SYNERGY
PT
Official Publication of the Texas Physical Therapy Association
welcome to TPTA's new
Online Community
2021 TPTA Annual Conference Join us in Irving for this year's annual conference! OFFICERS: Michael Geelhoed, PT, DPT, MTC, OCS, President Dana Tew, PT, DPT, FAAOMPT, OCS, Vice-President Gail Zitterkopf, PT, DPT, CLT, CKTP, Speaker of the Assembly Megan Flores, PT, PhD, Secretary Barbara Gresham, PT, PhD, Treasurer Ronna Keagle, PT, DPT, OCS , District Executive Committee Representative
TPTA DISTRICT CHAIRS:
COMMITTEE CHAIRS:
Capitol Area: Central: Coastal Bend: East Texas: Greater El Paso: Heart of Texas: Midwest: North Texas: Panhandle: Permian Basin: South Plains: Southeastern:
Nominating Committee: Pradeep Rapalli, PT, DPT, MBA Bylaws Committee: Rupal Patel, PT, PhD Ethics Committee: Vacant Government Affairs Committee: Dana Tew, PT, DPT, FAAOMPT, OCS Membership & Public Relations Committee: Erica Parazo, PT (Co-Chair) Nick Purcell, PT, DPT (Co-Chair) Practice & Professional Development Committee: Kai Williams, PT, DPT Payment Policy Committee: William "Bill" Lewis, PT, DPT Tom Waugh Leadership Development Program: Denise Gobert, PT, PhD
Spring 2022
Ronna Keagle, PT, DPT, OCS Robert Sandoval, PT, PhD Anne Gould, PT Shaunda Kwiatek, PTA Jesse Carbajal, PTA Kristi Trammell, PT, DPT Chase Riley, PT, DPT, OCS Thornton Johnson, PT, DPT Spencer Church, PT, DPT Mikala Reznik, PT, DPT William "Bill" Lewis, PT, DPT Lauren Szot, PT, DPT
Chief Delegate PTA Caucus Representative
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Lois Stickley, PT, PhD Luke Markert, PTA
CONTENTS SPRING 2022
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PT Synergy is published for 166 Hargraves Drive Suite C-400-148 Austin, TX 78737 512.477.1818 www.tpta.org EDITOR IN CHIEF Craig Tounget, CAE
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Annual Conference 2022
New TPTA Communities
Executive Director ctounget@tpta.org MANAGING EDITOR Lindsey Green Communications Manager lgreen@tpta.org PT SYNERGY is published quarterly by the Texas Physical Therapy Association.
IN EVERY ISSUE 4 Member Updates 5 Executive Director's Report 6 From the TPTA President 25 Calendar of Events
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Spring 2022
MEMBER UPDATES DEI Task Force
The TPTA DEI Task Force was formed in July 2020 to introduce our profession to the community at a younger age and with various demographics. The goal is to help our clinics and academic programs attract and retain future clinicians to have a representation of the Texas population. A survey was disseminated to TPTA members in January 2021 with 607 responses. We developed a Town Hall and presented in April 2021 with great response and engagement from students and practicing clinicians. October 2021 Task Force members presented at the TPTA Conference. We have subcommittees that cover a variety of areas-clinic, academic programs, community involvement, and leadership diversification. We are happy to have more join the Task Force to help the initiatives continue to grow. Spring 2022
Nominations for 2022 TPTA leadership positions open in May
TPTA will be slating for: President-Elect Treasurer-Elect Nominating Committee Delegates-at-Large
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT
THE
by CRAIG TOUNGET, CAE
W
ith the success of CSM in San Antonio in February, we are hopeful that we have now turned the corner on our ability to hold in-person meetings and conferences. Although the membership, board and staff of TPTA have all proven to be flexible and adaptable, most of us are ready to feel the connections that only face-to-face interactions can bring. The past two years have been a challenge for everyone, but we were able to conduct two successful Virtual Annual Conferences. But please make your plans now to join us in Irving on October 28th – 30th at the Westin Irving Convention Center for Annual Conference 2022. Reconnect with other professionals from across the state and experience high quality in-person educational opportunities. In politics most of the seats in the Texas Legislature have been determined. There are a few runoffs on May 24th, but because of the way the districts have been drawn we know in almost every instance which party is going to win in which district. There have been a number of retirements and people seeking other offices so that there will be a relatively high turnover rate, but there will be no partisan change and the Republicans will maintain control of both the House and the Senate. We will be seeing many new Committee Chairs and that always brings some change in priorities. As we seek to expand Direct Access, pass Fair Co-Pay legislation and other priorities, it is imperative that we collect significant PAC money so that we can make contributions to friendly elected officials. The more PAC money we have the better we are able to position TPTA for the next session. Please contribute today. DONATE NOW Several TPTA committees and task forces
continue to work on your behalf. The Payment Committee addresses issues concerning insurance reimbursement, direct payment and other issues related to getting paid for your services. If you would be interested in serving on the committee, please contact the Chair Bill Lewis at bill.lewis@ physicaltherapytoday.com This committee meets once a month via Zoom and is in need of new members with expertise in reimbursement issues. The Practice Committee is already heavily involved in planning for Annual Conference in October, and they have some exciting plans for other educational opportunities as well. Keep an eye out for upcoming communications from them. Our APTA House of Delegates delegation is meeting monthly to examine the many issues that will be before that body at their meeting in August. The APTA House of Delegates play a vital role in the ongoing development of the profession. It has been an interesting couple of years in terms of membership numbers in the association. The pandemic affected everyone, and everyone had different experiences. The association industry as a whole, not just TPTA and APTA, saw drops in their membership numbers initially. I am happy to report that TPTA membership is now back to prepandemic levels and that we are in excellent financial condition. Many members are taking advantage of the new monthly membership dues structure APTA instituted this past year. Thank you for your continued support as a member of TPTA and APTA and please encourage your colleagues to join us as well. The larger our association, the stronger our voice. If we are going to continue to make a positive impact on behalf of the profession, we need everyone to be involved.
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Spring 2022
from theTPTA PRESIDENT by MICHAEL GEELHOED, PT, DPT, MTC, OCS
S
pring is here, which means Fiesta season here in San Antonio, and even though dry conditions have dampened the Bluebonnet displays around our state, hopefully you are seeing signs of growth in your yard and neighborhood, as well as in your personal and professional life. It’s been a long two years since COVID 19 and subsequent shutdowns overwhelmed our hospital systems, forced closures of PT facilities and layoffs of staff, and took over our lives and every minute of our daily news cycles. As the number of infections and hospitalizations subside, I am encouraged that our healthcare systems have finally been given a chance to breathe and have rebounded quickly, and PT patient visits and employment levels have grown back to their pre-pandemic levels. For our association, spring is also a chance to look back at our accomplishments of the past 2 years and areas of growth awaiting us in the near future. I’d like to highlight 3 of these accomplishments and growth areas below:
Accomplishments TPTA is in the best financial position in our association’s history. Yes, a lot of this is due to decreased expenses, especially travel, during the pandemic. But much of the credit goes to TPTA’s Board of Directors and Staff for very intentional fiduciary responsibility during these last 2 years. Even with market volatility and some pandemicrelated membership losses, our TPTA leadership and staff have ensured that we are in the best financial position to advance our association. We were able to expand direct access to 15 days for board certified specialists during the 2021 legislative session despite the hurdles of a mostly-virtual session and pandemic-suppressed decreased fundraising for our TPTA PAC. We launched our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force, and we are already seeing great results of these efforts. Dr. Amber Brown, the chair of the DEI
Summer 2017 Spring 2022
Task Force, has a blurb in this newsletter under Member Updates that I encourage you to read to catch up on our activities. Even though it was begun less than 2 years ago, several of the goals and benchmarks for this Task Force have already been accomplished and many more are underway.
Areas for growth We need to grow our membership. I am pleased to see that our membership numbers have been relatively stable during the pandemic compared to national, however, I feel that our goal needs to be to represent a majority (>50%) of licensed PT’s and PTA’s in Texas. I will not be satisfied until our membership report mirrors the outstanding success of our financial reports. We need to expand direct access by decreasing restrictions in the current rules, increasing the time window to match what has been successful in other states, and insuring that payors are reimbursing for physical therapy without referral. We need to spread the message that our expertise, movement and exercise, is the optimal solution in healthcare. Our marketing/PR campaigns and social media feeds need to be constantly reinforcing the message that Physical Therapy costs less and gets better outcomes than other alternatives, so that our patients, public policy makers and insurers demand PT as the best first choice in healthcare. I close with my consistent message that our best days as a profession are in front of us. We survived a 2 year pandemic and came out the other end leaner, stronger and more efficient than before. Please help me spread the word of all the great things APTA and TPTA are doing to encourage more of our PT and PTA colleagues and students to join our associations. And lastly, continue to share how our expertise, movement and exercise, is the optimal solution for our healthcare system and the Texans we serve on a daily basis.
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The 2022 TPTA Annual Conference is back to an in person format in Irving Annual Conference will be back to an in person format for 2022! We look forward to seeing you all again in October. The room block is now open, so make your room reservations now to take advantage of the discounted lodging rates before they're gone. Lodging information and registration fees are on the TPTA website, www.tpta.org
October 28 - 30 page 7
Spring 2022
New TPTA Online Community Feature A new community feature is now live on the TPTA website Starting in May, TPTA website users can now take advantage of the new communities portal on the TPTA website. This new feature will allow TPTA members and website users to post, share, interact and communicate instantly with fellow PTs and PTAs on a wide variety of topics. Each district will have their our forums as well and as the community grows, more forums will be added to meet user needs. Please note, all users (members and non-members) will need to be logged in to use the communities feature. If you are a member and don't have your login information, please don't create a new account. Contact the TPTA office instead and we can reset your login. Once you're logged in, you will see "TPTA Communities" in the menu bar. Here you will find this new website feature. PDF Instructions are attached here.
Winter 2022 2017 Spring Summer 2017
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Calendar of events
TPTA Practice Committee Lecture Series Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Individuals with Heart Failure and Differential Diagnosis and Treatment of Patients Post-COVID
Friday, June 3, 2022 2:00pm - 5:00pm and Saturday June 4, 2022 8:00am-4:00pm
Live Online Course
Register Here
TPTA Board of Directors TPTA Board of Directors Quarterly Saturday, July 16, 2022 starting at 10:00am Board Meeting
Zoom
Central District Musculoskleletal Evaluation and Management of the Hip: Current Concepts and Practical Clinical Considerations
Saturday, July 23, 2022 8:00am-2:30pm
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Momentum Physical Therapy 5441 Babcock Rd #103 San Antonio, TX 78240
Register Here
Winter Spring 2017 2022 Summer