STATEMENT

American Physical Therapy Association

President Ben F Massey Jr, PT, MA

November, 2004

APTA Files Lawsuit Against the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy

APTA filed a lawsuit on Monday, November 8, against the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy regarding certain contractual issues related to the physical therapist examinations that are used for state licensure purposes. At issue is the failure of the Federation to comply with its contractual commitments to limit examination fees and to allow APTA to designate at least 40% of the members of the committees responsible for the examinations.

We consider this legal action to be an unfortunate but necessary one to safeguard the welfare of APTA’s members and the physical therapy profession.

In 1989 APTA and the Federation entered into a contract that transferred ownership of the physical therapist and physical therapist assistant examinations from APTA to the Federation.  In that contract both APTA and the Federation agreed (i) to establish fees for the examinations that are generally consistent with prior levels and (ii) to make sure that at least 40% of the members of the body responsible for the examinations are APTA nominees.  

Over a year ago APTA objected in writing to the Federation’s failure to live up to these commitments, and we have made repeated efforts since then to obtain the Federation’s compliance without resorting to litigation.  These efforts have been flatly rejected by the Federation.

Examination Fee

The current physical therapist examination fee of $285 is well in excess of the limit to which the Federation agreed – to say nothing of the $350 fee scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2005. The contract says, “The Federation shall establish prices for the Examination that are generally consistent (taking inflation into account) with prior levels,” a limitation the Federation has simply ignored. The Federation took full control of the examination in January of 1993, at which time the exam fee was $90 per applicant. Under the most commonly used measure of inflation, inflation from January of 1993 to September of 2004 was just over 33%. The current fee is $285, an increase of 215% from January of 1993 – more than six times the inflation rate. If the examination fee had increased by only the inflation rate, it currently would be under $120.

The Federation in December of 2002 announced its intention to increase the fee to $400 in January of 2005, which would have resulted in an increase of over 340% since it acquired control.  After the APTA protested, the Federation announced it was rolling back the increase to $350, which still would represent an increase of over 288% since it acquired control – more than eight times the inflation rate. These figures, moreover, do not include the extra test administration and reporting fees that the Federation has added since taking control of the Examination.

The Federation has not provided any satisfactory financial justification for the fee increases it has announced. APTA provided the Federation with a detailed financial analysis in January 2004 showing that the existing $285 fee has resulted in a significant net revenue/profit from the examination over the immediate past years, and that Federation reserves and future revenues were more than adequate to cover the costs of maintaining the examinations for the immediate future. APTA believes that an increase to the examination fee is not necessary and places an undue financial burden on PT/PTA students who are Association members.

Many of the candidates who take the Examination are recent graduates, and all would be completely at the mercy of the Federation absent some limitation on its power to raise the fee for the Examination. The contractual clause quoted above is the limitation for which the APTA bargained back in 1989. Because the Federation has disregarded its contractual commitment, APTA has asked for a rollback of examination fees to $125, which more accurately reflects the contract agreement.  

CLE Representation

APTA is also asking that its members make up 40% of the committee(s) that develop and oversee the examinations.  The 1989 agreement says that the pre-existing Committee on Licensure Examination (CLE) shall have “ongoing responsibility for the Examination” and that at least 40% of the CLE members shall be appointed from a list proposed by APTA. The CLE does not exist any more, and the Federation has given its functions to several other bodies. Currently, APTA-nominated individuals make up 40% of the Examination Construction and Review Committee (ECRC), a committee that has succeeded to some but not all of the powers and responsibilities of the CLE.  At least one other body (the Examination Development Committee) has oversight responsibility for the examinations, and, contrary to the contract, APTA has no participation in this group. Again, because the Federation has refused to abide by its contractual commitments, the APTA has no choice but to seek judicial enforcement of the Federation’s unkept promises.