Legislation Update

At the spring PTWA conference and update on legislation relevant to physical therapy was given by our Legislative Committee Chair Elain Armantrout and Lobbyist Melissa Johnson.

1. The state of Washington approved a state wide Falls Prevention budget

2. 1103. This was the bill we were lobbying for at Rally Day 2008. It is a 5 yr pilot project that has granted the nursing and medical commission authority for their own professions. This bill will:

- Allow the commissions to hire their own staff and manage their own budget 

- Allow the commissions to discipline individuals in their own profession for misconduct 

- Promote similar sanctions across the profession for misconduct

- Allow the boards to petition to use money from the budget for discipline cases taken to court.

- Chiropractic and Dentists declined to participate in pilot project.

3. PTA licensure passed. Newly graduating PTAs will now have to take a certification exam.

- PTAs will be required to obtain 40 ceu every two years (Same at PTs)

- Grandfather clause for currently practicing PTAs

4. RALLY DAY 2009 is now set. MARK YOUR CALENDERS!

- January 2nd, in Olympia

House of Delegates

This year the House of delegates will be discussing several issues. 

The first being branding and name recognition. Many people feel that all the credentials behind physical therapists names "muddies the waters" for the consumer. The goal will be to drop all credential initials besides PT and an academic degree such as a Ph.D.

Another issue will be the creation of grants from APTA to stimulate educating youth about activity and physical therapy.

Lastly, there is an idea to allow students who have been members of good standing for two years, and who renew within a certain timeframe, to obtain free attendance to a national conference or preview 20/20.

THE SCARY SIDE OF DRUGS

Drugs, Surgery, and PT. Drugs and surgery continue to be at the forefront for many musculoskeletal diagnosis. However, the adverse affects of these two treatments can be scary and very costly. In an article titled, "The 10 Deadliest Drugs," a 2007 study by Furberg and colleagues was published, which looked at the adverse events of drugs reported to the FDA. From 1998-2005 1,393 deaths were associated with Acetaminophen, the 5th deadliest drug ~ Scary huh! This should be a wake up call to everyone. With these kind of numbers health care professionals need to be educating their patients as well as looking for alternate first line defenses for musculoskeletal problems... Enter Physical Therapy.