FLORIDA PHYSICAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION

ASSEMBLY OF REPRESENTATIVES MEETING

AUGUST 11, 2007, 5:30 p.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, HILTON

DAYTONA BEACH, FL

MINUTES

I.THE CALL TO ORDER GIVEN BY SPEAKER ELLEN O’BANNON AND THE SPEAKER LED THE ASSEMBLY IN THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.

II. INTRODUCTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING PERSONS SEATEDAT THE HEAD TABLE WERE MADE BY THE SPEAKER:

* PARLIAMENTARIAN FOR THIS SESSION AND THE APTA PARLIAMENTARIAN FOR THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES – DR. JOHN STACKPOLE

* AND FPTA AND ASSEMBLY SECRETARY – KEN JACOBS

* BRUCE ANDERSON WAS RECOGNIZED AS THE REFERENCE COMMITTEE CHAIR SEATED ON

THE FLOOR OF THE ASSEMBLY

* THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS WAS INTRODUCED AS WELL AS FPTA STAFF.

* STUDENT MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE WERE RECOGNZED AS WERE GUESTS, INCLUDING CONNIE HAUSER OF THE APTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

III.THE VOTING STRENGTH OF THE ASSEMBLY WAS DETERMED BY THE SPEAKER.

THE RULES OF THE ASSEMBLY WERE APPROVED W/O OJECTION.

IV. ANNOUNCED THAT THE MINUTES OF THE 2006 ASSEMBLY MEETING WERE REVIEWED AND ADOPTED BY THE ASSEMBLY OFFICERS.

V. NOTED THAT THE RULES OF THE ASSEMBLY WERE PRINTED IN THE JUNE UPDATE AND THEY WERE ADOPTED BY THE ASSEMBLY W/O OBJECTION.

VI REPORTS

A. OFFICERS

1. President’s Annual Report

Mark Stoff, PT, President

Mark completed one of his personal goals as president by attending district meetings in all six districts of the FPTA during this past term of office. He attended the East Central District Physical Therapy month dinner in NewSmyrnaBeach and the West Central district meeting in Lakeland this past October. In November, he attended the SED meeting in Palm Beach at a meeting hosted by Vice-President, Ellen O’Bannon. Mark also participated in Northern District meeting and the FPTA Student Conference hosted by the University of Florida in Gainesville. The NWD meeting was hosted by PensacolaJunior College on Saturday, April 14th.

Mark represented the Florida Chapter at Component Leadership meetings of the American Physical Therapy Association at Combined Sections Meeting in Boston in February and at the House of Delegates in May in Washington, D.C.

During the 2007 Florida Legislative Session, Mark met with Representative William Snyder and kept in close touch with lobbyists Martha Edenfield and Jody Chase. The FPTA will continue to seek unrestricted patient access to physical therapy services and attempt to make other needed legislative changes in future sessions of the legislature.

Mark will complete his final term as president with a perfect attendance record for all APTA and FPTA meetings over the past four years and was recognized by the APTA at the Component Leadership Luncheon in Washington on May 20th.

(The President recognized APTA Board member Connie Hauser for a presentation to the Assembly.)

Annual Report of the Treasurer

Paul Hughes, PT, Treasurer

The Financial status of the organization remains in a sound position with reserve funds of $862,979 as of

5 /31/07, which represents 102.6 % of the association’s 2007 budgeted expenses. Chapter Policy continues to require a minimum of 25 % held in the Association’s reserve funds.

Forty-six percent of the Association’s Income is from dues revenues while 54 % of income is from non-dues revenue sources. It remains a goal of the Board’s Finance Panel to maximize opportunities for non-dues revenue sources to minimize dependence on member dues and increase opportunities for membership benefits.

The Association’s reserve fund accounts remain with the Stanford Group. The Pershing Group, LLC is functioning as its new strategic clearing provider to service the brokerage account. The Pershing Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of New York Company, Inc.

The Association’s Investment Account Policy was revised by the Board for the Long Term fund to include a minimum of 30% Cash, 55% Equities, and 15% Low Correlation which includes Real Estate and Natural Resource Funds. The Board moved $100,000 of reserve funds into rotating three, six, and 12 month CDs to facilitate account stability. The Association’s checking account balance was lowered with cash moved into a money market account to take advantage of increased interest rates.

The 2007 Chapter Budget was approved at the December 1, 2006 meeting. Budgeted revenues were projected to be $881,660 with expenses to be $840,575.

All Districts’ and their Treasurer’s were provided with and updated Reference Manual for FPTA District Treasurer.

The Chapter Office Suite in Tallahassee, Florida is now wholly owned by the Florida Physical Therapy Association without any primary or secondary mortgages or liens.

Report of the Secretary

Ken Jacobs, FPTA Secretary

Since taking office, BOD minutes are now posted on the FPTA web page within 72 hours of the meeting. A summary of the BOD meetings is posted on the FPTA website and printed in the FPTA update for members to read.

B. Chapter Office

Executive Vice President’s Report

Craig Crosby, EVP

As we cross the midway point of the year FPTA secured sponsors for direct access legislation in 2007 and we have begun seeking sponsors for that legislation in 2008. We continue to keep track of regulatory issues that could have an effect upon practice and/or licensure, and monitor and respond to issues, proposed rules and changes in rules by the Board of Physical Therapy Practice.

FPTA has spent $10,000 this year with the Florida Radio News Network in March, having broadcast APTA’s new radio message on this network throughout its Florida affiliate stations. We are moving forward on the development of a new web page that will also house the new data management program that serves as FPTA’s member database. We’ve also instituted a weekly e-mail blast that includes new briefs and information both from inside and outside of FPTA. We’ve increased our visibility and marketing efforts via our career center that serves both members looking for jobs and employers looking for PTs and PTAs.

We’ve worked with our Conference Committee chair in putting on a successful Spring Conference and subsequently made recommendations to the Board in offering some changes to the 2008 conferences that we believe will enhance attendance. There has also been ongoing dialogues as well as information provided to FPTA’s Task Force on Governance, regarding their charge to look at governance issues.

We’ve employed new communications schemes within continuing education accreditation with providers and try to employ the use of electronic communications to both speed up responses, and to reduce costs. We’re continually looking at ways to reduce travel, postage and printing costs, and to utilize telecommunications as well as electronic communications whenever and wherever possible. This includes committees, as well as the Board of Directors.

C. EXECUTIVE PANEL

1. Board of Directors/Executive Committee Report

Ellen O’Bannon, Vice President

August 3, 2006

(EC)

* Approved matching funds to sponsor one member from each district to attend the APTA Leadership meeting in Atlanta, November 4, 2006.

* Agreed to renew our current Lobby contract with Pennington, Moore, Wilkinson, Bell & Dunbar P.A.

* Accepted the Audit Report & Finance update from outside audit firm (Betts, Rogers, Schenk and Jones)

(BOD)

* Accepted the 2005 Audit.

* Approved the purchase of $100,000 worth of CDs from the Short Term Reserve Fund.

November 30, 2006 (EC)

* Accepted and renewed the AAOMPT management contract as amended.

* Moved to allow our current lessee to sublet the office space for the remainder of the term.

* Approved contract to renew additional lobbying services with Chase Law Firm.

* Approved contract with Affiniscape with changes.

December 1, 2006 (BOD)

* Approved additional funds for delegates to the HOD to stay and attend in the APTAAdvocacyAcademy in Washington, DC.

* Approved the 2007 budget.

*

March 16, 2007

(EC)

* Moved to pursue a legal course of action to recoup loss of revenue from tenant including legal remedies.

* Approved $1,000. - for the FPTA Presidential candidates to come to the Tallahassee office prior to the August election.

(BOD)

* Approved a mailing to all license holders in Florida informing them of the direct access legislation filed and asking for PAC contributions.

* Approved changes to the 2008 Spring Conference format.

* Approved the submission for the APTA Emerging Leader Award.

2. Chief Delegate

Catherine Patla, PT, Chief Delegate

Post House of Delegates (HOD 07), May 20-23, 2007, WashingtonD.C.

Your Florida delegation HOD 07 represented our state fabulously.

The delegates are: Bruce Anderson, Melissa Cere, Sandy Davis, Les Fuchs, Nancy Gilman,

Ken Jacobs, Lee Jacobson, Vicki Lee, Jodi Lowe, Kevin Murdoch, Steve Musco, Shelia Nicholson, Margaret Nonnemacher,Ellen O'Bannon, Catherine Patla ,Christina Pettie,Sandy Riegor, Eric Shamus, Mark Stoff, Kathy Swanick, Arie Van Duijn

New delegates to HOD 07 are Melissa, Christina, Steve and Kathy.

SUMMARY OF 2007 HOUSE OF DELEGATES ACTIVITIES

(RCs between 1 and 40 not mentioned in this summary were withdrawn either prior to or during the House of Delegates or were postponed indefinitely)

[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 that 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 create 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 (e.g., 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.

Respectfully submitted

Catherine Patla, Chief Delegate

3. Nominating Committee

Lee Roberts, PT, DPT, Chair

Candidates on the Slate -

President:

Ellen O'Bannon (SE)

Catherine Patla (No)

Vice President:

Tracey Estok (EC)

Director at Large:

Andy Loscalzo (WC)

Bob Mann (NW)

PTA Director:

Dianna Ickes (WC)

Henry Watson (No)

PTA Caucus Representative:

Mike Mellon (WC)

Nominating Committee:

Christina Pettie (No)

Delegates to HOD:

Bruce Anderson, SE

Melissa Cere, No

Sandy Davis, No

Les Fuchs,No

Nancy Gilman, SE

Michelle Guevin, WC

Ken Jacobs, No

Lee Jacobson, No

Vicki Lee, NW

Jodi Lowe, No

Kevin Murdoch, WC

Steve Musco, No

Shelia Nicholson, WC

Margaret Nonnemacher, No

Ellen O'Bannon, SE

Christina Pettie, No

Sandy Riegor,SE

Eric Shamus, SE

Mark Stoff, EC

Kathy Swanick, SW

Arie Van Duijn, SW

4. Bylaws Committee

Bruce Anderson, Chair

The Board of Directors has proposed two bylaw amendments for this year that will be taken up during new business as FA 02-07 and FA 03-07.

The first proposed bylaw change regards the process by which the Speaker of the Assembly may be replaced upon his/her resignation as Speaker, for the unexpired portion of the individual’s term.

The second proposed amendment provides for the meeting of the Board of Directors to transact business, by telecommunications rather than only at in person meetings. The model language for this amendment was provided by Dr. Stackpole, our parliamentarian.

5. Regional Directors

Report of the West Central District

Sheila K. Nicholson, Esq., MBA, PT, Regional Director

The West Central District would like to thank every District Council member and volunteer that has demonstrated outstanding dedication and commitment to making the WCD stronger and member service oriented. It has been a rather busy year and we are excited about new faces taking on leadership roles in the district this year.

The District Council for 2006 – 2007 included:

  1. District Chair – Art Killian (Term expires 2008)
  2. Vice Chairperson – Diana Ickes (Term expires 2007)
  3. Secretary – Cindy Emery (Term expires 2007)
  4. Treasurer – Violet Parker (Term expires 2008)
  5. Physical Therapist Assistant Representative – Mike Mellon (Term expires 2008)
  6. Chief Assembly Representative – Chris Jesse (Term expires 2008)
  7. PAC Chairperson – Jeff French (Term expires 2007)
  8. Membership Chairperson – Denise Overlock
  9. Regional Director – Sheila Nicholson (Term expires 2007)
  10. Past Regional Director – Adele Carr

Newly elected officers at the June 9, 2007 business meeting to serve 2007 – 2009 included:

  1. Regional Director – Sheila Nicholson
  2. Vice Chairperson – Diana Ickes
  3. Secretary – Kim McCloughan
  4. PAC Chairperson – Michelle Guevin

District Meetings and Happenings:

On June 9, 2007 the district combined its business meeting with continuing education courses to offer 4 hours of free CEUs to member for “Medical Errors” and “The Legislative/Vision 2020 Process.”

In celebration of Physical Therapy Month the District held a meeting at LakelandRegionalHospital on October 21, 2006 where approximately 40 people participated in continuing education on Allen’s Cognitive Scale followed by a District meeting. At the meeting, FPTA President Mark Stoff answered questions for the members and participated in the District’s silent auction. That day the District was able to make over a $600 contribution to FPTA’s PAC with proceeds from the silent auction and drawing.

In December 2006 the district held its annual Christmas party to relax socialize and provide networking opportunities. The event was held at Johnny Carino’s restaurant in Brandon.

The District sponsored one student from each Physical Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant school in the district to attend the 2006 FPTA State Conference. In attendance from each school was Jessica Ward from Polk Community College, Marcus Phillips from University of South Florida, Melinda Wilfong from Manatee Community College and Eric Shamus from St. Petersburg College. The WCD has once again extended an offer to each Physical Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant school program to sponsor a student from each to attend the 2007 Annual Conference of the Florida Physical Therapy Association in Daytona Beach. Additionally, the district has over 10 members willing to sponsor individual student memberships in the APTA/FPTA. Interested students need to complete an application for sponsorship to the District Council for WCD Members to evaluate entries and make selections.

Special thanks goes out to Art Killian, Diana Ickes and Mike Mellon who presented the benefits of APTA membership to each of the Physical Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant programs in the district during August and September 2006. Art Killian presented to approximately thirty-five first year physical therapy students at the University of South Florida; Diana Ickes presented at St. Petersburg College to approximately sixty first and second year physical therapist assistant students and to Manatee Community College to approximately 20 first year physical therapist students; and Mike Mellon presented the program at Polk Community College to the first year physical therapist assistant students. Thank you again to each of you for ensuring that every first year student and some second year students in physical therapy programs within the WCD were welcomed to the profession and received information about the benefits of being an APTA/FPTA member.