Texas Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners

Final Results of Last Sunset Review

Facility Registration

• Starting in September 2019, discontinue the unnecessary registration of physical and occupational therapy facilities and temporarily authorize the boards to expunge facility-related administrative violations from a licensee’s record.

License Mobility

• Adopt the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact to streamline the licensing of physical therapy professionals and enhance their mobility.
• Provide clear statutory authority for licensure by endorsement.
• Clarify that occupational therapy assistants licensed in other states may practice in this state temporarily under the same conditions as occupational therapists.
• Remove outdated provisions prescribing educational requirements to ensure such requirements remain relevant and reflect maturing standards of education and practice.

Licensing and Enforcement

• Require physical therapist and physical therapist assistant licenses to expire at least every two years, as determined by physical therapy (PT) board rule.
• Update statutes to reflect current standards, terms, and conditions.
• Continue the authority of the occupational therapy (OT) board and PT board to delegate to other entities the responsibility of approving continuing education courses and providers, but require the boards to adopt rules relating to continuing education approval, including a request for proposal and bid process.
• Require the boards to conduct fingerprint-based criminal background checks of licensure applicants and licensees.
• Require the boards to develop a disciplinary matrix to ensure consistency.
• Remove unnecessary qualifications for foreign-trained licensure applicants that restrict entry to practice.
• Direct the OT board to adopt rules to specify the types of criminal activities that may result in denial, suspension, or revocation of a license. (Management action – nonstatutory)
• Direct the OT board to delegate administrative dismissal to staff for low-level misdemeanor offenses. (Management action – nonstatutory)
• Direct the agency to develop a formal process to refer non-jurisdictional complaints to the appropriate agency. (Management action – nonstatutory)

Continue

• Continue the executive council, PT board, and OT board for 12 years.
• Apply the standard Sunset across-the-board requirements to the executive council, PT board, and OT board for
  • board member training;
  • conflicts of interest;
  • governor designation of the presiding officer;
  • grounds for removal of members from policymaking bodies;
  • policies to separate policymaking and staff functions; and
  • alternative rulemaking and dispute resolution.