Scope-of-practice tiff tries to limit physical therapy (the words, not the deed)

In the Courts. By Bonnie Booth, AMNews contributor. Nov. 13, 2006.

When Kentucky orthopedic surgeon Ronald Dubin, MD, received an administrative subpoena from the Kentucky Board of Physical Therapy seeking billing records to determine the number of times he had used the two CPT codes associated with physical therapy, he eventually and reluctantly complied.

When the board went a step further, subpoenaing specific patient records, he refused. That's how he wound up in court, fighting over whether he could use the codes when billing for services that a licensed physical therapist did not provide.

In May, a judge in the Commonwealth of Kentucky Franklin Circuit Court, Division 1, ruled in Dr. Dubin's favor, refusing to grant a permanent injunction which the Kentucky Board of Physical Therapy sought to forbid Dr. Dubin from using the codes. The board has appealed the decision.

At issue is how the Kentucky law that defines and regulates the practice of medicine interacts with the law that defines and regulates the practice of physical therapy.

The statutes define the practice of allopathic or osteopathic medicine as "the diagnosis, treatment or correction of any and all human conditions, ailments, diseases, injuries or infirmities by any and all means, methods, devices or instrumentalities."

According to court documents, the Kentucky Board of Physical Therapy argued that the law that defines and regulates physical therapy limits who can use the term physical therapy and prevents Dr. Dubin from using CPT codes that use that language.