This year's APTA House of Delegates was held from June 14th through June 16th in Boston Massachusetts just prior to APTA National Convention.  Every five years the House of Delegates considers by-law changes.  This year several motions were proposed to limit terms of APTA officers, to define terms for APTA officers, and to define qualifications of APTA officers.  The House suspended the rules allowing open discussion of this set of by-law changes. After general discussion that did not support the proposed changes, each of these motions was withdrawn before being introduced.

The first motion heard was to give PTA members a full vote at the component level.   This motion is also a by-law change that requires 2/3 vote in the affirmative for it to pass.  Although there was much support in the house, the motion did not receive a 2/3 majority therefore, was defeated.
An unofficial summary of other motions adopted by the House follows:

 

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On Thursday, March 29, Congressman Edolphus "Ed" Towns (D-NY) introduced Medicare Access to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services Improvement Act (HR 1846). This legislation would overturn the current Medicare "incident-to" rule and recognize athletic trainers and lymphedema therapists as covered providers under Medicare.

APTA strongly opposes this legislation (HR 1846) and supports Medicare's ability to require qualification standards for therapy services provided "incident to" a physician's professional services. It is the position of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) that physical therapists are the qualified professionals who provide physical therapy examinations, evaluations, diagnoses, prognoses, and interventions. Interventions should be represented and reimbursed as physical therapy only when performed by a physical therapist or by a physical therapist assistant under the direction and supervision of a physical therapist.

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Medicare Direct Access Legislation Re-introduced!

HR 1552/S. 932, The Medicare Patient Access to Physical Therapist Act

The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) strongly supports the re-introduction of the Medicare Patient Access to Physical Therapist Act of 2007 (HR 1552 and S. 932). This legislation would allow Medicare beneficiaries to directly access physical therapists for outpatient services as authorized by state law. Congressmen Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Jim Ramstad (R-MN), Ron Lewis (R-KY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Tim Murphy (R-PA) re-introduced HR 1552 on March 15, 2007. Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Ensign (R-NV) introduced the Senate companion (S. 932) on March 20. This legislation had 158 House cosponsors and 15 Senate cosponsors during the 109th Congress in 2005 and 2006. Building on this number of cosponsors is essential to sustaining momentum on this issue.

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Support Student Loan Repayment for Physical Therapists (HR 1134/S. 2485)

Urge Your U.S. Representative to Co-Sponsor the Physical Therapist Student Loan Repayment Eligibility Act (HR 1134/S.2485)

On Friday, February 16th, U.S. Representatives Marion Berry (D-AR) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and on Friday, December 14, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced legislation to enable physical therapists to participate in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program (HR 1134, S. 2485).

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