Federal Advocacy Forum

By: Heather Littier

In March, Washington D.C. hosted the annual Physical Therapy Federal Advocacy Forum. The Federal Advocacy Forum (FAF) is a two-day meeting where physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, physical therapy students, and physical therapy supporters travel to Capitol Hill to meet with their legislators to advocate for how physical therapy can help improve public health. The first day of the meeting is spent providing attendees with information to prepare them to advocate for the profession. After a day of preparation, FAF attendees visited their state representatives, presenting information on issues of importance to PT. The Physical Therapy Political Action Committee, or PT-PAC, is the organization that advocates to legislators about issues that are important to physical therapists and our patients. Currently, the PT-PAC is targeting four main issues: addressing the Medicare cap, a proposal to include physical therapy in the student loan forgiveness option through allowing PT participation in the National Health Services Corps, a bill that supports PT practice when working with traveling sports teams, and presenting physical therapy as an alternative to opioids for pain management. These issues are all of vital importance to both physical therapists and their patients, therefore meeting with legislators about these issues was one of the main goals of the FAF. 

While I was not able to attend the full FAF, I did get to attend the PT-PAC event, held on the first evening of the Forum, where I was able to meet and network with many of the physical therapists who are on the front lines when it comes to making changes and advocating for our profession. I also had a great time meeting other PT students who were also interested in advocating for our profession, and even got to meet APTA president Sharon Dunn! The PT-PAC event was a fun evening of networking and conversation that left me energized and excited to advocate for the profession!

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