Medical Ass'n of State v. Shoemake

The plaintiffs, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama and four individual physicians, filed a declaratory judgment action challenging the validity of an amendment to an administrative rule promulgated by the Alabama Board of Physical Therapy. The amendment prohibits a physical therapist from being employed by, or from otherwise participating in a professional financial arrangement with, a referring physician.1

The defendants are the Board of Physical Therapy and its individual members and the Alabama Physical Therapy Association. One of the defendants, the Board of Physical Therapy,…