US lifts test ban on Pinoy physical therapy graduates

MANILA, Philippines - United States authorities have lifted the licensure examination ban on Filipino physical therapy (PT) graduates being recruited to practice in the US.

The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT), which administers the US National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE), announced the lifting early this week in its website.

The ban was lifted three months after it was imposed last July 12 on PT graduates not only from the Philippines but those from India, Egypt and Pakistan as well. Graduates from these four countries have been classified as “restricted groups.”

FSBPT imposed the ban following discovery of leakages of test questions involving a review center in Manila.

Effectively, the prohibition would last for nearly a year since FSBPT has scheduled for May 25 next year the earliest examination graduates from the four countries could take.

A second examination is set for Dec. 5, 2011.

The federation designed a separate NPTE examination format for the “restricted groups,” which cannot take the NPTE test given to graduates from other countries and which is scheduled more frequently.

FSBPT imposed the examination ban on graduates from the Philippines, India, Egypt, and Pakistan in July “in response to compelling evidence gathered by the Federation reflecting systematic and methodical sharing and distribution of recalled questions by significant numbers of graduates in the affected countries, as well as several exam preparation companies specifically targeted to these graduates.”

“This evidence was obtained through extensive forensic analyses of exam performances, as well as a variety of legal actions brought by the Federation in the United States and abroad.

“Most notably, this includes the raid and seizure of evidence from St. Louis Review Center in Manila, Philippines, and its alleged owners/operators Gerard L. Martin, Roger P. Tong and Carlito Balita, which revealed the widespread sharing of hundreds of live test items,” FSBPT said in its website.

“In response, the Federation is pursuing criminal copyright prosecution against St. Louis Review Center and its owners, has invalidated the scores of several individuals believed to have unfairly benefited from advance access to test questions, and has removed compromised items from the exam,” it said.

Filipino PT graduates are believed to be among examinees whose test results were invalidated.

More than nurses, PT practitioners are now in demand in the US. They are being recruited directly by American healthcare providers.

It is not clear what action – if any – the government took   while the test ban was in effect. Lawmakers, who are quick to launch investigations on controversial issues, were not jolted into action by the ban and the reported test leakages involving a Manila review center.