SUMMARY OF 2007 HOUSE OF DELEGATES ACTIVITIES
This year the House of Delegates was held from May
20th
till May 23rd in Washington,
DC.
It was a busy House due to shortening the time of the House and the
split
between HOD and annual conference. Delaware
was represented this year by DPTA president and delegate Dr. Joe Lucca and Chief Delegate Dr. Erik van Doorne. I
also would like to thank Deanna McCall, PTA for her valuable input
during our
deliberations and, of course, for the traditional “goodie basket”.
Below the summery of the RC’s that were debated
and voted
on.
[Adopted Unanimously]
RC 1, 2, 3: Elected Honorary Membership to Francis J. Mallon, Esq.,
Joseph
PH Black, MDiv, PhD, and
William “Zev” Rymer, MD, PhD
[Adopted] RC 4 Amend:
Bylaws of the APTA, Article IV.
Membership, Section 1: Categories and Qualifications of Members so
that
physical therapists who are enrolled in APTA credentialed
post-professional
residency and fellowship programs are eligible for reduced dues under
the
“Physical Therapist- Post Professional Student” category.
[Adopted] RC 10 Amend:
Documentation Authority for Physical
Therapy Services: inserted the words “plan of care (including
interventions) to clarify that as part of documentation, interventions
are
included as a component of the plan of care.
[Adopted] RC 11
Amend:
Physical Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant
Licensure/Regulation to
clarify that state regulation as a PT or PTA should at a minimum
require
graduation from a CAPTE accredited program. If the individual is
internationally educated, they must have a substantially equivalent
education. In addition, the amended
position states that an individual working as a PTA where licensure or
regulation is presently unavailable is required to be a graduate of a
CAPTE
accredited PTA program.
[Defeated] RC 13
Rescind:
Position on Diagnosis by Physical
Therapists This action will keep this position on the books.
[Adopted] RC 14
Amend: Educational Programs for PTs: Terminology Used to Describe. The
changes to this position further clarify the term “physical therapist
professional education” to refer to the
education that occurs prior to licensure and “physical therapist
post-professional education” as the education that occurs as part of
degree or
non-degree programs aimed at professional development.
[Defeated] RC 16
Amend:
Designation “PT,” “PTA,” “SPT,” and “SPTA” If passed, the position
would
have established the use of “DPT” as the regulatory designator by 2020
for
those individuals who have earned the degree. The
position is now unchanged.
[Defeated] RC 18
Rescind: Guidelines: Student and Employer Contracts The Guidelines
as they
currently appear will remain part of House of Delegates positions.
Additional
guidelines will also appear on the APTA web site for use when pursuing
professional opportunities.
[Adopted] RC 20 Amend:
Association “Mark”/Logo: Use by
Components: This amendment states that components are required to
use the
APTA mark/logo on all printed and electronic communications, including
web
sites and media presentations by Dec. 31, 2007.
[Adopted] RC 22 Continued Competence, Lifelong Learning,
and Professional Development in PT creates a new position that
embraces the
concepts of continued competence, lifelong learning and ongoing
professional development.
This motion was brought forward as a response to a charge from the 2006
House
of Delegates and replaces Position on Continuing Education and Position
on
Professional Development that were rescinded in RC 23 and
RC 24
[Adopted] RC 23
Rescind:
Position on Continuing Education (see explanation for RC 22 above.)
[Adopted] RC 24
Rescind: Position on Professional Development (see explanation for
RC 22
above.)
[Refer to Board of
Directors] RC 25 Clinical
Instructors: Credentials Asks that the Board of Directors to
further study
the credentials that may be appropriate for someone to serve as a
clinical
instructor.
[Adopted] RC 26 PTs as Practitioners of Choice to
Rehabilitate Persons with Vestibular-Related Balance Disorders states
that PTs are practitioners of choice in the rehabilitation and
management of vestibular related balance disorders.
[Adopted Unanimously]
RC 27 Core Values: Endorsement In
adopting this motion, the House endorsed the Core Values of
accountability,
altruism, compassion/caring, excellence, integrity, professional duty
and
social responsibility.
[Adopted] RC 28
Annual Visit with a PT supports the concept that all individuals
visit a
physical therapist at least annually.
[Adopted] RC 30
Welcome to Medicare” Physical Exam: Consultation with PTs supports
the
concept that the APTA
pursue initiatives with CMS
that stress the importance of consulting with PTs when conducting
screenings
related to the beneficiary’s functional abilities (eg, fall risk,
ability to
perform activities of daily living, home safety) as
part of the “Welcome to Medicare” physical
exam.”
[Refer to Board of
Directors] RC 31 Marketing Campaign to Promote PTs as Exercise Experts.
By
referring this motion to the Board of Directors, the concepts of
promoting
physical therapists as exercise experts to a variety of potential
referral
sources can be included in the strategic plan for PR.
[Adopted] RC 35
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
(ICF) asks
that the APTA investigate the barriers and opportunities for adopting
the ICF
model to describe physical therapist practice, with a report to the
2008 House
of Delegates.
[Adopted] RC 37
Incorporation of Physical Therapy Comparative Efficacy and Cost
Effectiveness
Data: states that APTA will incorporate comparative efficiency and
cost
effectiveness data into health policy, advocacy, PR and and research
activities.
The elections this year were on
May 22nd. Congratulations
to those who were elected to the following offices: for the APTA Board
of
Directors, Babette S Sanders, PT, MS, was reelected Secretary; Laurita
M Hack, PT, DPT, MBA, PhD, FAPTA, was elected Vice Speaker; Stephen
C F
McDavitt, PT, MS, FAAOMPT, was reelected Director, and Sharon L
Dunn,
PT, PhD, OCS, and Dianne V Jewell, PT, PhD, CCS, FAACVPR,
were
elected Directors. Janet L Downey, PT, MPT, PCS, and Paul A
Hildreth,
PT, DPT, MPH, were elected to the Nominating Committee.
I would also like to thank all
the members who have
contacted me and provided me with their opinion and feedback about
certain
RC’s. Your input has been extremely valuable to me as a Chief Delegate
and I
want to thank you for taking the time to contact me. We always look for
feedback from our membership and take every opinion into account so we
can adequately
represent our Delaware
members.
Respectfully submitted,
Erik van Doorne, PT, DPT, COMT,
Cert. MDT, FABS
Chief Delegate DPTA