Plan of treatment certification

Definition

The certification a therapist's plan needs, on a ninety-day clock, and the referral that stands in.

Why It Matters

A physical therapy practice is the one medical practice here holding no controlled-substance registration, and the outside authority it does depend on is easy to miss, because the therapist writes the plan. Federal rules let the therapist establish it and then look to a physician or an equivalent practitioner to certify. Since January 2025 the INITIAL certification needs no signature where a written referral is on file and the practice documents that the plan reached the practitioner within thirty days of the initial evaluation. Every ninety-day recertification still needs one. So the outstanding-signature problem is now a recertification problem, and that is the queue to ask for: how many are open, and how old the oldest is.