Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 6, September 16, 2024
(a) In
addition to the conduct set forth in
G.S.
90-270.76, the Board may deny, suspend, or
revoke a license, or impose probationary conditions on a license, upon any of
the following grounds:
(1) writing a check
given to the Board in payment of required fees which is returned
unpaid;
(2) allowing an unlicensed
occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant to practice under the
licensee's supervision or control;
(3) making any false statement or giving any
false information in connection with an application for a license or renewal of
a license or any investigation by the Board or the Board's designee;
(4) committing a crime the circumstances of
which relate to the occupational therapy profession;
(5) violating any federal or state statute or
rule which relates to the occupational therapy profession;
(6) practicing occupational therapy while the
licensee's ability to practice was impaired by alcohol or other drugs or a
physical or mental disability or disease;
(7) engaging in sexual misconduct. For the
purposes of this Paragraph, sexual misconduct includes:
(A) Engaging in or soliciting sexual
relationships, whether consensual or non-consensual, while an Occupational
Therapist or Occupational Therapy Assistant/patient relationship exists with
that person;
(B) Making sexual
advances, requesting sexual favors or engaging in physical contact of a sexual
nature with patients or clients;
(8) obtaining or attempting to obtain payment
by fraud or deceit;
(9) violating
any Order of the Board;
(10)
failing to properly make the disclosures required by
21 NCAC
38 .0305;
(11) abandoning or neglecting a patient or
client under and in need of immediate professional care, without making
reasonable arrangements for the continuation of care;
(12) recording or communicating false or
misleading data, measurements or notes regarding a patient;
(13) delegating responsibilities to a person
when the licensee delegating knows or has reason to know that the competency of
that person is impaired by physical or psychological ailments, or by alcohol or
other pharmacological agents, prescribed or not;
(14) practicing or offering to practice
beyond the scope permitted by law;
(15) accepting and performing professional
responsibilities which the licensee knows or has reason to know that he or she
is not competent to perform;
(16)
performing, without supervision, professional services which the licensee is
authorized to perform only under the supervision of a licensed
professional;
(17) harassing,
abusing, or intimidating a patient either physically or verbally;
(18) failure to exercise supervision over
persons who are authorized to practice only under the supervision of the
licensed professional;
(19)
promoting an unnecessary device, treatment intervention or service for the
financial gain of the practitioner or of a third party;
(20) delegating professional responsibilities
to a person when the licensee delegating the responsibilities knows or has
reason to know that the person is not qualified by training, by experience, or
by licensure to perform the responsibilities;
(21) billing or charging for services or
treatments not performed; or
(22)
making treatment recommendations based on the extent of third party benefits
instead of the patient's condition.
(b) A licensee has been incompetent in
practice under
G.S.
90-270.76(a)(5) if the
licensee has engaged in conduct which evidences a lack of ability, fitness or
knowledge to apply principles or skills of the profession of occupational
therapy.
(c) When a person licensed
to practice occupational therapy is also licensed in another jurisdiction and
that other jurisdiction takes disciplinary action against the licensee, the
North Carolina Board of Occupational Therapy may summarily impose the same or
lesser disciplinary action upon receipt of the other jurisdiction's actions.
The licensee may request a hearing. At the hearing the issues shall be limited
to:
(1) whether the person against whom
action was taken by the other jurisdiction and the North Carolina licensee are
the same person;
(2) whether the
conduct found by the other jurisdiction also violates the North Carolina
Occupational Therapy Practice Act; and
(3) whether the sanction imposed by the other
jurisdiction is lawful under North Carolina law.
