Federal Legislative Update

On April 30th, seven VPTA therapists and three students represented you at the APTA Federal Advocacy Forum in Washington, D.C. We were joined by 270 other PTs, PTAs, and students from around the nation for informative congressional regulatory updates in preparation for our lobbying efforts on May 1st. We discussed several bills coming before Congress and the Senate. We also discussed how we as constituents have a valuable voice on the Hill and can help shape regulatory action by providing information and expertise on health care issues. Our lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill had a twofold approach:

To obtain co-sponsors for the following legislation:

1. The CONNECT For Health Act (H.R. 2556/S. 1016): This legislation would ease restrictions on telehealth under the Medicare Program. Currently, physical therapists are not able to bill for this service under the Medicare program. Note: Senator Warner is a sponsor, and Senator Kaine is a co-sponsor of S. 1016. No Virginia representatives have co-sponsored H.R. 2556 yet.
2. Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act of 2017 (H.R. 302/S. 808): This bill would provide certain licensure clarifications and legal protections for physicians, PTs, and athletic trainers who practice across state lines as they travel with their professional and collegiate teams or other athletes and teams sanctioned by a national governing body. Note: No Virginia legislator has signed on as a co-sponsor yet.

To educate our legislators on the following health care issues that would impact our services:

1. Higher Education Act Reauthorization: The PROSPER ACT (H.R 4508): In February, this bill passed out of the House Education and Workforce Committee; the ranking member of this committee is Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott.  This bill did not take into consideration tuition prices, living expenses, those seeking graduate degrees, or the shortage of health care professionals.  This legislation would place an arbitrary cap of $28,000 per year on federal student loans, a $150,000 cap on federal loans for the graduate of professional schools, and establish a lifetime limit of $235,500 in aggregate loans for undergraduate and graduate education. Additionally, H.R. 4508 would require CAPTE to be separately incorporated and completely independent of the APTA. With the added expenses of being separate from the APTA, this could cause CAPTE to lower standards, raise fees, or even go out of business. We asked our representatives to oppose this bill unless significant changes were made. We also asked our senators to not include student loan provisions nor accreditation provisions in their bill.
2. THE PHYSICAL THERAPY OUTCOMES REGISTRY: Improving Patient Outcomes and Standardizing Care Through Data Analytics: The APTA is committed to standardized clinical data collection for specific patient populations. The Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry will allow PTs to track patients across multiple episodes of care and compare outcomes against other practices nationwide. Analysis of large volumes of clinical data will help patients and health services researchers, and will provide valuable insight for health care policy development.      
3. Beyond Opioids: Transforming Pain Management to Improve Health: There have been 60+ bills that have been introduced in Congress since January 1. These bills have variations on how to best address the opioid epidemic, but few suggested preventative approaches. The APTA recommends a preventative approach that would include education of the primary health care providers, education of the public, decreasing non-pharmacological therapy co-pays, and direct access.  

We will provide updates to you on these and other health care legislation in the near future.

Mark Bouziane, PT, MSPT, MEd
VPTA Federal Affairs Liaison

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