Direct Access: Factors That Affect Physical Therapist Practice in the State of Ohio

Background. Direct access to physical therapist services is permitted by law in the majority of states and across all practice settings. Ohio enacted such legislation in 2004; however, it was unknown how direct access had affected actual clinical practice. Objectives. The purpose of this study was to describe physical therapist and physical therapist practice environment factors that affect direct access practice. Design. A 2-phase, mixed-method descriptive study was conducted. Methods. In the first phase, focus group interviews with 32 purposively selected physical therapists were completed, which resulted in 8 themes for an electronically distributed questionnaire. In the second phase, survey questionnaires were distrib-uted to physical therapists with an e-mail address on file with the Ohio licensing board. An adjusted return rate of 23 % was achieved. Data were analyzed for descrip-tive statistics. A constant comparative method assessed open-ended questions for common themes and patterns. Results. Thirty-one percent of the respondents reported using direct access i