In this Issue:

- AB 1000 and Corporate Practice in California: More than Meets the Eye—or Less?

- Loose Lips Sink Ships and Careless E-mails Torpedo a Transaction

- New Faces

- Points from the President

- Undoing MICRA

- Risk Taking in the Provider World: Is a Knox-Keene Plan a Good Strategic Move For You?

- Got Medicare Billing Privileges? Are You Sure? Traps for the Unwary in Medicare Enrollment

- Attorney Profile: Kitty Juniper

- Excerpt from AB 1000 and Corporate Practice in California: More than Meets the Eye—or Less?:

On the way to authorizing direct access to physical therapy, the California legislature may have broadly loosened the restrictions on numerous business arrangements imposed by California’s corporate practice ban. AB 1000, which went into effect on January 1, 2014, provides that patients no longer need a medical diagnosis and a referral to a physical therapist, but may directly self-refer for physical therapy treatments of up to 45 days or 12 visits (whichever comes first). AB 1000 states explicitly that it does not expand the scope of physical therapy practice and that payers are not required to provide coverage for direct access physical therapy services. Nonetheless, the bill represents the achievement of a long-held ambition of the physical therapy profession: licensed physical therapists may now market and provide services directly to the public, like other licensed professionals.