Kan. Admin. Regs. § 100-29-16 - Supervision of physical therapist assistants and support personnel

(a) Each physical therapist shall be responsible for the following:

(1) The physical therapy services provided to a patient or client by any physical therapist assistant working under the direction of the physical therapist; and

(2) the tasks relating to the physical therapy services provided to a patient or client by any support personnel working under the personal supervision of the physical therapist or by the physical therapist assistant acting under the direction of the physical therapist.

(b) Each physical therapist and each physical therapist assistant acting under the direction of a physical therapist shall provide personal supervision of the support personnel during any session in which support personnel are utilized to carry out a task.

(1) "Personal supervision" shall mean oversight by a physical therapist or by a physical therapist assistant acting under the direction of the physical therapist who is on-site and immediately available to the support personnel.

(2) "Support personnel" shall mean any person other than a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant. Support personnel may be designated as or describe themselves as physical therapy aides, physical therapy technicians, physical therapy paraprofessionals, rehabilitation aides, or rehabilitation technicians.

(3) "Task" shall mean an activity that does not require the formal education or training of a physical therapist or a physical therapist assistant.

(c) The determination by the physical therapist to utilize a physical therapist assistant for selected components of physical therapy interventions shall require the education, expertise, and professional judgment of the physical therapist. Before delegating an intervention by a physical therapist to a physical therapist assistant and before delegating a designated task to support personnel, the physical therapist shall consider the following:

(1) The education, training, experience, and skill level of the physical therapist assistant;

(2) the complexity and acuteness of the patient's or client's condition or health status;

(3) the predictability of the consequences;

(4) the setting in which the care is being delivered to the patient or client; and

(5) the frequency of reexamination of the patient or client.

(d) Pursuant to K.S.A. 65-2914 and amendments thereto, if patient care is initiated by a physical therapist assistant in a hospital setting because the physical therapist is not immediately available, "minimum weekly review" shall mean that the physical therapist shall evaluate the patient and determine a plan of treatment within seven days of the initiation of treatment by the physical therapist assistant.

(e) Only a physical therapist may perform any of the following:

(1) Interpretation of a referral;

(2) performance and documentation of an initial examination, testing, evaluation, diagnosis, and prognosis;

(3) development or modification of a plan of care that is based on a reexamination of the patient or client that includes the physical therapy goals for intervention;

(4) determination of the qualifications of support personnel performing an assigned task;

(5) delegation of and instruction about the service to be rendered by the physical therapist assistant;

(6) timely review of documentation, reexamination of the patient or client, and revision of the plan of care when indicated;

(7) establishment and documentation of the discharge plan and discharge summary; and

(8) oversight of all documentation for services, including documents for billing, rendered to each patient or client under the care of the physical therapist.

(f) In all practice settings, the performance of selected interventions by the physical therapist assistant and the delegation of designated tasks to support personnel shall be consistent with the safe and legal practice of physical therapy and shall be based on the following factors:

(1) The complexity and acuteness of the patient's or client's condition or health status;

(2) the physical therapist's proximity and accessibility to the patient or client;

(3) the supervision available for all emergencies or critical events;

(4) the type of setting in which the physical therapy intervention is provided;

(5) the ability of the physical therapist assistant to perform the selected interventions or the support personnel to perform designated tasks; and

(6) an assessment by the physical therapist of the ability of the support personnel to perform designated tasks.

(g) Except as specified in this subsection, a physical therapist shall not have more than four physical therapist assistants working concurrently under the direction of that physical therapist. A request by a physical therapist to supervise additional physical therapist assistants may be granted by the board if it finds that significant hardship to the health and welfare of the community will occur if the physical therapist's request to supervise more than four physical therapist assistants is not granted.

(h) Each physical therapist wishing to provide personal supervision to more than four physical therapist assistants in a clinic or hospital setting shall provide a written and signed request to the physical therapy advisory council with the following information:

(1) The name of each physical therapist assistant to whom the physical therapist proposes to provide personal supervision;

(2) the reason for the request; and

(3) a written statement from the clinic or hospital director documenting the hardship and the plan for alleviating future staffing shortages of physical therapists.

(i) The physical therapy advisory council shall review each request granted by the board pursuant to subsection (g) at least every six months to determine whether a significant hardship to the health and welfare of the community will exist if the request is no longer granted. The physical therapy advisory council shall prepare and submit a written recommendation of each review to the board. A determination of whether the exemption should be renewed for another six-month period shall be made by the board at the recommendation of the physical therapy advisory council.

(j) Failure to meet the requirements of this regulation shall constitute unprofessional conduct.

Notes

Kan. Admin. Regs. § 100-29-16

Authorized by K.S.A. 2015 Supp. 65-2905 and 65-2911; implementing K.S.A. 2015 Supp. 65-2912 and 65-2914; effective July 14, 2006; amended July 17, 2009; amended by Kansas Register Volume 35, No. 17 effective 5/13/2016