Thursday, November 21, 2024
Continued Competence points may be obtained electronically as described below:
21 NCAC 48G .0109 CONTINUING COMPETENCE ACTIVITIES
(a) Continuing Education activities are eligible for points as follows:
(1) …The maximum number of points allowed during any reporting period for an
interactive course offered through electronic media shall be 15.
(4) For registered participation in a non-interactive course offered by an approved provider
by videotape, satellite transmission, webcast, DVD, or other electronic media, one hour of
participation earns one point. The maximum number of points allowed during any reporting
period shall be 10.
(8) For completion of a home study physical therapy program furnished by an approved
provider, one hour of home study earns one point. The maximum number of points during any
one
reporting period allowed shall be 10.
All continuing competence requirements and deadlines remain in place. The Board may not extend deadlines or waive continuing competence requirements without rule changes approved by the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings. Licensees are encouraged to be diligent in scheduling and utilizing electronic continuing competence courses in light of COVID-19.
The NC PT Practice Act and Board’s Rules apply to the delivery of physical therapy services via telehealth. In response to your emailed question below, at its September Board meeting - 2018, NC Board of Physical Therapy Examiners considered some questions regarding the parameters of using telehealth in the provision of physical therapy services in North Carolina; the Board determined the following general principles will apply:
- Telehealth is a delivery model for physical therapy services and as such it is not a question of scope of physical therapy practice.
- PT licensees must comply with the NC PT Practice Act and Board rules when performing physical therapy services using telecommunications.
- In order to provide physical therapy services to a patient geographically located in NC, the provider of telehealth services must possess an active NC PT license.
- To address questions of whether a PT licensee or other healthcare provider or non-healthcare individual must be with the patient in the remote location and the level of expertise that person needs, the answer depends on various factors, including the status and safety of the patient, whether it is an initial evaluation or ongoing treatment, and the complexity of the services being provided.
- For questions related to the use of telehealth in physical therapy practice in North Carolina that are not answered by these general principles, the Board will continue to respond to questions on a case-by-case basis.
The NCBPTE handles licensing and regulation matters and cannot provide advice about how best to comply with advisories issued by the CDC or the NC DHHS. For additional information and guidance, here are links to their websites:
Centers for
Disease
Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov
NC Department
of Health and Human Services http://www.ncdhhs.gov
Do you or a PT colleague you know struggle with a substance use or mental health disorder? –
The
NC Board of PT Examiners encourages you to seek help!
Substance Use Disorders: The Board now contracts with the North Carolina
Professionals Health Program (NCPHP). They can provide resources to assist PT licensees.
Entering a program has objectives which may include:
- Achieve earlier intervention with intent to decrease the time between the licensee's acknowledgement of chemical dependency and entry into the recovery process.
- Return the licensee to safe and effective practice in a more efficient manner while minimizing financial impact.
- Provide an opportunity for licensees to recover from impairment in a therapeutic, non-punitive and non-published process.
- To ensure the health, safety and welfare of the public through a program that closely monitors licensees impaired by drugs and/or alcohol.
Mental Health disorders: If you struggle with a mental health issue, please contact your health care provider for treatment or who can refer you to appropriate resources in your area. NCPHP may also be able to provide referral services.
Contact North Carolina Professionals Health Program (https://ncphp.org/) for resources.
Email: info@ncphp.org or Call: (919) 870-4480
Or contact your primary care provider for treatment or appropriate referral.
Hello all,
Welcome to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Healthy Opportunities Listserv—we’re so glad you’re here.
As you know, DHHS wants all North Carolinians to have the Opportunity for Health and is committed to creating an innovative, whole-person centered, and well-coordinated system of care that addresses the medical and non-medical drivers of health. Promoting “healthy opportunities,” or addressing North Carolinians’ social needs, is a core focus of DHHS’s mission. We are pursuing a range of strategies to help meet this mission, including creating an interactive, statewide map of social determinant of health indicators to guide community investment, developing a standard set of screening questions for social needs, and fostering private-public partnerships to deploy NCCARE360, a statewide coordinated network and resource platform to connect individuals in need with community resources.
Promoting healthy opportunities is a cornerstone of North Carolina’s Medicaid transformation as well. All of North Carolina’s Medicaid managed care plans—known as Prepaid Health Plans (PHPs)—will have a role in addressing the medical and non-medical factors that drive health outcomes and costs. For example, PHPs will screen enrollees for their non-medical needs and work with members to connect them to community resources.
Moreover, North Carolina will launch the “Healthy Opportunities Pilots” in two to four geographic areas of the State in late 2019. The Pilots are an unprecedented opportunity to test and evaluate the impact of providing select evidence-based, non-medical interventions to high-need Medicaid enrollees. Approved as part of North Carolina’s 1115 demonstration waiver, the federal government authorized up to $650 million in state and federal funding for the Pilots over the five-year life of the waiver to cover the cost of approved services in the State’s four priority Healthy Opportunities domains: housing, food, transportation and interpersonal safety. We’re excited to share with you soon a Healthy Opportunities Pilot “Policy Paper” and “Request for Information” (RFI). The paper describes the preliminary program design for the Pilots and the RFI provides all interested stakeholders the opportunity to offer feedback on this design. We welcome your partnership in this effort and encourage you to respond.
More can be found about all of these initiatives on the DHHS Healthy Opportunities website. Additionally, we’ll be using this listserv to share updates on Healthy Opportunities—including information on recent publications, upcoming events and webinars and the release of the Pilot RFI and Policy Paper. We look forward to broadening the Healthy Opportunities community, so if you know someone who would like to receive these updates, have them e-mail healthyopportunities@dhhs.nc.gov, and we’ll add them to the list.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Thanks very much,
The Healthy Opportunities Team