Despite the fact that SB 74 passed both the House and Senate, it has yet to be signed by the Governor, which is the next required step for it to become a law. Alaska’s membership in the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact (“Compact”) is therefore not yet in effect, though implementation is underway. In conversations with the Division of Corporations, Business, and Professional Licensing (“division”) and the Administrator for the Compact, we’ve learned that it generally takes 6-9 months from the date a PT Compact bill passes to the time the state is effectively in the Compact, though the division is doing all it can to put the Compact into effect faster.
What this means for Alaska’s PTs and PTAs is that the Compact cannot yet be utilized to work in other Compact states, nor can PTs or PTAs from other states come to Alaska under Compact privilege. The division has confirmed that once Alaska effectively joins the Compact, they will notify all actively licensed Alaska PTs and PTAs via email or mail (depending on the communication preference each PT/PTA has registered with the division) and update the Alaska Board of Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy’s website accordingly. We understand from the division that one or two pieces of documentation may be necessary to confirm an existing PT or PTA licensee is Compact eligible, which will be addressed in that notification when the time comes.
Implementation can take 6-9 months from the date the PT Compact legislative bill becomes law because of the internal steps involved, which include coordination between the Alaska Department of Public Safety and the FBI to ensure national background checks can be obtained (which is often the step that takes the longest), meetings between the Compact’s data system experts and the division’s IT staff, and amendments to the State’s professional licensing database to ensure it interacts with the Compact’s data system correctly. Additionally, the FBI will not initiate the coordination process until the requirement for national background checks is officially in law (after the Governor signs the bill). The PT Compact is the first professional licensing compact the State of Alaska has ever joined, so they are moving as fast as they can but as slow as they must to ensure the implementation of the PT Compact is executed correctly.
So for now, we are all very excited, but we ask Alaska’s PTs and PTAs to be patient as you wait to receive the notification that the PT Compact is in effect in Alaska. In the meantime, if you need to make sure there haven’t been any substantial changes (or that you haven’t missed a notification), please check for updates on the Alaska Board of Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy’s website.
LeeAnne Carrothers, PT, PhD
Government Affairs Liaison, APTA Alaska
