Page 3 - OPTA Access Spring 2020

President’s Message Tonya Apke, PT, DPT, OCS
The Optimism of New Opportunities
Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” I see great opportunity in physical therapy and in Ohio right now! We are currently working on many initiatives at OPTA and I am very optimistic about what we can accomplish together .
This past year we shifted our focus from passing our diagnosis bill to celebrating the implementation of that new language in our practice act! We are working with payers, and BWC in particular, to try to leverage opportunities related to the recognition
of our ability to diagnose . At the time I am writing this article, we have drafted the bill for Ohio to join the PT Compact with 26 other states across the country . I’m hopeful that by the time this is published, we will have a sponsor and have introduced this
bill in the Ohio Senate! If passed, the Compact will provide the PTs and PTAs the flexibility to practice in any of the compact states and for others to come practice in Ohio . As a former Cincinnatian, this will
be great because Kentucky is already a compact state!
Over this last year, we have created two positions for new APTA initiatives . First, APTA has a new group looking at ways
to increase involvement from physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in the area of population health . There are so many issues related to conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and obesity that we can play a large role in addressing . Our Ohio representative is Beth Domholdt, PT, EdD, FAPTA from Cleveland State University . Thanks, Beth for your willingness to serve in this role! The other exciting event on
the horizon is the 100-year celebration of APTA in 2021 . There are numerous activities being planned for this monumental celebration . Keep your eyes out for ways we will recognize this historic milestone! Our OPTA chapter ambassador is Doug Eck, PT, DPT, NCS from The Ohio State University . Thanks Doug for your willingness to serve in this role!
In addition to these opportunities, we have been working on a membership project
to retain more of our students as they transition into PT and PTA memberships and increase the education of the career starter dues program . I had the great pleasure
of speaking to students from MSJ, UT, UC, and YSU about the great things happening at OPTA and the benefits of membership. Victoria and I even got to be involved with the Walk With a Doc program that the students of YSU organize each month at
a local mall! I’m always happy to come to speak to our PT and PTA students so let me know if you’d like me to come to speak to students or colleagues!
With the ongoing challenges of reimbursement and the ever-changing insurance requirements, we are creating
a task force to look into how we can best advocate for our patients’ access to our
care as well as minimize the administrative burden on providers . To this end, we had several meetings with a variety of groups including the Ohio Department of Insurance, Ohio Department of Medicaid, RecoveryOhio, and United Health Care . Looking forward to continuing the dialogue and advocating for our physical therapy providers and patients .
So, let’s welcome this new decade with the optimism of new opportunities . Thanks to all for a great 2019 and I look forward to seeing you at the OPTA annual conference!
For more information, contact Tonya at:
apke.5@osu.edu
OPTA | March 2020 | 3
OPTA Executive Committee
Tonya Apke, PT, DPT, OCS President
Christine Schulte, PT, MBA Vice President
Marcus Williams, PT, DPT, MBA Treasurer
Dawn Bookshar, PT, DPT, GCS Secretary
Jane Keehan, PT, PhD Director I
Deborah Riczo, PT, DPT, MEd Director II
Kim Doolittle-Koran, PT, DPT, OCS Director III
Association Staff
Victoria L. Gresh, CAE Executive Director
Patti Geary
Professional Development Manager
Mack Calhoun
Marketing and Communications Manager
Vicky Humphrey, PT, MS CE Reviewer
Jessica Lewis, PT, DPT CE Reviewer
The Ohio Physical Therapy Association newsletter is published biannually by the Ohio Physical Therapy Association Inc. 1085 Beecher Crossing North, Suite B, Gahanna, OH 43230-4563.
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