Direct access allows you to see your physical therapist without a doctor’s referral. Every state allows for evaluation and some form of treatment without a doctor’s prescription. In New Jersey, you are free to seek the services of your physical therapist without visiting your doctor. You do not need a referral or prescription.
Physical therapists practicing with direct access decrease costs and improve care for their patients. Physical therapists treat their patients without prescribing medications or ordering invasive testing that could be harmful. Click here to read more about how one hospital system has incorporated direct access to improve care at lower costs.
Direct Access at BSR Physical Therapy
Physical therapists at BSR are doctors of physical therapy. This level of training emphasizes the importance of screening patients to determine if they are appropriate for physical therapy. Sometimes your physical therapist’s assessment indicates your problem is beyond their scope of practice. When this happens, you will be referred to another medical professional.
The New Jersey State Board of Physical Therapy has adopted standards establishing conditions under which a physical therapist is required to refer a patient to another licensed provider. A physical therapist:
- Must refer the patient if he or she fails to demonstrate reasonable progress during the first 30 days of treatment, and
- Within 30 days of initial treatment, consult with the individual’s licensed health care professional as to the appropriateness of the treatment, or if there is no licensed professional of record, recommend that the patient consults with one.
Get the Care You Deserve Today
Call us and schedule your direct access evaluation with one of our doctors of physical therapy.
- Barnegat clinic: (609) 698-1073
- Manahawkin clinic: (609) 549.5015
