Minnesota PTA Licensure Now A Must
Believe it or not, but several states do not regulate licenses for certain health professionals. Colorado doesn’t require a state license for Speech-Language Pathologists or Occupational Therapists. Minnesota doesn’t require a state license for Physical Therapist Assistants. At least until now. Previously, the only way to confirm a PTA license in an unregulated state such as Minnesota, was to verify with the school they graduated from that they completed the program. Now PTA’s will be regulated with their own license just like their Occupational Therapy Assistant counterparts. The Aquatic Therapist reports that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty signed this major healthcare bill into law.
Minnesota joined 37 other states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in licensing physical therapist assistants (PTAs) when Gov Tim Pawlenty recently signed into law a major healthcare bill.
Physical therapists are now able to delegate patient treatment procedures to qualified licensed physical therapist assistants as a result of language from the state’s House and Senate legislation, filed by Rep Kim Norton and Sen Patricia Torres Ray. This language is included in the omnibus Senate File 26.
"Our members have worked alongside lawmakers and other groups to demonstrate the need for this legislation, and that hard work has paid off," says Minnesota Chapter President Joan Purrington, PT, MA. "Minnesota physical therapy patients will benefit from this much-needed measure."
Licensure for physical therapist assistants guarantees the highest degree of public protection and ensures that PTAs will have the necessary education and training.
"The American Physical Therapy Association( APTA) congratulates our Minnesota members for seeing this legislation through to fruition," says APTA president R Scott Ward, PT, PhD. "Physical therapist assistants are vital contributors of physical therapy services, and physical therapist assistant licensure provides needed recognition and regulation of their efforts."
This is a huge plus for the healthcare industry as a whole to ensure all patients they are receiving the highest level of care from a licensed professional. But also, as stated above, it will give PTA’s in Minnesota, and other states affected by this new law, the recognition they deserve for being such a heavily relied on contributor to what RehabCare’s main goal hopes to achieve – helping people regain their lives.
