The Awards committee functions to promote members of the section on Geriatrics that have provided extraordinary service to geriatric patients, to students as well as to the Academy. The specific awards extend to outstanding service and/or excellence in: clinical service, clinical education of students, academic preparation of students, volunteers in action, advocacy of older adults and the outstanding Physical Therapist Assistant in Geriatrics.
The Finance committee advises the Board of Directors on matters pertaining to the Academy’s financial needs, growth, and stability based on periodic review of income, expenditure and investments. The two specified functions of the Finance Committee are to present a balanced budget to the Board of Directors and the Membership and to annually review the Investment Policy and recommend changes to the Treasurer. These two functions generally require reviewing the budget during October and a conference call at the end of the month. Additional conference calls may be required if the Finance Committee is required to do additional tasks by the Board of Directors.
GeriNotes is the member magazine for the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy (AGPT). It is distributed five times per year: January, May, July, September and November. Some issues have focused topics pertinent to a specific area of geriatric physical therapy. These issues have authors with special knowledge in the focused area. Other issues are general with a variety of articles submitted by Academy members. Academy news and committee reports are also provided in each issue. The Editorial Board of GeriNotes meets annually at the Combined Sections Meeting. Members of the Academy are encouraged to submit articles for publication in GeriNotes. Instructions for authors are published once a year and are available here. The copyright is held by the AGPT.
The Editorial Board of the Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy consists of an Editor in Chief and 10 to 16 others that the Editor has invited to be board members. All have expertise relevant to geriatric physical therapy but not all are physical therapists. Neither are all members of the American Physical Therapy Association. The Board is responsible for the content of the Journal. This responsibility is carried out primarily by assisting with the peer-review of submitted articles. However, board members contribute also by soliciting and submitting articles and by providing feedback on Journal content and procedures.
The Membership Committee exists to recruit new members and retain current membership. Committee members formulate and implement strategies designed to inform members and prospective members of the benefits of the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy. The committee develops and promotes activities designed to demonstrate the advantages of Academy membership. Other duties include assisting with booth activities at the CSM and National Meetings, conducting exiting member surveys, as well as welcoming and encouraging all members to contribute and be involved in Academy activities. Committee member participation is flexible, depending on members time and availability.
This active committee is responsible for finding the best candidates for the elections that are held once a year. The members serve a three-year term and take on more responsibility each year until in the last of the three years the committee member is the chair of the Nominating committee. The committee meets at Combined Sections. The chair represents the committee at the Academy Board meetings, however the committee stays separate from the board to maintain their independence in finding the best candidates. They attend Member Meetings and talk to the membership to encourage leaders to run for office. The job entails phone and e-mail meetings with the other committee members and communication to the membership at large and to specific candidates.
The Payment, Policy and Advocacy Committee is concerned with monitoring federal legislation as it relates to reimbursement for physical therapy services. The Committee Chair is the Federal Affairs Liaison (FAL) who is appointed by the President of the AGPT.
The Committee Chair is responsible for facilitating the R&L Committee, which consists of volunteer members. Members assist the Chair by staying current on reimbursement issues relative to his/her region or state. Particular issues of interest include: the therapy cap, Medicare direct access, Medicare reform, Medicaid reform, PPS reform, and CPT code development. The committee communicates through email, phone calls, and at APTA conferences.
The Fall 2020 edition offers policymakers, health advocates and other interested health care professionals a detailed compendium of state telehealth laws, regulations and Medicaid policies. Please note that for the most part, states continue to keep their temporary telehealth COVID-19 emergency policies siloed from their permanent telehealth policies. In instances where the state has made policies permanent, CCHP has incorporated those policies into this report, however temporary COVID-19 related policies are not included. For information on state temporary COVID-19 telehealth policies, visit CCHP’s COVID-19 Telehealth Policy tracking webpage.
The report also includes an executive summary, which summarizes CCHP’s findings along with an “At a Glance” Infographic and Chart that highlights key data points from the report. CCHP’s online interactive map tool has also been updated with all of the newest information from this update.
Telehealth shouldn’t be allowed in emergencies only! https://www.apta.org/advocacy/issues/telehealth
The State Advocates work at the local level to advocate for older adults. Some of the responsibilities of an Advocate are: