January 31, 2020
We are pleased to share this update from Dan Logsdon from the National Center for Interstate Compacts regarding progress that is being made on the joint AOTA/NBCOT Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact Initiative.
The Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact initiative is steadily moving forward to create an occupational licensure compact for the OT profession with support from AOTA and NBCOT. The Advisory Group for the project held its initial meeting during the last week of October 2019 in Washington, DC. Since that initial meeting, the Advisory Group has convened by phone to develop recommendations for the project Drafting Team, which will meet in late February to begin drafting the text of the compact.
The Drafting Team is expected to complete a draft compact in early May. That document will then go back to the Advisory Group for comment before being distributed to stakeholders for comment in the summer of 2020.
The project team is determined to have a draft ready for consideration by state legislatures in 2021.
Dan Logsdon
Director, National Center for Interstate Compacts
The Council of State Governments
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Chuck Willmarth, CAE
Vice President of State Affairs and Health Policy
cwillmarth@aota.org
Shaun Conway, OTR
Senior Director, External & Regulatory Affairs
sconway@nbcot.org
By Chuck Willmarth, CAE; and Shaun Conway, OTR
November 11, 2019
The Council of State of Governments (CSG) convened the first meeting of the Occupational Therapy Interstate Licensure Compact Advisory Group from October 29 to 30 at the Hall of the States in Washington, DC. The role of the advisory group is to engage in a thoughtful dialogue regarding the needs of occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, students, state licensure boards, and other stakeholders as those needs pertain to the development of an interstate licensure compact.
Members of CSG’s Occupational Therapy Interstate Compact Advisory Group
The 2-day meeting began with a briefing by CSG staff members to provide the background and history of interstate compacts, and was followed by a review of existing compacts in medicine, nursing, physical therapy, and other health professions. Staff briefed the advisory group on the findings of their research into the state regulation of occupational therapy. A key finding is that the core licensure requirements for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants are consistent across jurisdictions. Specifically, all states require OTs and OTAs to graduate from accredited programs, complete supervised fieldwork requirements and pass the entry-level certification exam administered by NBCOT®. The group identified some variations in state requirements; for example, at least 12 states require a state jurisprudence exam (usually an open-book test regarding the state’s occupational therapy statutes and regulations).
While no final decisions were made, the group came to consensus on a number of key points:
While the Compact Advisory Group addressed a number of key issues, more work is left to be done. CSG has scheduled calls for November and December to continue the dialogue. The group is expected to meet with the administers of the Physical Therapy Compact and the Nurse Licensure Compact to obtain information about how states have implemented these compacts and the related costs. The group will continue to meet over the next 3 to 6 months. It is expected that the Drafting Team will meet in January or February 2020 to begin drafting the licensure compact langauge. CSG is developing a communications and stakeholder feedback plan to ensure that the profession and all stakeholders have the opportunity to provide input.
Chuck Willmarth, CAE, is AOTA’s Vice President of State Affairs and Health Policy.
Shaun Conway, OTR, is Senior Director, External & Regulatory Affairs at NBCOT.
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