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SB198 INTRODUCED
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SB198
L5F33YY-1
By Senator Kelley
RFD: Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development
First Read: 21-Jan-26
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L5F33YY-1 01/20/2026 ZAK (L)ma 2025-3578
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First Read: 21-Jan-26
SYNOPSIS:
Under existing law, a person and facility must
be licensed by the Alabama State Board of Prosthetists
and Orthotists to provide prosthetic, orthotic, or
pedorthic care in the state .
This bill would abolish the board and the
requirement to be licensed by the board to provide
prosthetic, orthotic, or pedorthic care .
This bill would require all persons and
facilities providing prosthetic, orthotic, or pedorthic
care to be certified by a national certifying entity .
This bill would provide criminal penalties for
violations
This bill would require a person to receive a
minimum amount of continuing education for
certification by a national certifying entity from the
Alabama Prosthetics and Orthotics Association .
This bill would authorize the Alabama
Prosthetics and Orthotics Association to levy fees on
certified persons to be deposited into the Alabama
Prosthetics and Orthotics Certification Fund.
This bill would also establish the Alabama
Prosthetics and Orthotics Certification Fund in the
State Treasury.
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A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to prosthetists and orthotists; to require
certification by a national certifying entity to provide
prosthetic, orthotic, or pedorthic care; to provide criminal
penalties for violations; to require a minimum amount of
continuing education for a certifying entity be received from
the Alabama Prosthetics and Orthotics Association; to
authorize the association to levy fees for deposit into the
Alabama Prosthetics and Orthotics Certification Fund in the
State Treasury; and to repeal Chapter 25A of Title 34, Code of
Alabama 1975, establishing to the Alabama State Board of
Prosthetists and Orthotists.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. (a) For purposes of this section, the
following terms have the following meanings:
(1) FACILTY. A facility where prosthetic, orthotic, or
pedorthic care is provided.
(2) NATIONAL CERTIFYING ENTITY. Any national
credentialing organization for ensuring the safe and effective
provision of orthotic, prosthetic, or pedorthic services that
is approved by the Secretary of State, including the American
Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and
Pedorthics and the Board of Certification/Accreditation.
(3) ORTHOSIS. A custom-fabricated, definitive brace or
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(3) ORTHOSIS. A custom-fabricated, definitive brace or
support that is designed for long-term use. Except for the
treatment of scoliosis, the term does not include
prefabricated or direct-formed orthotic devices or
commercially available knee orthoses used following injury or
surgery, upper extremity adaptive equipment, finger splints,
leather wrist gauntlets, face masks used following burns,
wheelchair seating that is an integral part of the wheelchair
and not worn by the patient independent of the wheelchair,
fabric or elastic supports, corsets, arch supports, also known
as non-custom or prefabricated orthotics, low-temperature
formed plastic splints, trusses, elastic hose, canes,
crutches, cervical collars, dental appliances, and other
similar devices such as those commonly carried in stock by a
pharmacy, hospital, rehabilitation facility, department store,
corset shop, or surgical supply facility.
(4) ORTHOTICS. The science and practice of evaluating,
measuring, designing, fabricating, assembling, fitting,
adjusting, or servicing, as well as providing the initial
training necessary to accomplish the fitting of, an orthosis
for the support, correction, or alleviation of neuromuscular
or musculoskeletal dysfunction, disease, injury, or deformity.
The term includes all of the following:
a. Evaluations, consultation, and continuing care, with
basic observational gait and posture analysis.
b. Assessing the need for and measuring, designing,
manufacturing, and fitting orthoses to maximize function and
provide the support and alignment necessary to prevent or
correct deformity or to improve the safety and efficiency of
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correct deformity or to improve the safety and efficiency of
mobility or locomotion, or both.
c. Periodic evaluation and consultation to assess an
orthosis's effect on the patient's tissue and assure proper
fit and function of the orthosis.
(5) ORTHOTIST. An individual certified by a national
certifying entity to practice orthotics .
(6) PEDORTHIC DEVICE. Custom therapeutic shoes that:
a. Address a medical condition of the foot below the
ankle;
b. Are prescribed by an authorized health care
practitioner, including diabetic shoes, for the treatment of
partial or complete amputation of the foot, foot ulceration,
pre-ulcerative callous, or foot deformity, shoe modifications
made for therapeutic purposes, partial foot prostheses, and
foot orthoses and orthoses for use from the knee and below;
and
c. Are used for the treatment or alleviation, or both,
of a condition that has its origin in the foot.
(7) PEDORTHICS. The design, manufacture, modification,
or fit of custom shoes, orthoses, and pedorthic devices to
prevent or alleviate foot problems caused by disease,
congenital defect, overuse, or injury.
(8) PEDORTHIST. An individual certified by a national
certifying entity to practice pedorthics.
(9) PROSTHESIS. A definitive artificial limb that is
alignable or articulated or, in lower extremity applications,
capable of bearing weight. The term includes an artificial
medical device that is not surgically implanted and that is
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medical device that is not surgically implanted and that is
used to replace a missing limb, appendage, or other external
human body part and that includes an artificial limb, hand, or
foot. The term does not include artificial eyes, ears, dental
appliances, ostomy products, devices such as artificial
breasts or eyelashes, wigs, or other devices that do not have
a significant impact on the musculoskeletal functions of the
body.
(10) PROSTHETICS. The science and practice of
evaluating, measuring, designing, fabricating, assembling,
fitting, aligning, adjusting, or servicing, as well as
providing the initial education necessary to accomplish the
wearing and use of a prosthesis, through the replacement of
external parts of a human body lost due to amputation or
congenital deformities or absences. The term includes all of
the following:
a. The generation of an image, form, or mold that
replicates the patient's body or body segment and that
requires rectification of dimensions, contours, and volumes
for use in the design and fabrication of a socket to accept a
residual limb to create an artificial appendage that is
designed either to support body weight or to improve or
restore function or cosmesis.
b. Observational gait analysis and clinical assessment
of the requirements necessary to refine and mechanically fix
the relative position of various parts of the prosthesis to
maximize the function, stability, and safety of the patient.
c. Evaluating, consulting, and providing continuing
patient care in order to assess the effect of the prosthetic
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patient care in order to assess the effect of the prosthetic
device on the patient's tissues and to assure proper fit and
function of the prosthetic device.
(11) PROSTHETIST. An individual who is certified by a
national certifying entity to practice prosthetics.
(b) Beginning October 1, 2026, a prosthetist,
orthotist, pedorthist, fitter, assistant, or facility may not
provide prosthetic, orthotic, or pedorthic care, or otherwise
practice or operate, without a current and valid certification
from a national certifying entity.
(c) An individual required to be certified pursuant to
subsection (b) shall complete not less than half of any
continuing education required to maintain a current and valid
certification from a national certifying entity through
courses and clinical programs offered by the Alabama
Prosthetics and Orthotics Association.
(d)(1) All persons required to be certified pursuant to
subsection (b) shall submit proof of valid certification to
the Alabama Prosthetics and Orthotics Association. The
association shall keep a record of all certified persons and
verify and record all certified individual's completed
continuing education.
(2) The association may assess an annual fee on
certified persons not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars
($250).
(3)a. The association shall maintain a dedicated
administrative division that is separate from its normal
operations for the administration of its duties pursuant to
this section. The association shall deposit all funds
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this section. The association shall deposit all funds
collected pursuant to this section in the Alabama Prosthetics
and Orthotics Certification Fund that is established in the
State Treasury. The fund shall be administered by the Alabama
Prosthetics and Orthotics Association to defray costs incurred
in carrying out this section.
b. Receipts deposited into the fund shall be disbursed
only by warrants of the Comptroller drawn upon the State
Treasury on itemized vouchers approved by the director of the
department. No funds shall be withdrawn or expended except as
budgeted and allocated according to Article 4 of Chapter 4 and
Chapter 19 of Title 41, Code of Alabama 1975, and only in
amounts as stipulated in the general appropriations act, other
appropriations acts, or this section. At the end of each
fiscal year, any unencumbered balance shall not revert to the
State General Fund under Section 41-4-93, Code of Alabama
1975.
(e)(1) A violation of subsection (b) is a Class B
misdemeanor.
(2) The Attorney General may bring an action in circuit
court to enjoin a violation of this section.
Section 2. Chapter 25A of Title 34, Code of Alabama
1975, establishing to the Alabama State Board of Prosthetists
and Orthotists, is repealed.
Section 3. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2026.
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