The Government is After Me!

Photo Credit: Michelle Vieira at London 2012 Olympics

This morning I have a long layover at JFK airport en route to Africa!  As I've been observing TSA, watching the news sitting in horribly uncomfortable chairs, and seeing what's going on in the world, it got me thinking a little bit about our government. Earlier this year, I was home in Connecticut visiting my family when I received a letter stating that I had been selected for Jury Duty.  In the State of Connecticut.  Where I have not lived for the past 4.5 years.  Fortunately, it was easy for them to verify that I no longer live there and was able to get out of it - but that's my second Jury Duty Selection and some people have never been picked!  How does this happen?  What fortunate - or unfortunate - thing have I done to put me on a list saying I should serve when others have not been chosen?

My first jury duty selection was in the summer of 2004, right after my freshman year of college.  It was a trial where a man had been running in the early morning and he had been struck by a car resulting in severe, long-lasting injuries.  The runner was suing the driver of the car, who happened to be the newspaper delivery guy.  He was also suing the newspaper company and their insurance company.  I spent 5 days in the New Haven County Courthouse listening to testimony, reviewing medical bills and photos of the injuries. This was long before I was a physical therapist, so while I was a bit annoyed to be missing my summer vacation, my job paid me for the time and it was definitely a better learning experience than being at work in the bakery at Everybody's Supermarket would have been.

Anyways, I returned to Seattle after a great snowy East Coast trip and arrived to find a letter from the State of Washington Department of Health that my PT License was being audited and that I needed to show proof of all of my continuing education.  I was certain the government was out to get me!

So... for my fellow PTs - in or out of Washington State, here are a few pointers, should this happen to you, because I found the letter indicating my audit - and the details of what was needed- to be quite lacking.
1) Keep track of your continuing education!  Names of courses and the presenters, dates and locations of where you took them, number of hours, a list of objectives for the course, and keep the copies of the certificates.  My certificates are in a binder and I have a google doc with my annual course titles/hours already, but I didn't have all the required information that was asked of me.  For example, I've talked about the courses I took with Mike Reinold and Lenny Macrina a few times on the blog like here and here, but I couldn't have told you their credentials and didn't have access to written objectives for the two courses I took from them.  Fortunately, their credentials were listed on the certificates and they were more than willing to send me a list of objectives since their classes have been approved by continuing education review boards.  Medbridge also supplies all this information on all of their certificates.
2) Know the rules of your state.  Washington does not require verification of your courses for PT.  Neither does Connecticut.  Three states (Maine, Massachusetts, and South Dakota, which I wrote about here do not require continuing education at all.  But if you practice in those states and then try to switch states, this may cause you some problems in transitioning your license elsewhere. (Also- how are you practicing physical therapy without participating in continuing education?!? My education was great at UConn but seriously- you’re left needing to know so much more!) You may have specific things you need to have specific education for, varying by state. Examples of unique circumstances that some states have for continuing education:

• Suicide prevention training - required in Washington, course is available on Medbridge - probably a really good thing for any physical therapist to have!
• Spine manipulation - can get a special endorsement in the state of Washington, which I hold, and which has its own continuing education requirements. If I had to guess, this is the reason why I was audited... but maybe it's just random.
• Dry Needling - not permitted in Washington, but is allowed in many other states.  My understanding is that dry needling certifications tend to be regulated carefully in some states.
• Somewhat related - if you are a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach through the NSCA, you cannot use almost any physical therapy courses for your continuing education for your CSCS.  They have a list, here, which includes First Aid/CPR as an option - which we cannot claim for continuing education for our PT licenses.

If you're in Washington, the letter for audit basically says you should read the laws and see what applies to you and submit sufficient information to cover your own requirements.  Here's where you would go to find that information:

1) Physical Therapy Requirements: here for your initial license and here for continuing education requirements

2) Spine Manipulation Endorsement Requirements: here
3) Dry needling is not permitted in the state of Washington under the Physical Therapist practice act,, so we don't have regulations for it. 

I asked a lot of PTs if they've ever been audited... zero coworkers or PT friends have been, but some had friends or family members who've had to submit their information.  Overall, the process wasn't really that difficult because I have all my certificates and track my hours - plus I have more than enough hours for everything I need.

Ultimately, this is my PSA that you should keep track of - at the very least - the minimum requirements you need for your license to remain active - because this is a real thing and to track those things down later would have been much more difficult. 

Abby 2 - Government 0.   See ya in two weeks, America!