Physical therapists play a vital role in Oregon’s healthcare system, helping its residents recover from serious injuries. The importance of this role and the high esteem in which physical therapists are held make this a very rewarding profession. It is also a highly regulated field that requires all Oregon physical therapists to have a professional license. However, losing your physical therapist license or having it suspended can upend your career and finances.
Are you a licensed Oregon physical therapist under investigation or facing sanctions from the state licensing board? Your career and livelihood are both in jeopardy, especially if you don’t take the situation seriously. Oregon’s administrative rules give you the right to hire legal counsel to defend your license and reputation from investigation or disciplinary sanctions. Call the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or contact us online.
Oregon Board of Physical Therapy
You must have a valid license issued by the Oregon Board of Physical Therapy to practice physical therapy professionally in Oregon. The Board is a public safety and regulatory agency whose legal authority is granted through the Oregon Revised Statutes and Oregon Administrative Rules. Those rules prohibit any unlicensed person from offering therapeutic services or accepting money for those services.
The board has complete statutory authority over the profession, which includes:
- Setting the educational and applied experience criteria necessary for licensure
- Controlling the licensing process (e.g., accepting and reviewing applications, grading licensing exams)
- Managing the license renewal process
- Enforcing the Administrative Rules and Revised Statutes
- Issuing new rules and regulations as needed
- Investigating allegations of impropriety or violations of Oregon’s rules regarding physical therapists
- Sanctioning physical therapists for violating the Administrative Rules or Revised Statutes
The Board’s job is to ensure Oregon’s physical therapists uphold high standards in their professional and private lives. That means it also has regulatory authority over licensed therapists when they’re off work. For example, the Board can issue sanctions against you for professional impropriety, but it can also issue sanctions if you behave in a manner that reflects poorly on the profession while off the job. Those sanctions include:
- Issue monetary fines ranging from $100 to $1,000 for failure to complete continuing education requirements or practicing with an expired license
- Issue public reprimands for licensees who commit minor violations of the Administrative Rules
- Place a licensee on probationary status and set conditions necessary for the license to be returned to normal status
- Suspend or revoke a physical therapy license
- Issue monetary fines up to $5,000 for violating the Administrative Rules, endangering public safety, or ethical violations
It’s also important to realize that the Board can issue these sanctions individually or in combination with each other. As a general rule, the severity of the sanction will be determined by several factors, which include, but are not limited to, the following:
- The severity of the violation
- The licensee’s previous disciplinary history
- The degree of harm done to the public
- The potential for the violation to damage public confidence in the profession
Examples of Potential Violations
There is an extensive list of potential violations for which you can be sanctioned as a licensed Oregon therapist. Some of the most common violations include:
- Being convicted of a felony or misdemeanor while licensed
- Failing to report a felony conviction or misdemeanor to the Board within 10 days of the verdict
- Practicing physical therapy with an expired, suspended, or revoked license
- Gross negligence
- Practicing while under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances
- Being addicted to alcohol or any controlled substances could negatively affect performance
- Engaging in sexual conduct or intimate relationships with patients
- Any behavior that would be considered unethical
Self-Reporting of Felonies, Criminal Convictions, or License Discipline
Licensed therapists in Oregon also have self-reporting requirements for criminal convictions or license discipline by other boards. Failure to report convictions within 10 days or any license discipline from another state agency where you hold a physical therapist license is also a potential violation.
The Board will assess the circumstances of your conviction or license discipline before deciding on the appropriate action. However, we strongly advise that you bring our Professional License Defense Team to the table to help with the self-reporting. The earlier we can interact with the Board, the more likely it is that our Professional License Defense Team can work directly with them to help you avoid additional sanctions.
Board Discipline Has Long-Lasting Consequences
License suspension or revocation is the harshest potential punishment the Board can issue because losing your license means losing your livelihood and ability to feed your family. With that said, the harshest possible punishments are not the only thing you have to fear in a Board investigation. The Board is a public agency, which means any sanctions they issue on your license after an investigation are matters of public record.
Reprimands, fines, and having your license placed on probationary status will become permanent fixtures on your record, just like a suspension or revocation. That means anyone from prospective clients to potential employers can do a license look-up on the Board website and discover whether you’ve been disciplined. The website will also include the nature of your violation.
Physical therapy is an incredibly competitive field. The presence of even minor sanctions on your record will necessitate you making an uncomfortable explanation to potential employers or clients about the circumstances. Many of them may be reticent to work with you. That’s especially true if they’re deciding who to hire between you and another physical therapist with a sanction-free record.
That’s not the only consideration. Licensed therapists are required to carry liability insurance, and insurers will certainly look up your disciplinary history before issuing a policy. The presence of sanctions on your record will likely cause insurers to raise your premiums and deductibles. In some cases, they may decline to write you a policy at all. So, sanctions on your record can jeopardize your career even if the Board doesn’t suspend or revoke your license.
Reciprocal or Out-of-State License Complications
Many licensed therapists are licensed in other states or work there under reciprocal licensing agreements. If you are working under a reciprocal license in Oregon and it is sanctioned, the regulatory agency where your original license is issued will want to know about it. There is a high probability that they have a self-reporting requirement. Depending on the circumstances of your Oregon Board sanctions, they may issue additional discipline.
The same thing is true for other professional licenses you may hold in Oregon or other states. Every licensing agency or regulatory body will reserve the right to issue its own sanctions in response to you being found in violation of the terms of your licensure in other jurisdictions. So, Oregon Board sanctions jeopardize your career in those states and vice versa.
How Do Board Investigations Work?
The Board has the statutory authority to investigate any licensed therapist it believes has violated the Administrative Rules or the Revised Statutes. However, members of the general public, including current or former clients, who believe you’ve committed an infraction can file a complaint directly through the Board’s website.
The Board is obligated to assess the validity of the complaint and/or the likelihood that an infraction has occurred. If this initial assessment reveals sufficient evidence to believe there was a violation, the Board will initiate a formal investigation. Once that investigation begins, the Board will notify you by sending a written notice to the address listed on your most recent license application.
The notification will advise you of the complaint, the specific rules violation(s) it is investigating, and the date(s), place(s), and time(s) of the alleged violation(s). In cases where substance abuse or issues of mental or physical competency are being investigated, the Board can compel you to undergo a physical and/or mental evaluation. It can also subpoena witnesses, records, and any other documents necessary to complete the investigation.
Your Obligations in Board Investigations
Although you have due process rights in Board investigations, they are not the same rights you have in criminal investigations. First and foremost, you don’t have the right to remain silent. The Administrative Rules require you to cooperate fully with the investigation. That includes appearing for interviews with Board investigators, submitting any patient records requested by the Board, and being truthful in your replies to any questions from Board investigators or staff.
For all these reasons, we recommend contacting the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team immediately after being notified that the Oregon Board is investigating your license. Every word you say to the board can be held against you, and you don’t have the option to remain silent under questioning. However, you don’t have to go in without being prepared or having our team there to stan up or your rights.
How Can the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Team Help During Investigations?
It doesn’t matter if you feel like the original complaint is the result of a misunderstanding or an unreasonable accusation from a disgruntled patient. Your career is on the line, and you need to approach it accordingly. Yes, the Board has broad powers in terms of demanding records or personal appearances, and that power could tilt the odds in their favor.
However, having the benefit of a skilled attorney from our Professional License Defense Team can help you level the playing field. We have decades of experience preparing our clients for interviews with Board investigators. Their questions may seem neutral, but in many cases, they are designed to encourage you to admit guilt. We can help you avoid those pitfalls by helping you know what to expect and how to respond without admitting to any violations.
There may also be situations where the Board is over-aggressive in its demands for documents and other materials. Our team has ample experience fighting overzealous document requests and, more importantly, we know how to appeal to higher authorities to put a stop to it. The Board’s power is vast, but it’s not absolute, and we can fight them in the public courts if necessary.
Alternatives to Harsh Board Disciplinary Sanctions
Our top priority in any Board investigation is finding a solution that allows you to continue doing your life’s work and feeding your family. The best-case scenario is helping you demonstrate to the Board that no violation has occurred and having them close the case. We’ve helped achieve this outcome for many clients, but we can also explore alternatives to the harshest punishments.
The Board’s focus is ensuring that you don’t pose a continuing danger to public safety, and there are a variety of ways to reach that goal. We have experience negotiating settlements with licensing Boards where they issue a private Confidential Advisory Letter and take no further action. In other cases, we may be able to cast enough doubt on the Board’s evidence that they don’t have grounds to suspend or sanction your license.
That may result in the Board issuing a formal reprimand or placing you on probation. It may also require you to complete a continuing education course or meet other criteria that we will reach through mutual negotiations before your license will be returned to full status. With that said, it takes experience and skill to negotiate these agreements in such a way that they are fair and equitable.
Other Advantages of Professional License Defense
Working with our Professional License Defense Team offers a host of potential advantages. First, it shows the Board that you take the investigation seriously and you value your license. Second, bringing in our nationally recognized Professional License Defense Team sends a clear signal that you’re ready to fight for your career. Finally, we can help you continue your case in the public courts if the Board is unreasonable.
Perhaps most importantly, we give you an advocate dedicated to your well-being and defending your reputation. That’s essential when you’re dealing with a public agency that has the power to strip your license and won’t hesitate to do so if the Board believes it serves the public good. Going against the Board by yourself isn’t a fair fight. Call the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team at 888-535-3686 or contact us online. We are here for you.