| OT Licensure Fact Sheet & Talking Points |
Q: Why do we need licensure for occupational therapy in Michigan?
A: We wish to protect the consumer of OT services in Michigan from receiving therapy from practitioners who do not have the educational preparation to best provide that service. Having a legal scope of practice is important to protect the consumers from untrained persons providing services that are OT.
Please do not say "We need licensure to protect the profession of OT from encroachment by other health care professions."
Q: Will licensure for OT place a financial burden on the State of Michigan?
A: OT currently has registration, and all of the structures necessary for licensure are already in place. Moving from registration to licensure should require no additional cost to the state.
Q: Why is there a need for a legally defined scope of practice for OT?
A: There is currently no legal scope for the profession of OT; persons without the necessary education and demonstrated competence can perform therapy as long as they do not call themselves OTs. This places consumers at risk.
Please do not say "Other professions are performing activities which should be restricted to occupational therapy" or "We need to stop PTs (speech therapists, athletic trainers, etc.) from doing OT."
Q: Will licensing result in increased cost for OT services?
A: We have been unable to find any data which supports the opinion that licensing a health profession results in increased costs to insurance companies or consumers of that service.
Q: Isn't licensure a duplication of services provided by AOTA and NBCOT?
A: NBCOT is a private corporation which manages the initial certification OT practitioners in the United States. They also maintain a mechanism for tracking activities related to continued competence. AOTA is a voluntary national professional organization representing occupational therapy at the national level. They have developed guidelines for continuing competence. Neither group has mandatory participation. Neither group has legal jurisdiction to protect consumers in the State of Michigan.
Q: Why would OT licensure reduce the confusion between health care professions?
A: Without a legal scope of practice the appropriate provision of occupational therapy for the benefit of consumers will be compromised. The potential for providing the wrong service because of confusion increases. This will lead to less effective medical care and increased costs with poor results.
Please do not say "We need licensure to prevent other professions from doing OT. Licensure will protect our market. Licensure will require reimbursement sources to cover and fairly reimburse OT services."
Q: There are few formal complaints against OT now? Apparently consumers are at low risk of injury so why should the system change?
A: Complaints to the State of Michigan regulatory board for OT are low, and that is an indication that the vast majority of practitioners in the state are ethical and competent. However, there is currently no legal scope of practice so consumers may be confused about what an OT can do and should be providing to them. Also, with licensure there will be a mechanism to prevent OT practitioners from practicing outside of their scope.
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