@brianball Thanks for elaborating! I agree with alot of these points.
I will say, as an occupational therapist that works in an early intervention program (which is a state run program that exists in all states of the US for birth to 3 years old therapy including PT, OT, and speech), that some of the points above to don't apply to this situation with the OP.
Every single county in the country has an early intervention program (some combine together). While some agencies do have waitlists, many don't. Like the one I work for or the other local one near me. Early intervention evaluations are free, with insurance or not, so it does not waste the parents money. Time sure, but it's not more than 2 hours and can be done at their home or over telehealth. It can be done with grandma or even at the daycare so mom doesnt have to take off of work. In many states, if they child qualifies services are also free.
It doesn't waste the PTs time, because 9/10 times with these early intervention agencies, the therapists are paid either hourly or by client. So they are getting paid for this eval, but wouldn't if there wasn't another one to fill the time slot with. It doesn't "take the slot from someone that needs it" in most cases, because many early intervention programs struggle to meet their state determined quotas for headcount as it is. We are almost never able to evaluate enough babies or have enough in the program to meet our state headcount for the year, and therefore we don't qualify to get full funding each year. So we constantly are trying to educate doctors and NPs on the benefits of referring when it is needed or there is a concern. There are still many referrals that we don't get till the child is almost 3, and they are extremely delayed and unable to catch up. If the doctor or NP would have caught it early when they were under 1, we could have had a chance to make a difference but it's SO much harder to undo the damage that was put off for years.
So while NP may not be the most qualified person to say this child needs PT or not, these other points are likely not the issue in this scenario if they are in the US.