Florida Senate - 2026                                    SB 1262
       
       
        
       By Senator DiCeglie
       
       
       
       
       
       18-01279A-26                                          20261262__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to physical therapy treatment plans;
    3         amending s. 486.021, F.S.; exempting specified
    4         services from the requirement that a physical
    5         therapist have a practitioner of record review and
    6         sign a plan of treatment; providing an effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (11) of section
   11  486.021, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   12         486.021 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, unless the
   13  context otherwise requires, the term:
   14         (11) “Practice of physical therapy” means the performance
   15  of physical therapy assessments and the treatment of any
   16  disability, injury, disease, or other health condition of human
   17  beings, or the prevention of such disability, injury, disease,
   18  or other health condition, and the rehabilitation of such
   19  disability, injury, disease, or other health condition by
   20  alleviating impairments, functional movement limitations, and
   21  disabilities by designing, implementing, and modifying treatment
   22  interventions through therapeutic exercise; functional movement
   23  training in self-management and in-home, community, or work
   24  integration or reintegration; manual therapy; massage; airway
   25  clearance techniques; maintaining and restoring the
   26  integumentary system and wound care; physical agent or modality;
   27  mechanical or electrotherapeutic modality; patient-related
   28  instruction; the use of apparatus and equipment in the
   29  application of such treatment, prevention, or rehabilitation;
   30  the performance of tests of neuromuscular functions as an aid to
   31  the diagnosis or treatment of any human condition; or the
   32  performance of electromyography as an aid to the diagnosis of
   33  any human condition only upon compliance with the criteria set
   34  forth by the Board of Medicine.
   35         (a) A physical therapist may implement a plan of treatment
   36  developed by the physical therapist for a patient or provided
   37  for a patient by a practitioner of record or by an advanced
   38  practice registered nurse licensed under s. 464.012. The
   39  physical therapist shall refer the patient to or consult with a
   40  practitioner of record if the patient’s condition is found to be
   41  outside the scope of physical therapy. If physical therapy
   42  treatment for a patient is required beyond 30 days for a
   43  condition not previously assessed by a practitioner of record,
   44  the physical therapist shall have a practitioner of record
   45  review and sign the plan. The requirement that a physical
   46  therapist have a practitioner of record review and sign a plan
   47  of treatment does not apply:
   48         1. When a patient has been physically examined by a
   49  physician licensed in another state, the patient has been
   50  diagnosed by the physician as having a condition for which
   51  physical therapy is required, and the physical therapist is
   52  treating the condition; or
   53         2. To services provided for purposes of health promotion,
   54  injury prevention, wellness, or fitness.
   55  
   56  For purposes of this paragraph, a health care practitioner
   57  licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter 460, chapter
   58  461, or chapter 466 and engaged in active practice is eligible
   59  to serve as a practitioner of record.
   60         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.