifying treatment interventions through therapeutic exercise;
32 functional training in self-care and in-home, community, or work
33 integration or reintegration; manual therapy; therapeutic
34 massage; airway clearance techniques; maintaining and restoring
35 integumentary integrity and wound care; physical agents or
36 modalities; mechanical and electrotherapeutic modalities;
37 patient-related instruction the use of the physical, chemical,
38 and other properties of air; electricity; exercise; massage; the
39 performance of acupuncture only upon compliance with the
40 criteria set forth by the Board of Medicine, when no penetration
41 of the skin occurs; the use of radiant energy, including
42 ultraviolet, visible, and infrared rays; ultrasound; water; the
43 use of apparatus and equipment in the application of such
44 treatment, prevention, or rehabilitation the foregoing or
45 related thereto; the performance of tests of neuromuscular
46 functions as an aid to the diagnosis or treatment of any human
47 condition; or the performance of electromyography as an aid to
48 the diagnosis of any human condition only upon compliance with
49 the criteria set forth by the Board of Medicine.
50 (a) A physical therapist may implement a plan of treatment
51 developed by the physical therapist for a patient or provided
52 for a patient by a practitioner of record or by an advanced
53 practice registered nurse licensed under s. 464.012. The
54 physical therapist shall refer the patient to or consult with a
55 practitioner of record if the patient’s condition is found to be
56 outside the scope of physical therapy. If physical therapy
57 treatment for a patient is required beyond 30 days for a
58 condition not previously assessed by a practitioner of record,
59 the physical therapist shall have a practitioner of record
60 review and sign the plan. The requirement that a physical
61 therapist have a practitioner of record review and sign a plan
62 of treatment does not apply when a patient has been physically
63 examined by a physician licensed in another state, the patient
64 has been diagnosed by the physician as having a condition for
65 which physical therapy is required, and the physical therapist
66 is treating the condition. For purposes of this paragraph, a
67 health care practitioner licensed under chapter 458, chapter
68 459, chapter 460, chapter 461, or chapter 466 and engaged in
69 active practice is eligible to serve as a practitioner of
70 record.
71 (b) The use of roentgen rays and radium for diagnostic and
72 therapeutic purposes and the use of electricity for surgical
73 purposes, including cauterization, are not “physical therapy”
74 for purposes of this chapter.
75 (c) The practice of physical therapy does not authorize a
76 physical therapy practitioner to practice chiropractic medicine
77 as defined in chapter 460, including specific spinal
78 manipulation. For the performance of specific chiropractic
79 spinal manipulation, a physical therapist shall refer the
80 patient to a health care practitioner licensed under chapter
81 460.
82 (d) This subsection does not authorize a physical therapist
83 to implement a plan of treatment for a patient currently being
84 treated in a facility licensed pursuant to chapter 395.
85 Section 2. Section 486.025, Florida Statutes, is amended to
86 read:
87 486.025 Powers and duties of the Board of Physical Therapy
88 Practice.—The board may administer oaths, summon witnesses, take
89 testimony in all matters relating to its duties under this
90 chapter, establish or modify minimum standards of the practice
91 of physical therapy as defined in s. 486.021, including, but not
92 limited to, standards for the performance of dry needling by
93 physical therapists, and adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1)
94 and 120.54 to implement the provisions of this chapter. The
95 board may also review the standing and reputability of any
96 school or college offering courses in physical therapy and
97 whether the courses of such school or college in physical
98 therapy meet the standards established by the appropriate
99 accrediting agency referred to in s. 486.031(3)(a). In
100 determining the standing and reputability of any such school and
101 whether the school and courses meet such standards, the board
102 may investigate and personally inspect the school and courses
103 make personal inspection of the same.
104 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.