Many occupational therapists are proud to work in Oregon. They can be part of a robust healthcare system that changes lives through high-quality care. To remain such a key player in the system, all an OT must do is keep their professional license intact. Unfortunately, that's sometimes easier said than done.
You might be surprised at the things that can alter or even destroy your OT career in Oregon. Luckily, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is prepared to handle anything that could come your way. For details, call them today at 888.535.3686 or fill out this contact form.
Who Handles Occupational Therapy Licenses in Oregon?
Oregon's Secretary of State Department is in charge of the Oregon Occupational Therapy Licensing Board (OTLB), which in turn manages all the rules, regulations, and policies pertaining to occupational therapists.
For instance, the board requires that aspiring OTs in Oregon earn master's or doctoral degrees in occupational therapy. Not only that, but they must complete a program approved by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE), log six months of fieldwork, and pass the exam administered by the National Board for Certification of Occupational Therapy (NBCOT).
The board also encourages OTs to use continuing education courses to become knowledgeable about specific subfields, disciplines, and treatments. To name a few examples, you could take classes in ethics, rehabilitation, physical therapy, kinesiology, fall prevention, neurological health, mental disorder management, pediatric care, illness recovery, and mobility, stability, flexibility, and strength training for the elderly or disabled. There are even units on how to accommodate diversity.
All these courses have one thing in common—they help you accomplish your goal as an occupational therapist, which is to guide and support patients in becoming healthier and more independent. The more training you have, the better you'll be at teaching your patients to function and take care of themselves in everyday life. In Oregon, you'll probably practice occupational therapy in medical clinics, hospitals, assisted living facilities, or schools.
Occupational Therapy Professional License Violations in Oregon
Most everything that OTs in the Beaver State need to know about their jobs is in the Oregon Occupational Therapy Act. This law outlines an OT's responsibilities and obligations and explains what the board should do about OTs who violate them. Below is a list of the violations that could get you in trouble with the board.
Gross Negligence or Incompetence
It's impossible for every day to be your best day on the job. Mistakes are usually inevitable and understandable.
However, they should be few and far between. The vast majority of your work should consistently demonstrate that you're knowledgeable about your field and dedicated to each of your patients. If what you show instead is a pattern of major avoidable errors and patients who don't progress under your care, the OTLB might investigate you to see if you're really a good fit for your job.
Unprofessional Conduct
Although it sounds like a broad category, Oregon law has encoded details of what the board considers unprofessional conduct. Examples include theft, harassment, bullying, assault, physical or verbal abuse, substance abuse, collecting fees or bribes for referrals, breaching confidentiality, and engaging in sexual relationships with patients, consensual or otherwise. Intentionally treating patients with inappropriate or unhelpful care plans is unprofessional as well.
The fact is that unprofessional conduct doesn't just drive away business; it often endangers patients or hinders their progress. Sanctions are a tool that the board uses to protect patients from harm and itself from lawsuits.
Criminal Conviction
Some crimes imply that the perpetrator has certain character flaws or personality traits that would make them unsuitable for a career that involves caring for others and prioritizing their health, safety, and privacy. That's why the board might consider sanctioning you if they find out that you have a conviction on your record.
While the board has the right to impose disciplinary measures in response to any crimes, not all crimes would worry the board equally. Charges of assault, harassment, bullying, theft, embezzlement, substance abuse, drug trafficking, fraud, and sexual deviancy are the most likely to affect your license.
Committing or Allowing Illegal Practices
There are several ways to practice occupational therapy illegally. Perhaps the most obvious is to practice while your license is suspended, revoked, or even non-existent (meaning that you never got one in the first place). It also refers to acting outside your scope or failing to comply with any restrictions imposed on your license by the board.
Equally egregious is knowingly letting another person practice occupational therapy if they're not licensed or authorized to do so. This includes hiring occupational therapists who may be licensed in other states but not in Oregon.
Patients come to you trusting that a trained, skilled, and ethical occupational therapist will help them according to laws and guidelines established to ensure the best care possible. Practicing illegally could potentially harm them instead, so the board takes a dim view of it.
Fraud or Dishonesty
The surest way to guarantee that every occupational therapist in Oregon is qualified to practice is to maintain high expectations for integrity. If an OT shows that they've obtained their licenses, positions, clientele, or professional contacts through bribery, extortion, or outright lying, they might have to face devastating sanctions.
The board expects OTs to be honest with them, too. If they discover that an OT has deceived them with false or misleading statements, they're likely to enact strict disciplinary measures.
Using a False Identity
In the interest of fairness and transparency, every occupational therapist should work under their real name, birthdate, and other identifiers. The board tends to deal harshly with OTs who conceal their true identity and/or pretend to be someone else.
The Disciplinary Process of Occupational Therapy License Violations in Oregon
Despite its stringent educational requirements for occupational therapists, the OTLB knows that people commit violations for all sorts of reasons. Regardless of the context or reasoning, the board uses the same basic, tried-and-true disciplinary process to address each incident. You would do well to prepare yourself by getting familiar with it.
Investigation of the Complaint
Upon receiving a written complaint, the board will begin investigating the claims. Investigations commonly involve interviewing witnesses and victims in addition to gathering and evaluating any relevant documents, videos, recordings, photographs, and communications. The process can take up to 90 days.
Dismissal or Notice of Intent to Dispose Discipline
Once the board compiles all the information and evidence they can find, they'll use it to decide whether there's cause to discipline you. In the best-case scenario, they'll simply dismiss the complaint, with or without a letter of concern, so that you're aware of their reservations.
However, it's also possible that the board will work with their own legal team to craft what they call a Notice of Intent to Dispose Discipline. They'll send it to you so that you can choose whether to accept it. If you do not, the board will collaborate with the Office of Administrative Hearings to schedule a hearing for you.
Administrative Hearing
At the administrative hearing, you'll have the opportunity to persuade the board to sympathize with your side of the story behind the complaint. It's imperative to work with the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team to present new evidence, testimonies, perspectives, and arguments in a compelling way so that the board will change its mind about whether or how it takes disciplinary action against you.
Final Order
At the conclusion of the administrative hearing, the board will revisit its previous verdict and decide whether it's still appropriate. Then it will issue a final order, intended to be their last say in the matter. Any of the following sanctions could be part of it.
Civil Penalty
Since money is usually an effective motivator and deterrent, the board often chooses to charge civil penalties. Depending on the type and severity of the offense, civil penalties can range anywhere from $250 to $1,000 per violation, or per month in which the violation persists.
Even the maximum amount may sound manageable if you pay it in monthly installments. However, imagine getting hit with multiple penalties. The sum could quickly prove detrimental to your financial stability and lifestyle. You could also have trouble affording continuing education courses, which might stall your career or prompt the board to decline to renew your license when the time comes.
License Suspension
Some violations convince the board that you need to leave occupational therapy temporarily, so they opt to suspend your license. This means that you wouldn't legally be allowed to practice for a set period of time and/or until you've complied with any conditions the board requires for reinstatement.
Knowing that you can eventually return to work, license suspension isn't the worst thing that could happen to you. Nevertheless, it can cause serious long-term consequences.
For instance, your bank account could suffer from having to rely on savings or find a job outside of occupational therapy to support yourself until the suspension period is over.
Also, if the suspension lasts more than a few months, your existing skills might grow stale, and you'd be barred from mastering new ones. It could impact your performance and eligibility for hire. Put together with the long break in your resume, you may not be able to get the jobs you want most, drastically slowing your career.
License Denial or Revocation
Extreme or recurring offenses might convince the board to deny your application for a new or renewed license, or to revoke a current one. Since this means you would be permanently blacklisted in the field of occupational therapy, you could see your career as an OT screech to an abrupt halt.
Still, it could be worth trying. If you wait two years, you can petition to have your license reinstated, though you would have to start from scratch in the application process and provide information about how you might have improved through remedial education or rehabilitation.
Even with this ray of hope, your career may never fully recover from license denial or revocation. As with a suspension, the time away can negatively affect your skillset and resume, causing prospective employers to doubt your character or abilities. The break could also lead to financial difficulties that would have ripple effects for years.
Let the Lento Law Firm Help You
You can never fully anticipate what might happen to destroy your reputation and everything you've worked so hard to achieve. One of the smartest things you can do for yourself is to invest in a powerful legal team that will support you through every obstacle that could arise in your career path.
That's what the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team can do for you. Widely known in the U.S. for their exceptional understanding of professional license law, including as it pertains to occupational therapy in Oregon specifically, the Lento Law Firm is familiar with every defense strategy that could persuade the Oregon Occupational Therapy Licensing Board to see you for the talented and worthy OT you are. In other words, by fighting tirelessly for you to have the career you've earned, they'll help you help others.
Don't Give Up on Your OT Career in Oregon
Occupational therapy is a highly respected career in Oregon, so OTs are held to equally high standards. Nevertheless, you deserve the chance to recover and move on if you make a mistake. Rather than let a complaint derail your future, contact the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or fill out this contact form and schedule a consultation.
