Florida SB 914: Dry Needling

Bill Text

914 
Dry Needling 
2026-02-03T09:03:29Z 
Defining the terms “dry needling” and “myofascial trigger point”; requiring the Board of Occupational Therapy to establish minimum standards of practice for the performance of dry needling by occupational therapists, including specified standards; requiring the board, if it deems it necessary for patient safety, to adopt additional supervision and training requirements for occupational therapists to perform dry needling on specified areas, etc. 
Committee Substitute 1 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
c1 

 Florida Senate - 2026 CS for SB 914 

 By the Committee on Health Policy; and Senator Calatayud 

 588-02423-26 2026914c1 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to dry needling; amending s. 468.203, 
 3 F.S.; defining the terms “dry needling” and 
 4 “myofascial trigger point”; creating s. 468.222, F.S.; 
 5 requiring the Board of Occupational Therapy to 
 6 establish minimum standards of practice for the 
 7 performance of dry needling by occupational 
 8 therapists, including specified standards; requiring 
 9 the board, if it deems it necessary for patient 
 10 safety, to adopt additional supervision and training 
 11 requirements for occupational therapists to perform 
 12 dry needling on specified areas; requiring the 
 13 Department of Health to submit a report of specified 
 14 information to the Legislature by a specified date; 
 15 providing construction; providing an effective date. 
 16 
 17 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 18 
 19 Section 1. Present subsections (3) through (8) of section 
 20 468.203, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (5) 
 21 through (10), respectively, and new subsections (3) and (4) are 
 22 added to that section, to read: 
 23 468.203 Definitions.—As used in this act, the term: 
 24 (3) “Dry needling” means a skilled intervention, based on 
 25 Western medicine, that uses filiform needles and other apparatus 
 26 or equipment to stimulate a myofascial trigger point for the 
 27 evaluation and management of neuromusculoskeletal conditions, 
 28 pain, movement impairments, and disabilities. 
 29 (4) “Myofascial trigger point” means an irritable section 
 30 of soft tissue often associated with palpable nodules in taut 
 31 bands of muscle fibers. 
 32 Section 2. Section 468.222, Florida Statutes, is created to 
 33 read: 
 34 468.222 Dry needling.— 
 35 (1) The board shall establish minimum standards of practice 
 36 for the performance of dry needling by occupational therapists, 
 37 including, at a minimum, all of the following: 
 38 (a) Completion of 2 years of licensed practice as an 
 39 occupational therapist. 
 40 (b) Completion of 50 hours of face-to-face continuing 
 41 education from an entity approved by the board on the topic of 
 42 dry needling. To satisfy this requirement, the instructor of the 
 43 continuing education must make a determination that the 
 44 occupational therapist demonstrates the requisite psychomotor 
 45 skills to safely perform dry needling. The continuing education 
 46 must include instruction in all of the following areas: 
 47 1. Theory of dry needling. 
 48 2. Selection and safe handling of needles and other 
 49 apparatus or equipment used in dry needling, including 
 50 instruction on the proper handling of biohazardous waste. 
 51 3. Indications and contraindications for dry needling. 
 52 4. Psychomotor skills needed to safely perform dry 
 53 needling. 
 54 5. Postintervention care, including care for adverse 
 55 responses, adverse incident recordkeeping, and any reporting 
 56 obligations. 
 57 (c)1. Completion of at least 25 patient sessions of dry 
 58 needling performed under the supervision of an occupational 
 59 therapist, a physical therapist, or a chiropractic physician who 
 60 holds an active license to practice in any state or the District 
 61 of Columbia and has actively performed dry needling for at least 
 62 1 year. The supervising practitioner must document that the 
 63 occupational therapist under his or her supervision has met the 
 64 supervision and competency requirements specified by board rule 
 65 and does not need additional supervised sessions to safely 
 66 perform dry needling; or 
 67 2. Completion of 25 patient sessions of dry needling 
 68 performed as an occupational therapist, physical therapist, or 
 69 chiropractic physician licensed in another state or in the 
 70 United States Armed Forces. 
 71 (d) A requirement that dry needling be performed only if 
 72 the patient consents to the treatment and it is part of the 
 73 patient’s documented plan of care. 
 74 (e) A requirement prohibiting the delegation of dry 
 75 needling to any person other than an occupational therapist who 
 76 is authorized to perform dry needling under this part. 
 77 (2) The board shall establish additional supervision and 
 78 training requirements that an occupational therapist must meet 
 79 before perfor