Physical Therapy Treatment Plans

Florida Senate
-
2026

SB 1262

By
Senator DiCeglie

18-01279A-26 20261262__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to physical therapy treatment plans;
3 amending s. 486.021, F.S.; exempting specified
4 services from the requirement that a physical
5 therapist have a practitioner of record review and
6 sign a plan of treatment; providing an effective date.
7
8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
9
10 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (11) of section
11 486.021, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
12 486.021 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, unless the
13 context otherwise requires, the term:
14 (11) “Practice of physical therapy” means the performance
15 of physical therapy assessments and the treatment of any
16 disability, injury, disease, or other health condition of human
17 beings, or the prevention of such disability, injury, disease,
18 or other health condition, and the rehabilitation of such
19 disability, injury, disease, or other health condition by
20 alleviating impairments, functional movement limitations, and
21 disabilities by designing, implementing, and modifying treatment
22 interventions through therapeutic exercise; functional movement
23 training in self-management and in-home, community, or work
24 integration or reintegration; manual therapy; massage; airway
25 clearance techniques; maintaining and restoring the
26 integumentary system and wound care; physical agent or modality;
27 mechanical or electrotherapeutic modality; patient-related
28 instruction; the use of apparatus and equipment in the
29 application of such treatment, prevention, or rehabilitation;
30 the performance of tests of neuromuscular functions as an aid to
31 the diagnosis or treatment of any human condition; or the
32 performance of electromyography as an aid to the diagnosis of
33 any human condition only upon compliance with the criteria set
34 forth by the Board of Medicine.
35 (a) A physical therapist may implement a plan of treatment
36 developed by the physical therapist for a patient or provided
37 for a patient by a practitioner of record or by an advanced
38 practice registered nurse licensed under s. 464.012. The
39 physical therapist shall refer the patient to or consult with a
40 practitioner of record if the patient’s condition is found to be
41 outside the scope of physical therapy. If physical therapy
42 treatment for a patient is required beyond 30 days for a
43 condition not previously assessed by a practitioner of record,
44 the physical therapist shall have a practitioner of record
45 review and sign the plan. The requirement that a physical
46 therapist have a practitioner of record review and sign a plan
47 of treatment does not apply
:

48
1.
When a patient has been physically examined by a
49 physician licensed in another state, the patient has been
50 diagnosed by the physician as having a condition for which
51 physical therapy is required, and the physical therapist is
52 treating the condition
; or

53
2.

To services provided for purposes of health promotion,

54
injury prevention, wellness, or fitness
.
55
56 For purposes of this paragraph, a health care practitioner
57 licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter 460, chapter
58 461, or chapter 466 and engaged in active practice is eligible
59 to serve as a practitioner of record.
60 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.