Advocacy Wins

In October of 2020, VOTA board members voted to join a collaborative initiative between AOTA and NBCOT to pass legislation forming an interstate professional licensing compact for licensure portability for OT practitioners. The compact provides licensed occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants with the opportunity to practice in the states within the compact without having to secure a new license in each of these states.

Through funding and efforts from VOTA and our lobbyists, Senator Ghaza Hashmi introduced the bill for enacting the licensure compact in Virginia. On March 18th, 2021 Senate Bill 1189 passed, making Virginia the first state to successfully pass licensure compact legislation.

Virginia Becomes First State to Enact Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact | AOTA

In February 2022 the 10^th state enacted the licensing compact with others planned to follow. The 20^th state, South Carolina, signed on May 13, 2022.  The OT Compact Commission is scheduled to convene later this summer to establish rules and implement the data system in order to begin issuing compact privileges to practice occupational therapy.  Once the commission convenes it is expected to take 12 to 18 months to operationalize the compact.  Find more on the compact here.

An interstate licensing compact will:

• Allow licensed occupational therapy practitioners to practice across state lines (e.g., telehealth) via a "compact privilege" which is equivalent to a license
• Improve consumer access to occupational therapy
• Enhance mobility of occupational therapy practitioners (e.g., spouses of relocating military families, staff of travel therapy companies)
• Improve continuity of care
• Address competition issues raised by the Federal Trade Commission and others
• Preserve and strengthen the state licensure system
• Enhance the exchange of licensure, investigatory, and disciplinary information between member states.

Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact | AOTA

For more information on the current state of the licensure compact, please use the following link: otcompact.org