The topic of payment for clinical experience was researched
by the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT) and its National Consortium of Clinical Educators (NCCE).
After conducting a survey to over 1,500 clinicians and PT
academia, ACAPT has identified the following trends:
- Very few DPT academic programs are paying for clinical experiences
- Very few clinical entities have investigated the concept of payment for CE
- High-level clinical administrators, while still not recommending it, are more
likely than other clinical education stakeholders to consider payment for CE
The profession must consider all legal and ethical
implications for clinical payment, including, but not limited to:
•
Setting type
•
Clinical site or clinician motivation
•
Teaching quality
•
Conflicts of interest
•
Professional obligation
•
Other factors
Based on the research so far, ACAPT and NCCE have the
following recommendations:
1) APTA should investigate reimbursement for student-provided PT services under
the supervision of a licensed PT, including Medicare & all payers.
2) All stakeholders should identify alternatives to payment for clinical
experiences that benefit all stakeholders and provide non-monetary
incentives.
3) ACAPT and/or APTA should craft a position statement on payment for clinical
experiences and investigate development of national standards.
For the future, ACAPT & NCCE are also planning to
explore:
- How clinical sites that require payment allocate the revenue generated
- Payment for integrated clinical experience (ICE) or clinical education
experiences that occur before the completion of the didactic part of the
curriculum and prior to the start of any terminal clinical experiences.
- Investigate best practices in clinical education to minimize unnecessary
variation and continually provide students with a successful clinical
experience.
For more information, read the full report here. Academic administrators, clinicians and faculty interested in this topic can
contact ACAPT at acapt@acapt.org. We
welcome valuable input that leads to excellence in PT education.
For an update on the recommendations and an opportunity to provide input, come to NCCE’s Open Forum on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 from 6:30 - 7:30 pm at the Combined Sections Meeting
(CSM) in Denver.