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A Brief History of the Council of Licensed Physiotherapists of New York State
and its Related Organizations
This history of the Council is a mixture of dates, emerging organizations with their important accomplishments and most of all the visionary physiotherapists of the past and present.
The founding and oldest organization within the Council was the New York State Society of Physiotherapists. It was started in the 1920's by a group of private practice physiotherapists who wanted to "legitimize" their profession. There was not licensure law at that time. They were successful in their efforts and the Webb Loomis Law was enacted in 1926 - the first physical therapy licensure law in the country, to my knowledge. Among these pioneering physiotherapists was Dr. Arthur Kahn, father of our own Dr. Joseph Kahn - one of several father/son tandems in our organization.
Soon afterwards, the Society split into two groups: the Society for downstate and the Physical Therapy Association of the State of New York, for upstate. These two groups realized that there was no school in New York State that met the statutory standards laid out in the new Education Law. NYU and Columbia did have physical therapy certificate programs that fell short of statutory requirements. In 1945, they convinced Ithaca College to offer a new New York State approved physiotherapy curriculum. The initial graduating class was 1949. Unfortunately, the APTA would not recognize pre-1959 Ithaca College Physical Therapy graduates until a lawsuit brought by the Council forced them to do so.
The Society and Association realized that they needed to form one statewide organization and did so in the 1950's adding the Physiotherapists of Central New York and later another division in northeast New York State. Some names that need mentioning from this era (with the knowledge that other deserving names will be omitted) are Harold J. Reilly, Patrick Reilly, Kenneth Mable, Verle Walters, Samuel Kaiser, Rueben Kaiser and most importantly, the legendary Dr. Jack Applebaum, a man so far ahead of his times that he would still be considered visionary today. I am proud to call Jack Applebaum my mentor and he is a big reason I have been active for these many years.
Among the important accomplishments of this era were the passage of the Oral Prescription Bill later upgraded to the Referral Bill. Prior to this, only written prescriptions were acceptable. Also passed were the Good Samaritan Law and amendments to the Workers' Compensation Law that greatly improved our status. The original "autonomy" bill - no the Direct Access Bill - was introduced during this period by then Assemblyman and now United States Senator, Charles Schumer. The establishment of a close and trustworthy relationship with the Workers' Compensation Board was also cemented during this time led by past Council Chairman Howard Krebaum. That relationship continues to this day and is of great benefit to the membership.
The Council also realized that it needed a voice in national physical therapy affairs. The APTA, at that time, was successful in finally including physical therapy in the Medicare law. It had been totally omitted in the original version. However, the new version still excluded private practice physical therapy. The APTA, at that time, was not supportive of the private practice of physical therapy.
The Council, together with the New Jersey State Society of Physiotherapists, led by Patrick Trotta, and the California Physical Therapy Society, led by Merlin Kemp, formed the United Societies of Physiotherapists. The United Societies had at large members in over 20 states. Its main purpose was to advocate changes in Medicare legislation and regulations. Through hard work, many trips to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore (I personally testified before Congress four times) significant changes were brought about. Private physical therapy practice was included in Medicare albeit with a $100 cap to start and gradually and painfully increased through $500, $750, $900, $1500 to the present moratorium. Regulations, while still unfair, have been improved. While the United Societies is now inactive, but officially alive, the contact established during that period remain and Council members continue to benefit from them.
The Council is a venerable, experienced, proud organization with an accomplished history. Today's physical therapists owe much to it and benefit both themselves and their profession by supporting it.
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