Federal Advocacy Forum – A Student’s Perspective
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By: Kate Sammons
Federal Advocacy Forum: It’s not your usual PT conference, and it’s not the most advertised. But here’s why perhaps it should be. I attended it this past April, during my final year of PT school at Shenandoah University, thanks to some much-appreciated financial support from VPTA’s Northern District. If you’re wondering what it is, here’s a summary: PTs and PTAs from all over the country gather in DC for two days to 1) learn about current health care issues that affect the profession and 2) let our federal legislators (i.e., senators and representatives) know where we stand on those issues. If you’ve ever been to Lobby Day to talk to your state representatives, it’s the same thing, just at the federal level – plus plenty of networking and socializing with other PTs.
Going into the Forum, I expected to be surrounded by people who knew significantly more about the issues than I did and who were better equipped to take our talking points to Capitol Hill. And I WAS surrounded by experts, but I was also surrounded by other students and first-time attendees. More than that, I was surrounded by countless willing mentors, every one of whom happily answered my questions and made sure I was well prepared to speak in our meetings on the Hill.
It’s easy to think of advocacy as something “other people” do. And I get it. You’re busy with school, with life, with clinic, and it seems like the APTA does a good job making sure policy gets shaped in the best way possible for providers and patients. And that’s somewhat true, but only partially. The APTA is only as powerful as we make it. The reality is, other people are making decisions every day that will impact the profession, and ultimately, our patients, and they may or may not have the same interests at heart that PT does. Health care decisions will get made with or without us, and if we care about what we do and about our patients, we need to be a part of those conversations.
Here’s a wrap up of some of the current health care issues affecting PT:
Opioids: Whether it’s by expanding direct access, reducing copays for office visits to upend the current incentive to choose prescriptions over PT, or educating the public and primary health care providers about turning to PT early in pain treatment, it’s important to let legislators know that PT can (and should) be part of a proactive solution to the opioid crisis.
PROSPER Act: Bad news for PT education. The PROSPER Act contains strict (and arbitrary) annual and lifetime limits on federal loans that students can receive for education – limits that don’t come close to the full cost of PT school or living expenses. It would also require CAPTE to become incorporated independently from the APTA, placing such a financial burden on CAPTE that it could have to lower its standards or collapse entirely. This would leave PT programs without an accrediting body to verify education quality. The APTA wants to add PT students to the list of other health care professionals who are exempt from the loan limits, and wants to revise the requirements that would be placed on CAPTE.
Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act: Currently, if you’re a sports PT working with a nationally governed team, and you travel with that team, you are not covered by insurance when you treat your players out of state. This act provides some narrow, specific protections for PTs treating out of state while still respecting states’ rights.
Telehealth: It’s currently not permissible to bill for telehealth PT, and most people don’t see how it’s even possible to provide PT services via telehealth. This issue was all about increasing awareness of how PT can not only be delivered via telehealth in certain instances (patient education, limited screening, exercise instruction), but that doing so can help expand health care access to underserved areas.
Registry: The Registry is a PT-specific data repository. We already send all of our outcomes data to the federal government when we bill through Medicare. The Registry helps us capture that information for ourselves, too. The APTA wanted legislators to know that we are tracking outcomes, and this will provide real data to further patient care, research, and help legislators make informed policy decisions.
I have one final thought I want to share, based on my experience at the Forum. Don’t let a false sense of being too uninformed or inexperienced stop you from advocating for PT and for your patients. If you’re thinking about doing more – whether it’s sending emails to your legislators, donating to PT-PAC, participating in a state lobby day, or attending the Federal Affairs Forum, my advice is this: Don’t be intimidated or hold back just because you feel like you don’t know enough. Reach out to people who do those things now; I can guarantee they will be thrilled to talk about it and answer questions (including the questions you are too embarrassed to ask).
Most of all, I want to say thank you to the VPTA’s Northern District for making it possible for me to attend, and all the support and encouragement I received from more experienced Forum attendees. Hope to see you there next year!
