<Dd> "By 2020, physical therapy will be provided by physical therapists who are doctors of physical therapy, recognized by consumers and other health care professionals as the practitioners of choice to whom consumers have direct access for the diagnosis of, interventions for, and prevention of impairments, functional limitations, and disabilities related to movement, function, and health ." </Dd> <P> As this statement highlights, the DPT program is an integral part of the APTA's continued advocacy for legislation granting consumers (i.e. patients and clients) direct access to physical therapists, rather than requiring physician referral . Direct access is said to decrease wait times for access to care and even help reduce both cost to consumer and overall healthcare costs . As of January 1, 2015, all 50 states and the District of Columbia currently allow some form of direct access to physical therapists . </P> <P> In 1992, the University of Southern California initiated the first post-professional "transitional" (DPT) program in the United States . This "transitional" DPT takes into account a physiotherapist's current level of knowledge and skill and purports to offer programs that upgrade clinical skills to meet the needs of the current health care environment . Creighton University followed by initiating the first entry - level DPT program in 1993 . </P> <P> The Doctor of Physiotherapy has since been adopted in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Taiwan . In the United Kingdom and Australia the PhD or Professional Doctorate in Physiotherapy is offered by a number of Universities . These programmes are usually professional entry masters level programmes with the opportunity to undertake research to lead to a doctorate degree . Alternatively, these programmes are masters pre-qualifying Physiotherapy courses with an enhanced research element in the final phase of the course that leads to undertaking a doctorate . The first full pre-qualifying doctor in Physiotherapy programme is offered in the United Kingdom at Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow . </P>

What year did physical therapy become a doctorate degree