Bill > S2511

Introduced Session

This bill will enter New Jersey in the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact (PTLC). The PTLC provides for a mutual recognition model of physical therapy licensure (for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants), in which a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant only needs to obtain one license from the state of residence in order to be permitted to practice in any other state that is a party to the compact, as long as the physical therapist or physical therapist assistant complies with the state practice laws of the state in which the patient is located at the time that care and services are rendered. Currently, a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant is required to be licensed in, and by, each state in which a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant chooses to practice. Under the PTLC, a person who applies for licensure is required to meet the qualifications for licensure and license renewal of the person's home state. The PTLC authorizes a remote state that is party to the compact to impose fines and suspend the multistate licensure privilege of any physical therapist or physical therapist assistant to practice in that state and may take any other actions under the applicable state laws necessary to protect the health and safety of the citizens of the remote state. If a home state license is encumbered in any way, the licensee loses licensure privileges in any remote state until the home state license is no longer encumbered and two years have elapsed from the date of the adverse action. The PTLC creates and establishes a joint public agency known as the Physical Therapy Compact Commission. The commission is an instrumentality of the member states and each member state will be allowed one delegate to sit on the commission. The delegate is selected by the member state's licensing board and must be a current member of the state's licensing board. The commission is authorized to establish bylaws, maintain financial records, promulgate rules to facilitate and coordinate implementation and administration of the compact, and bring and prosecute legal proceedings or actions in the name of the commission. The PTLC also establishes a coordinated database and reporting system containing licensure, adverse action, and investigative information on all licensed individuals in the member states. The member states will be required to report to the database all licensure data and identifying information, adverse actions against a license or multistate licensure privilege, non-confidential information related to alternative program participation, any denial of application for licensure and the reasons for the denial, and other information that may facilitate the administration of the compact. This information will be shared with all member states unless the state submitting the information designates information that may not be shared or disclosed without the permission of the contributing state. The PTLC is intended to facilitate the practice of physical therapy with the goal of improving public access to physical therapy services. The compact preserves the regulatory authority of states to protect public health and safety through their current system of state licensure. The PTLC will enhance the exchange of licensure, investigative, and disciplinary information between member states, and it will allow a remote state to hold a provider of services with a multistate licensure privilege accountable to that state's practice standards. Finally, the PTLC will come into effect on the date on which the compact statute is enacted into law in the tenth member state. As of April, 2016, PTLC legislation has been introduced in four states: Arizona, Missouri, Oregon, and Tennessee. Also, Oregon and Tennessee have enacted the PTLC legislation, making those states the first members of the compact.

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Committee Categories

Dawn Addiego (D)*,  Richard Codey (D)*,  Herbert Conaway (D)*,  Thomas Giblin (D)*,  Paul Moriarty (D)*,  Declan O'Scanlon (R), 

Passed Assembly (Passed Both Houses) (66-0-1) (on 01/08/2018)