The PTA – Political Participation and Celebrating 30 Years of Membership in the APTA

At PT 2003 in Washington, DC, the PTA celebrated its 30th anniversary as a membership category in the APTA. While this is a great victory and reason to celebrate, there is still one area that needs to be addressed so the PTA’s voice can be heard outside the walls of the APTA: Political Participation.

As mentioned in the last edition of The Voice, The National Assembly of Physical Therapist Assistant Quarterly newsletter, the National Assembly started its “Care to Share” campaign to promote political participation in PT-PAC, APTA’s political action committee. The campaign challenges every PTA to contribute at least $30 to PT-PAC to commemorate APTA’s service to Affiliate Members for 30 years. Last year only 2.7% of PTA’s nationwide contributed to PT-PAC, .01% from South Dakota.

Your support of PT-PAC will help elect friends of physical therapy to Congress and pass much-needed legislation to change the PTA supervision requirement in Private Practices, improve reimbursement rates under the Physician Fee Schedule, repeal the $1,590 therapy cap, and pass Medicare Direct Access legislation.

At PT 2003, Mike Matlack, APTA’s Assistant Director of Grassroots & Political Affairs, spoke with RBNA representatives regarding the Care to Share campaign and why we need support to move our issues forward. Our president, David Emerick, PTA also shared during his presidential address on why it’s important to be involved in the legislative process.

Affiliate members in South Dakota and nationwide will be receiving a letter/phone call regarding the Care to Share campaign this summer. We hope that you will participate with at least a donation of $30 to PT-PAC to help promote greater participation of the National Assembly in electing friends of physical therapy and in issues that impact our profession.