2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 12 - Professions and Occupations
Health Care
Article 41 - Physical Therapists
Part 2 - Physical Therapist Assistants
§ 12-41-210. Grounds for disciplinary action

(1) The board may take disciplinary action in accordance with section 12-41-211 against a person who has:

(a) Committed an act that does not meet generally accepted standards of physical therapist assistant practice or failed to perform an act necessary to meet generally accepted standards of physical therapist assistant practice;

(b) Engaged in sexual contact, sexual intrusion, or sexual penetration as defined in section 18-3-401, C.R.S., with a patient during the period of time beginning with the initial evaluation through the termination of treatment;

(c) Abandoned a patient by any means;

(d) Failed to make essential entries on patient records or falsified or made incorrect entries of an essential nature on patient records;

(e) (I) Committed abuse of health insurance as set forth in section 18-13-119, C.R.S.; or

(II) Advertised through newspapers, magazines, circulars, direct mail, directories, radio, television, or otherwise that the certified physical therapist assistant will perform an act prohibited by section 18-13-119, C.R.S.;

(f) Committed a fraudulent insurance act, as defined in section 10-1-128, C.R.S.;

(g) Falsified information in any application or attempted to obtain or obtained a certification by fraud, deception, or misrepresentation;

(h) Engaged in the habitual or excessive use or abuse of alcohol, a habit-forming drug, or a controlled substance as defined in section 18-18-102 (5), C.R.S.;

(i) (I) Failed to notify the board, as required by section 12-41-214, of a physical or mental illness or condition that impacts the certified physical therapist assistant's ability to perform physical therapy with reasonable skill and safety to patients;

(II) Failed to act within the limitations created by a physical or mental illness or condition that renders the certified physical therapist assistant unable to perform physical therapy with reasonable skill and safety to the patient; or

(III) Failed to comply with the limitations agreed to under a confidential agreement entered into under section 12-41-214;

(j) Refused to submit to a physical or mental examination when so ordered by the board under section 12-41-213;

(k) Failed to notify the board in writing of the entry of a final judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction against the certified physical therapist assistant for malpractice or a settlement by the certified physical therapist assistant in response to charges or allegations of malpractice, which notice must be given within ninety days after the entry of judgment or settlement and, in the case of a judgment, must contain the name of the court, the case number, and the names of all parties to the action;

(l) Violated or aided or abetted a violation of this part 2, a rule adopted under this part 2, or a lawful order of the board;

(m) Been convicted of, pled guilty, or pled nolo contendere to a crime related to the certified physical therapist assistant's practice or a felony or committed an act specified in section 12-41-216. A certified copy of the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction of the conviction or plea is conclusive evidence of the conviction or plea. In considering the disciplinary action, the board is governed by section 24-5-101, C.R.S.

(n) Fraudulently obtained, furnished, or sold a physical therapist assistant diploma, certificate, renewal of certificate, or record, or aided or abetted any such act;

(o) Represented, or held himself or herself out as, in any manner, a physical therapist assistant or practiced as a physical therapist assistant without a certification, unless otherwise authorized under this part 2;

(p) Used in connection with the person's name a designation implying that the person is a physical therapist assistant without being certified under this part 2;

(q) Practiced as a physical therapist assistant during the time the person's certification was expired, suspended, or revoked; or

(r) Failed to respond in an honest, materially responsive, and timely manner to a complaint issued under this part 2.