California Senators Should Vote No on AB 783

SUPPORTING PTs and CALIFORNIA PRIVATE PRACTICE GROUP - WE MUST GET THE FAXES AND CALLS OUT FOR A NO ON AB 783.

Physical Therapy Practices are in Serious Jeopardy!

Private PT Businesses will Shut Down Unless You Act Now!

AB 783 passed through the Assembly.

Next it will go to the Senate Business and Professions Committee.

We MUST stop it there!

Without the proactive actions of our entire profession, the bill to legalize physician owned physical therapy services will go unchallenged, and hundreds of Physical Therapy practices likely will go out of business, putting us and 6,000 of our employees out of work!

Please help by faxing a letter and calling these legislators no later than Monday, June 6th, at the latest. Please don't delay.

Click here to download all the faxes you will need (Flash image)



We did the busy work for you.

Follow these very simple steps.

1. Enter your name and date in the fields at the top.

2. Write your story - Nothing fancy but let him know that Physician Owned Physical Therapy services have cost you money, jobs, and is hurting the profession. Tell a horror story but we need a massive outpouring of stuff coming down on this these 3 senators' heads.

2. Delete Yellow Highlights and Sign the bottom and fill in your address

3. IMPORTANT Print them out on your LETTERHEAD

4. Fax them.

5. Repeat with everyone in your office!

Feel free to customize them as you see fit.

For Phone Calls: Here are the names and phone numbers. If they ask questions, simple state the information that is contained on the fax.

Senator Lou Correa
Phone: (916) 651-4034

Senator Ed Hernandez
Phone: (916) 651-4024
Fax: (916) 445-0485

Senator Mark Wyland
Phone: (916) 651-4038
Fax: (916) 446-7382

For those of you who might feel "weird" about participating in the political process, think about it, this is why we live in America. This is your chance to have your voice be heard. (unless you don't mind working for a physician and believe, like they do, that anyone is qualified to do our job... then you can disregard this message).

Please Don't Delay.

Defeating AB 783 depends on every one of our CA members (and those out of state supporting their colleagues) taking action immediately so our voice can be heard. Our independence and livelihoods depend on it!

If you can donate - we need every penny we can muster.

The California Private Practice Group Board of Directors

PS: check www.StopPOPTs.org for regular updates

Follow us on www.twitter.com/StopPOPTs

**The California Private Practice Group is a special interest group of the California Physical Therapy Association.**

Can Florida Follow Kentucky's Co-Pay Legislative Success?

The Kentucky Physical Therapy Association (KPTA) recently advocated for and successfully passed a new law, SB 112, to prevent insurance companies from charging higher co-payments to physical therapy and occupational therapy patients than they pay for primary care doctor visits.

But, the bill was a surprise from the start...

Dave Pariser, PT, PhD, Legislative Chair of the KPTA, says...

"We had no illusions about getting this passed - we didn't think it would happen!
Our lobbyist called us when I was in New Orleans at the Combined Sections Meeting and told us this bill 'had legs' and that we needed to mobilize our Key Contacts to call our legislators".

E-mail blasts in Kentucky were used to generate and maintain a genuine grassroots effort among physical therapists and occupational therapists. Both the PT and the OT lobbyists were used to persuade legislators to support SB 112.

“This truly was a team effort,” said Mr. Pariser.
“Physical therapists, patients, and occupational therapists came together to advocate for this important legislation.
It just goes to show what we can accomplish when we put our patients first.”

The bill passed quickly in the Kentucky Senate and then unanimously, 98 - 0, in the Kentucky House.

"Be prepared to testify in front of your state legislative bodies" says Larry Benz, DPT and CEO of Evidence in Motion

"This bill is not a mandate, its a patient access bill".

How to Get Started in Your State
Many therapists are calling the KPTA to find out how they can obtain similar legislative relief in their states.

Before the bill was even written, the Kentucky leadership began by listening to their members to determine the needs of their organization.

The membership indicated "Reimbursement issues" were high on their priority list and patient co-pays were the single issue most amneable to change.

To obtain quantitative data on the extent of discrimination against outpatient PT and OT therapists, clinics should record the dollar difference between family physician co-pays and physical therapist co-pays.

Mr. Benz, recommends 20 patients each in six private practice physical therapy clinics. Put this data on a spreadsheet, he says. Do not count automobile (PIP) patients, do not count Medicare patients. Only count private insurance.

Try to find out if there is a big differential between outpatient physical therapist or occupational therapist co-pays - try to determine the extent that the large insurance companies are picking on the little guys.

Once the need for this legislation is determined, the next step is to find a legislative sponsor.

The legislative sponsor for Kentucky was State Senator Tom Buford (R).

Once the sponsor was found, the next step is to mobilize physical and occupational therapists statewide. This is done through your Key Contacts list and meetings in your district with legislators and their staff.

The Kentucky Physical Therapy Association is preparing a kit that will describe actions and strategies states can follow to repeat the Kentucky success.

President, Ramona Carper, PT, DPT:

“The Kentucky Physical Therapy Association pushed hard for this legislation because for too long we saw the detrimental effects that excessively high copays were having on patient care.
The financial implication of excessive copay amounts results in disincentives for patients to participate in physical therapy, contributing to a lack of compliance for their care.
This can result in significant recurrence and downstream costs including further surgery, imaging, and pharmacy.
We hope that SB 112 will provide the patients we serve with some financial relief for their copays and allow them to focus on their most important priority -- getting better, faster.”

Kentucky's new law, signed by Governor Steve Beshear on March 16th will go into effect June 8th, 2011.

Florida's legislative session will end May 6th, 2011 and we are hopeful that we can attach a new bill to current legislation already pending.

"All In" for Physical Therapy!

Armin Lodges, PT has created the Florida Physical Therapists in Private Practice (FLPTPP) group to organize and collaborate for physical therapists' future in Florida.

Armin has scheduled a meeting at his clinic in Tampa on November 3rd to discuss strategy.

FLPTPP - come find out! on Prezi

Armin has created these two "Prezi Slideshows" to get out the message. All interested Florida PTs should contact Armin at armin@restoretherapies.com or call 1.888.675.4331

Unifying Florida PTs in Private Practice on Prezi

Small practice therapists are at the mercy of large insurance companies and large hospitals and the recent healthcare reforms have further skewed the environment towards large, "vertically integrated" providers.

Let's all join Armin and fight for our livelihoods and for what we believe to be a better vision of healthcare for Americans.