Licensing reciprocity advanced for marriage and family therapists

A bill that would allow marriage and family therapists from other jurisdictions to more easily obtain a Nebraska license was expanded and given first-round approval March 31.

Under LB257, sponsored by Grand Island Sen. Dan Quick, the state Department of Health and Human Services would be required to issue a license to a marriage and family therapist based on a licensure in another jurisdiction if that individual:
• has a valid, independent and unrestricted license in another state or territory;
• completes an application and pays all applicable fees; and
• has passed the Nebraska jurisprudence examination.

Quick said current licensure is “disjointed” across states and licensed marriage and family therapists who move jurisdictions often have to repeat classes or complete additional supervised hours in order to become licensed in their new state.

Thirteen other states have passed bills similar to LB257, he said, including the neighboring states of Iowa and Kansas.

“If you are a licensed MFT in another state and in good standing, then you should be able to move to Nebraska without taking extra steps to get licensed,” Quick said. “LB257 would attract additional therapeutic talent to Nebraska and address the mental health professional workforce shortage.”

Following the 42-0 adoption of a technical amendment from Quick, lawmakers also approved an amendment offered by Blair Sen. Ben Hansen.

The Hansen amendment, adopted 43-0, would add amended provisions of his LB630 to the measure. Those provisions would expand the scope of practice for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants in Nebraska.

The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable patients to participate in activities of everyday life and engage in the occupations they want and need to, Hansen said, by helping them modify the job or their environment to achieve those objectives.

Among other changes, the amendment would:
• allow an occupational therapist to apply physical agents and instrument-assisted modalities based on their training;
• prohibit an occupational therapist from using diathermy;
• allow an occupational therapist to perform dry needling only in accordance with the level of board-approved education and training successfully completed; and
• clarify that an occupational therapist may complete insertion and removal of cannulas for oxygen and adjustment of the rate of flow based on a physician order, but could not independently diagnose a medical condition or disease.

Hansen said the changes had successfully completed DHHS’s credentialing review process, also called the 407 process, in which three separate entities evaluate potential scope of practice changes to determine whether they would benefit public health and welfare.

“The scope changes in the [amendment] reflect the most current evidence-based occupational therapy service provisions across practice areas with different populations,” Hansen said.

After adopting the amendment, lawmakers advanced LB257 to select file on a 43-0 vote.