OPINION: It’s not just a doctor shortage: New Mexicans need all the health care worker compacts

When you need health care, do you interact only with a doctor? Or does a nurse take your vitals before you speak to your doctor? Do you visit a pharmacist after your appointment to pick up a prescription? Has a doctor referred you to a physical therapist, occupational therapist, counselor, psychologist or audiologist?

Patients rely on a whole ecosystem of health professionals to stay healthy and recover from illness and injury. That’s why addressing New Mexico’s health care worker shortage means addressing the shortages of all categories of health care workers, not just doctors, by joining all 10 major interstate compacts for health care workers.

I am a physical therapist providing services in the Albuquerque area. I work in an outpatient orthopedic clinic that treats a wide range of patients. From weekend warriors who have sprains and strains, to high school athletes recovering from surgery, to those chronic age issues we all have to face: osteoarthritis, total joint replacements, low-back pain, plantar fasciitis and the list goes on.

Everyone, at some point in their life, will need physical therapy. However, at our clinic, that need is met with a two- to three-week wait time to secure an evaluation. Following your initial appointment, we generally are only able to schedule you once a week for treatment. While we know that two to three times a week would be optimal, we simply don’t have the staff to accommodate that schedule for everyone.

We often struggle to provide timely care because New Mexico faces a severe shortage of physical therapists. According to the New Mexico Health Care Workforce Committee, New Mexico needs an additional 526 PTs just to meet the national average. That’s a staggering 34% increase from our current workforce.

There are a number of legislative reforms that would help recruit and retain physical therapists in New Mexico. Expanded student loan repayment programs would encourage new PTs to practice here. Repealing the gross receipts tax on medical services would remove a financial burden that makes it more expensive to practice in New Mexico than in other states. But the most immediate thing that New Mexico lawmakers could do to address the physical therapist shortage is pass House Bill 12 to join the physical therapy licensure compact.

The physical therapy licensure compact, like compacts for other types of health care professionals, allows PTs licensed in other states to quickly become approved to treat patients in New Mexico without having to go through the entire licensing process, which often takes many months.

Thirty-nine states across the country participate in the PT compact, including all of our neighboring states. Having a therapist who is willing to cross the border even one day a week from Colorado, Arizona or Texas could significantly ease the wait times for New Mexico patients in bordering counties.

While I commend the Legislature for fast-tracking the passage of the physician compact this session, I’m disappointed that there seems to be no similar urgency to join the physical therapy compact — or the compacts for occupational therapists, counselors, psychologists, audiologists, EMS, PAs or dentists.

Fortunately, some legislators are taking action. Rep. Liz Thomson, D-Albuquerque, is sponsoring the PT compact and eight other compacts have been introduced in the House. Last year, the House unanimously passed seven health care worker compacts, but unfortunately they all died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It’s time to stop kicking the can down the road. Doctors don’t provide health care in a vacuum, and legislators shouldn’t limit themselves to passing just one health care worker compact when New Mexico patients face dire shortages of every category of health professionals. 

Please call and write your legislators and urge them to pass all 10 major medical compacts during this year’s legislative session.

Karen Browning is the president of the American Physical Therapy Association of New Mexico.