Commit to the Future of Your Profession

With an APTA Michigan membership you are directly supporting and elevating the physical therapy profession.  The APTA Michigan provides advocacy, development of resources, and public education so clinicians like yourself can maximize patient care.  We are stronger in numbers, and only together can the APTA Michigan provide support to ensure proper payment for your services, advocacy for legislation that benefits you and your patients, and protection of your scope of practice.

Health professions are not well-defined, established, nor entitled to continue as they currently are.  There are many factors that influence the course of a profession such as changes in payment policy by federal and private payers and changes in state regulations that govern health professional practice.

The only unified voice that the profession has to confront challenges to physical therapy is the American Physical Therapy Association and its components, including the APTA Michigan.   It is important that you realize that the Association is run and funded by its members.  It does not just exist as some separate, independent entity that is funded by somebody else.  It is our organization and it has been absolutely critical in shaping the profession that it is today.

Here is a summary of the work performed by your APTA Michigan in the year of 2018 as guided by our strategic plan:

Continuing Competence - APTA Michigan will facilitate accessibility, understanding, opportunity and record keeping of Professional Development Requirements (PDR's) required for re-licensure for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in Michigan.

• Redesign of the APTA Michigan Fall and Spring Conferences to maximize the amount and quality of PDRs available
• Development and maintenance of CEU Locker for tracking and recording your PDRs
• Initiation of a strategic partnership with MedBridge to make online PDRs available at a discounted rate for members
• The first APTA Michigan Pain Summit to prepare the physical therapy community in Michigan to better serve those with and at risk for chronic pain in support of the #ChoosePT campaign
• Development of resources to answer member questions about PDRs, including maintenance of a strong relationship with LARA to quickly obtain definitive clarifications
• Development of a webinar on the Identification of Victims of Human Trafficking
• Significantly expanded District-level programming
• Began development of a webinar to meet the 1 hour PDR for pain
• Began development of a webinar on jurisprudence

Payment - APTA Michigan will ensure that third party payer policies are consistent with current professional standards of practice and Michigan state law

• Ongoing discussion with BCBSM regarding concerns about utilization management, prevention of eviCore's implementation with the BCBSM PPO, and promotion of direct access and alternatives payment models
• Advocating for BCBSM policy change to allow referrals to PT from nurse practitioners
• Obtaining and disseminating clarification about Medicaid Provider Enrollment from MDHHS, CMS, and APTA, and developing resources to help members with the enrollment process
• Development of a proposal for a paid Payment Specialist position within the APTA Michigan to significantly increase the breadth and depth of relationships with various payers in the state

Legislative Advocacy - APTA Michigan will ensure statutory and regulatory language that reflects current scope and standards of practice for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants.

• Passage of Public Act 62 of 2018 which allows physical therapists to make disability determinations for the issuance of disability parking placards
• Promotion of legislation that adds physical therapists as mandatory reporters of child abuse to similar to nearly every other licensed health profession
• Membership in the Coalition to Protect Auto No Fault (CPAN) to help protect Michigan's auto fault laws
• Establishing a foundation for the introduction of legislation to add Michigan to the Physical Therapy Interstate Licensure Compact

Physical Therapy Identity – APTA Michigan will promote recognition of the breadth and depth of physical therapy services and as experts in the Management of movement dysfunction.

• Partnership with APTA to develop a Michigan-specific MoveFoward webpage for consumers
• APTA Michigan exhibit tables at physician and nurse practitioner professional conferences
• Two joint presentations with physician assistants at the collocated APTA Michigan and MAPA Fall Conferences
• Development of direct-to-consumer media campaigns for roll-out in 2019
• Increased effort to provide current and relevant news and updates via the website, email, and social media platforms

Member Engagement – Enhance the quality and value of Association membership to increase membership size and member engagement.

• Campaign to increase membership to 3,000 was more successful than expected as we are now nearing 3,300 members
• Exploration of ways to better engage students  with a number of initiatives under development
• Establishment of a Oncology Special Interest Group
• Establishment of a Pain Special Interest Group

REMEMBER, your membership also includes all the work done by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).   Check out the APTA 2018 Year in Review and see the value of your membership!

These accomplishments over the past year are the result of thousands of hours of selfless volunteerism from the APTA Michigan leadership from committee members up through the executive committee.  And, the above list does not include all of the routine but critical functions of the APTA Michigan to include:

• Ongoing monitoring of legislative and payment issues
• Coordination with APTA for various operations-related tasks
• Development of website resources
• Shorelines quarterly newsletter
• Answering member questions about payment and practice
• Operations support for the MPT-PAC, the APTA Michigan Institute for Research and Education, and the Student Relations Committee

We are guided by our Strategic Plan, and have worked hard to align our budget with that Plan and the many initiatives it has generated.  APTA Michigan is an organization that represents clinicians who treat patients across the lifespan and the continuum of care, and since value is a matter of perspective, we have tried to ensure that APTA Michigan initiatives are perceived as valuable across the entire membership.

Don't see an issue being addressed that is important to you?   Let APTA Michigan know.