N.M. Code R. § 16.20.7.8 – Supervision of Licensed Personnel

A. A physical therapist may not be responsible for the direction and supervision of more than three full-time physical therapist assistants, or three FTE’s (full-time equivalency totaling 120 work hours per week) requiring supervision, including temporary physical therapists, temporary physical therapist assistants, and licensed physical therapist assistants.
B. A physical therapist may supervise three or more physical therapist assistants provided combined FTE’s do not exceed more than 120 hours per week.
C. When physical therapy services are being provided, a licensed physical therapist must be on call and readily available for consultation by phone or electronic mail when the referring physical therapist leaves the area or facility, for any length of time or the referring physical therapist must appoint a stand in physical therapist as a supervising therapist until such time the referring physical therapist returns to the facility.
D. A physical therapist supervising a temporary licensee must notify the New Mexico physical therapy licensing board, in writing, when they are no longer responsible for supervision of a temporary licensee.
E. The referring physical therapist must hold documented conferences with the physical therapist assistant regarding the patient. The physical therapist is responsible for determining the frequency of the conferences consistent with accepted standards of practice within the facility in which they work.
[10/15/1997; 16.20.7.8 NMAC - Rn, 16 NMAC 20.7.8, 8/31/2000; A, 03-02-06; A, 1/12/2008; A, 8/1/2009; A, 9/30/2014; A, 7/28/2019]