California Laws and Regulations related
to the practice of PT
delegation of functions - answer except for those powers reserved exclusively to the
"agency itself" the board delegates and confers upon the executive officer of the board
or in his or her absence, the assistance executive officer of the board or other designee
of the executive office, all functions necessary to the dispatch of business of the board
in connection with investigative and administrative proceedings under the jurisdiction of
the board
advertising - answera PT may advertise the provision of any services authorized to be
provided by a PT license. advertising must explicitly state the use of a model, or
procedures performed for before and after pictures, exact price if listed, no false or
misleading advertising
physical therapy aide, applicant and student identification - answer each supervising
licensed PT shall require all PT aides, applicants and students performing patient
related tasks under his or her supervision to display while working his or her name and
working title on a name tag in at least 18 point type
related healthy sciences for PT study - answer neuroscience, any anatomical,
behavioral, biomedical, physiological and movement science. they specifically include
but are not limited to: biology, biomechanics, exercise physiology, gerontology, human
development, kinesiology, pathology, pathomechanics, pharmacology and psychology
requirements for patient records - answer-examination and re-examination
-evaluation and re evaluation
-diagnosis
-prognosis and intervention
-treatment plan and modification of plan of care
-Each treatment provided by the physical therapist or a physical therapy aide
-Discharge Summary
-the physical therapist assistant shall document and sign in the patient record any
treatment provided by that individual
-The date and nature of the service provided and
-The name and title of any individual who provided such service, including the
individual's role in that service.
notice to consumers - answera licensed PT engaged in practice of PT shall provide form
NTC 12-01 (ie pt informed about where to look for PT/PTA license and other info on the
,PTBC). the patient can be provided the form that they sign/date and place in their
medical record or it can be displayed in an area visible to patients on the premises
where the licensee provides the licensed services.
abandonment of applications, failure to pass exam and failure to pay initial license fee -
answerall applications are denied without prejudice when an applicant does not
complete their application by furnishing additional information or paying fees, fails the
exam within one year from the date of the original notice to appear for exam
-if the applicant fails they must file a new application for licensure, pay the application
fee, comply with all laws and regulations, and apply for reexamination and pay the
applicable reexamination fee.
-failure to pay initial license fee: application what be deemed abandoned and any exam
taken deemed not passed if the applicant fails to pay the fee within five years after
notification by the board. may be eligible for licensee upon reexamination and filing of
an updated application
what is the credentials evaluations services? - answerthe board will accept reports from
credentials evaluation services which meet all of the following criteria:
(a) The service retains the services of a physical therapist consultant(s) who is licensed
as a physical therapist in a state or territory of the United States and is used in an
advisory capacity to review individual cases for comparability to the educational and
training requirements of Section 2650 of the code for hours and content.
(b) The service is able to document the experience of its employees by producing
positive letters of reference from other state licensing agencies, educational institutions
or professional organizations.
(c) The service is able to submit a report to the board that shall be based on a review of
original documentation of an applicant's credentials and shall document the following:
(1) The equivalent professional degree the foreign applicant would have received from
an accredited physical therapist education program located in the United States.
(2) Whether completion of the foreign applicant's physical therapist education and
training entitles the foreign applicant to practice as a physical therapist in the country
where the education and training was completed.
(3) Whether the foreign applicant demonstrated English proficiency
applications of foreign educated graduates - answera) application shall be submitted to
an evaluation service, which meets the Board's requirements: a complete transcript of
the resident course of professional instruction completed which has been authenticated
by the proper official of the physical therapist education program, and submitted directly
by the physical therapist education program to the evaluation service.
- Credentials submitted in a language other than English shall be accompanied by an
original translation certified by a qualified translator other than the applicant.
(b) Where because of circumstances beyond his or her control an applicant is unable to
furnish any of the credentials required under subsection (a) above, the board may in its
discretion accept other documents which it deems sufficient to establish the applicant's
eligibility.
,applications from non-accredited physical therapy educational programs - answerFor
the purposes of determining educational equivalency, the credential evaluation services
will evaluate foreign educational credentials based on the corresponding Federation of
State Boards of Physical Therapy's Coursework Evaluation Tool For Foreign Educated
Physical Therapists (CWT) or, if applying for physical therapist assistant license, the
Coursework Tool For Foreign Educated Physical Therapist Assistants (PTA Tool 2007).
english proficiency - answeran applicant who graduated from a physical therapist
education program that is not approved by the board and is not located in the United
States must demonstrate English proficiency by achieving the following minimum scores
within a single administration of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL):
(1) Reading Section - 22
(2) Listening Section - 21
(3) Writing Section - 22
(4) Speaking Section - 24.
clinical service requirements for foreign educated applicants - answer(a) certified by at
least one supervising physical therapist (the supervising physical therapist is the Center
Coordinator of Clinical Education and/or the Clinical Instructor) licensed by the board, or
by a physical therapy licensing authority in another jurisdiction which is accepted by the
board.
(b) For the purposes of this regulation, supervision means the supervising physical
therapist must be onsite in the same facility and available to the physical therapist
license applicant to provide assistance with any patient care.
(c) Effective January 1, 2010, all clinical instructors must be APTA certified.
(d) The certification shall be submitted in a report to the board and shall document the
supervising physical therapist's determination that the physical therapist license
applicant possesses the skills necessary to perform any physical therapy evaluation or
any physical therapy procedure of patient care within the California healthcare system.
The supervising physical therapist's evaluation of the physical therapist license
applicant shall be prepared utilizing the PT CPI issued by the APTA in December of
1997. The certification shall include two elevations one mid-way through and the other
evaluation shall determine the skill level at the end of the clinical service. Both
evaluations shall be reported at the end of the period of clinical service. (e) Three (3)
months of the required nine (9) months of clinical service shall be waived by the board if
the physical therapist license applicant successfully completes a course in Law and
Professional Ethics as offered by a post-secondary educational institution or by
successfully completing four (4) continuing education units in Ethics offered by a
continuing education provider recognized by a California healthcare board.
(f) One (1) month of clinical service shall be wa
approved PT education programs and criteria for approval - answer(a) Only those
educational programs which meet the requirements shall be approved by the board for
professional education in physical therapy. The executive officer shall maintain on file at
the board's Sacramento office a list of approved education programs.
, (b) If, at the time of graduation, the physical therapy educational program from which
the applicant for licensure graduated was an approved program, the applicant's
educational program shall be considered to satisfy the requirements for application
Criteria for programs:
(a) Physical therapy educational programs shall be established in post-secondary
educational institutions accredited by a national association or agency recognized by
the Council on Post- Secondary Accreditation and/or the U.S. Department of Education.
(b) The physical therapy educational program shall be accredited by the agency or
organization recognized by the Council on Post-Secondary Accreditation or the U.S.
Department of Education.
(c) Teaching programs of not less than 1400 hours duration also may be established in
hospitals for students whose preliminary education meets the requirements of CAPTE
accredited program post secondary school and 18 hrs of clinicals for PTs , providing the
physical therapy education program is accredited as set forth in subsection (b).
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the board from approving a
school or training program which is not approved or from not approving a school or
training program which is approved by one of the above-mentioned entities.
identification and supervision of Physical therapist students defined - answer(a) When
rendering physical therapy services as part of academic training, a physical therapy
student shall only be identified as a "physical therapist student." When rendering
physical therapy services, the required identification shall be clearly visible and include
his or her name and working title in at least 18-point type.
(b) The "clinical instructor" or the "supervisor" shall be the physical therapist supervising
the physical therapist student while practicing physical therapy.
(c) The supervising physical therapist shall provide on-site supervision of the assigned
patient care rendered by the physical therapist student.
(d) The physical therapist student shall document each treatment in the patient record,
along with his or her signature. The clinical instructor or supervising physical therapist
shall countersign with his or her first initial and last name all entries in the patient's
record on the same day as patient related tasks were provided by the physical therapist
student.
criteria for approval of physical therapy facilities to supervise the clinical service of
foreign educated applicants - answer1)each physical therapy facility shall complete a
form entitled Clinical Site Information Form (CSIF), as developed by the American
Physical Therapy Association and revised on 11-01-99, hereby incorporated by
reference, certifying that the facility has the staffing, clinical experiences, and clinical
instruction to provide physical therapy clinical experience for the foreign educated
physical therapist applicant for licensure. The CSIF shall be submitted to the Board
2)accompanied by the Board's Notice of Intent to Supervise a Foreign Educated
Physical Therapist", form F1B, revised January 2005, hereby incorporated by reference.
For each foreign educated applicant, both forms shall be complete and signed in order
for the physical therapy facility to be approved by the Board.