SB215 - Alabama State Occupational Therapy Practice Act

• Expands the definition of occupational therapy to include therapeutic use of occupations, everyday life activities, and services for habilitation, rehabilitation, and health promotion in various settings.

• Adds licensed assistants to physicians, certified registered nurse practitioners in collaborative agreements, and licensed psychologists to the list of professionals authorized to refer patients for occupational therapy treatment.

• Exempts occupational therapists providing wellness or community services from the referral requirement and allows them to include academic credentials (MS, OTD, OTR/L) with licensure acronyms.

• Increases maximum consecutive board member terms from two to three and removes the requirement for joint approval by the State Board of Medical Examiners and State Board of Occupational Therapy for certain rules.

• Establishes employment provisions for an executive director with board-determined compensation and provides that failure to pass the qualifying examination results in revocation of an active limited permit.