My professor, Karen Morey, PT first approached me about attending Lobby Day with her a few weeks into my first semester in Northern Virginia Community College’s Physical Therapist Assistant Program after over 18 years in public accounting. Perhaps I had asked a question or made some comment about printing reams of legislative material in the past that suggested I may be interested in that other, sometimes uncomfortable, side of the profession. Whatever the reason, after a series of surprising steps, I found myself with a scholarship from ATPA-Virginia’s Northern District enabling students to participate and support advocacy on a chilly morning on January 22 in Richmond, Virginia.
Karen, Sydney Sawyer, PT, another of my professors, Jon Phuong, a second-year PTA student, and I met across the street from the General Assembly building early on the Wednesday morning, about an hour before the APTA-Virginia chapter was scheduled to meet. Our focus for the day was encouraging support for SB 192 – Fair Co-Pay and an anticipated 2021 bill supporting unrestricted direct access. We were there early because newly elected delegate Dan Helmer (Virginia’s 40th District) was booked up the rest of the day and could only make time at 7:30 a.m.
Immediately after introducing ourselves, Del. Helmer shared with us his experience working in a campaign headquarters next to Integrated Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy in Fairfax Station. From Del. Helmer, we moved on through the halls of the General Assembly building, dropping off materials promoting SB 192 and meeting with representatives or their aides, including the aides to Senators David Marsden (Virginia’s 37th District) and George Barker (Virginia’s 39th District) and Delegate Sam Rasoul (Virginia’s 11th District). The last representative we met with was Jon’s delegate, Vivian Watts (Virginia’s 39th District), who was engaging and shared her experience going through physical therapy and was really supportive of making physical therapy more available to patients.
Overall, there were a few takeaways from Lobby Day that I think were important to share:
1. Our representatives want to hear from us – I was pleasantly surprised by all our conversations with the senator aides and the delegates. They were engaged and happy that we would make the effort to go to Richmond to meet them at their offices. Sydney shared her experiences working with past elected officials, which taught me the more engaged we are with our representatives, the more powerful our voices become. Only we can make sure our elected representatives know to vote for the issues that are important to us. This responsibility does not lie with our professors or prospective employers.
2. We need to get out of our comfort zone and advocate for our profession – I am not overly active in politics outside of voting. But after attending Lobby Day and then listening to the APTA Student Assembly Pulse January Podcast: Passion x Purpose with Fred Gilbert, PT, DPT, of Movement X, I feel compelled to become more engaged. Dr. Gilbert paints a bleak future for physical therapy if we don’t defend our profession. Healthcare is going through a lot of changes. If we aren’t successful in increasing patient access to DPTs and PTAs, then our patients will find an alternative. We all need to be engaged in shaping the legislative protections to our industry while also increasing access to physical therapy for our patients.
3. We are not alone – One of the other groups attending Lobby Day was the Virginia Pharmacists Association. Just like us, they were lobbying for ways to remove the barriers that keep patients from receiving their services. We spoke with students from some of Virginia’s schools, like Shenandoah University and Virginia Commonwealth University about their many goals, including increasing the responsibilities of pharmacy technicians that would ultimately lower costs of their services for patient. Like us, they were focused on improving their patient’s access to the care they needed.
A few days removed from my trip down to Richmond, I can more clearly reflect on my experience. As a first-year PTA student, I felt very fortunate to be invited and able to attend with my professors. I also appreciate all that APTA – Virginia encourages students like Jon and me to help fight for our profession. On the heels of Humana adopting CMS’s new coding system setting an 85% differential for physical therapy services perform in whole or in part by a PTA, it is clear that we cannot rely on APTA alone to advocate for us alone. We must speak up and be proactive. As Dr. Gilbert suggests on the Pulse Podcast, we need to remember why we chose this profession and take bold steps to protect it.
Ted Compton, SPTA, CPA