APTA Nebraska Podcast
The APTA Nebraska Podcast dives into the stories, challenges, and innovations shaping physical therapy in our state. We’re here to advance, promote, and protect the practice of physical therapy, build our community, and optimize the health and quality of life for all Nebraskans.
APTA Nebraska Podcast
E13 - Chapter Updates with President Nick Weber
Brad and Nick catch up to share updates and insights from Nick’s recent road trip across Nebraska. We talk about what Nick heard on the road, how personal testimony can drive policy change, and why strong member turnout matters for reimbursement and workforce advocacy. Plus, we dig into new clinical practice guidelines, a Blue Cross payment timing update, and upcoming events designed to strengthen community and professional voice.
In this episode:
• Statewide advocacy themes from recent town halls
• What we can learn from midwives’ testimony strategy
• September highlights and the October family event
• Omaha’s upcoming neurological PT conference
• Leadership retreat details and timing
• Expanding library of clinical practice guidelines
• Blue Cross payment cycle changes—and how to prep for cash flow impacts
• Strategic plan survey priorities and member feedback
• Burnout, purpose, and finding joy in care
Links:
Welcome to the APTA Nebraska podcast, where we dive into the stories, challenges, and innovations shaping physical therapy in our state. We are here to advance, promote, and protect the practice of physical therapy, optimizing the health and quality of life for all Nebraskans. Join us as we connect with experts, share insights, and build community throughout our profession.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, welcome back to the APTA Nebraska podcast. I'm Brad Dexter and joined again by Nick Weber. Nick, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_02:Doing great. Thanks for having me back.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, glad to have you. Um hey, I have to tell you, I think a couple of the podcasts that you have done have our highest listening rates so far. So it it may be the sound of your voice, maybe it's the content. I'm not sure, but but I think we're on to something.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Well, I'm a little surprised by that, but I'll I'll take that as a victory.
SPEAKER_01:Fantastic. Uh well, hey, what we've typically done uh when we bring you on, Nick, uh we're trying to make sure that we share uh some of the things that are going on from an advocacy standpoint, from a practice update standpoint in our state. Um I know that we have some events that we want to share again today as well. So why don't you start us off with some of the things that have been going on from an advocacy or practice update standpoint?
SPEAKER_02:Sure. Um on the I'll start on the advocacy side. So in September, I was um I took I did my annual roadshow, I guess as I call it, and went out and visited businesses. Uh we had a town hall uh in North Platte one night, and uh just just the goal really with these has been uh to get face to face with members and to hear what's going on, um, get a better understanding of of what it's like to be a practicing clinician really all across the state, um, and be able to use that information as our executive team, you know, tries to make decisions and lead us in the best direction. Um, and so I had another great trip, um, got to meet you know more clinicians that I had I hadn't got to meet yet in my time um in this role. And so it was great to hear from everybody. You know, and on the on the back end, I like to reflect and and and think about, you know, what were the themes, and and unfortunately, some of those themes are again, you know, challenges with reimbursement, staffing, uh you know, not necessarily things different from years past. And I think, you know, we're in a place now where uh practic you know, providers and practice owners are ready to do something about it. And so I guess I'm excited about that, this push to you know, what can we do? People wanting to get more involved in the association as well as involved in advocacy. So what we're doing right now is is trying to pull together a list of things that we can you know really bite off in 2026, uh, you know, and looking for partners um really across the state and other healthcare uh systems, as well as uh other types of providers. Because we we believe that some of these things, and I don't think it's a a secret that you know there's challenges in reimbursements in other professions too, and workforce. Um so looking for opportunities, uh whether it's it's getting into schools and trying to promote healthcare professions at maybe a younger age and just the the benefits that come with it, the the value you feel as a provider when you can help others get that message out, as well as you know, looking for things that maybe we do need to legislate and where we can find partnerships there as well, um, and just deliver that message from a variety of different points of views. And so I I think I think we'll be able to achieve a lot of that in 2026. Um, but my message back was, you know, these same individuals that are sharing these stories need to come to the Capitol and deliver those messages to the senators. Um they don't always want to just hear from me, they want to hear these actual, you know, as a third party delivering those stories, they want to hear those stories from those individuals who are in that experience. So I think uh we'll have a better kind of attendance in that arena in 2026, and I think that'll be really powerful. So hopefully we can start to make some positive change from there going forward.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, you were telling me a little bit, you know, kind of like an anecdote of um midwives uh in the state of Nebraska and how they are advocating for um uh for themselves as providers. Can you can you just share that story with us?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I was attending a hearing that particular day for a 407 scope of practice uh bill, right? And so it was on the docket for as the third of three uh bills for a hearing that particular day in the Health and Human Services Committee. So I got there at the beginning not knowing how long the other two bills were gonna go. And it was a full room, and I didn't really look ahead to see what the other two topics were, but uh it was clear that there was uh a lot of interest in one of them. So it happened to be uh midwives providers were looking for improved access um to really use what they're trained to do, like is I get my understanding of it, anyways. Um, it happened to be something that like Nebraska's the last state in the country to give rights in this certain way to midwives. It was pretty clear that they were very passionate about this topic and had been working it for a long time. Well, so much so that there were 25 practitioners there that day who all testified. And it was powerful. I mean, it was just the the fact that like one after another came up and told a little bit different story, but just how it had impacted them, how it was impacting Nebraskans, um, and how it was going to continue to be a problem. And that's exactly what we're looking for from our memberships and our providers to show up and share their stories uh because that's what that's what the senators want to hear. And we saw that that bill raced through the legislature this year. Uh, because it they you know, I can I can pass along stories and but they don't they want to hear it from person that was in the experience. And so, you know, whether it's reimbursement or the variety of things that that we're often down there talking about in Lincoln, uh if provide if we can get providers to show up like that, we're gonna have a lot more success. And so that was just one example of uh the benefit sometimes of kind of dropping everything that's going on, as challenging as that is, and you know, make you know, doing doing your obligation to to show up and testify for five minutes in the middle of a Tuesday or whatever, it's a challenge for sure, but um, it means a lot when when that happens.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, it's a really great story. I I think it it kind of shows the power behind having numbers like in person, right? It's one thing to have uh the information on a piece of paper in in front of our legislators. It's a different thing to have faces and voices and real stories that are that are coming forward um and just almost pounding them over and over and over again, right? Um, so no, it's a really great, really great story. I appreciate that. Um what else is going on?
SPEAKER_02:Well, you know, we had a really busy September, right? We we had the town hall, uh we had a spot at Husker Harvest Days this year. Um, I heard there was something close to 90,000 attendees. Um, so it was a great opportunity for us to just promote our profession. Uh we've got uh student conclave in September and uh pub night, so a lot of just great things were happening in September, and we're really looking forward to October now and some of the more events we've got coming up. Um I'm excited about baseball the ween. That's the one top of my mind because that's at least maybe the one I'm in charge of. Uh we're doing for the first time something, it's so it's a essentially like a big trunk or treat type of event, uh, family friendly. Bring the kids, and I've heard they're gonna have about five, they're expecting about 5,000 kids to come through at Werner Park on October 24th. And we have one of the activity stations this year. So we're doing um eye bowling. So we're gonna our costume theme is gonna be pirates. We'll be all wearing eye patches uh to go along with our theme of eye bowling. And uh, we bought about 100 pounds of candy to give away. So we're hoping people will bring bring the family out and come do the event. And then there's a there's a movie on the jumbo screen, Halloween-themed movie on the jumbo screen. Uh, so it runs from five to eight o'clock. So that's the one I'm thinking about. I know there's a bunch more in the soap note that people should check out. Uh, but yeah, we got a lot going on right now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, a few others in the in the soap note that I'm looking at right now, too. Um there's uh virtual exploration of Omaha area residency programs on October 7th from 6 to 7. The Academy of Neurological Physical Therapy is in town for their annual conference October 16th through 18th. Um so that's pretty cool. That's coming to Omaha. We're hosting that uh here. And then there's also a leadership in physical therapy care uh coming up in November on the 8th and 9th. Um it's a retreat at the YMCA Camp Kitaki. Uh and so you know, if you guys are interested in that, I'll make sure that I link to the the soap note in the show notes. Uh so that if you're a member, you're able to access that uh pretty pretty simply, pretty easily. Um Nick, anything anything in regards to practice updates?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, the thing that comes to mind is uh just more, I'm just constantly seeing more and more clinical practice guidelines come out. I don't know if you've looked, Brad, lately, but I uh was just peeking at it the other day. And there's 25 pages of different clinical practice guidelines now on the APTA website, which is just awesome. Um to just be able to comb through there and and almost find probably about anything you need help on. Uh so I think something we're trying to do as an association now is just get the the message out more about those resources. Um they are free access and they come from a variety of places, you know, the different academies and even different uh provider groups. I know there's a number of different surgeon groups who contribute to that information as well. Uh so yeah, we've been trying to we're trying to do a better job of pointing everybody uh to those particular things. And then uh the other one, maybe the big one from a practice standpoint that I that I want to highlight is uh there's been a change in the way that uh Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska is gonna process payments starting in November. So historically, what they've done is uh they'll process payments for anything that they've collected that's at least a week old, and they're gonna push that timeline to three weeks, which in a way is a positive step because um for those of you that are in uh kind of the billing collection side of things, you know that you know you submit a reimbursement, you get paid, then all of a sudden there was an error, a correction, and the payer is asking you for 13 cents back or some small bill, and it just creates an administrative burden. So creating this bigger window where they're gonna they're gonna hold claims for a little bit longer and then process them should help reduce that problem or that that's been going on. I think the challenge is it's just this transition. So now there's gonna be a two-week window starting November 1st, where if you're used to getting your regular payment from Blue Cross as a company, you got to wait, you're gonna have a two-week window where you're not gonna get paid. Um, so that's gonna create just some expense challenges, I would expect. So uh I hope everyone's aware of that. If you haven't seen it, it's in the provider bulletin from Blue Cross, uh, came out in August. So that's going into effect November 1st. So I want to make sure everyone's aware of that so they can prepare.
SPEAKER_01:Excellent. Anything else top of mind?
SPEAKER_02:Uh the last one would just be if I can share real quick. Um, we're getting ready to do our strategic plan for APT Nebraska for the 26th through 29 cycle. Um, we have sent out a survey to our membership just asking for feedback on a number of things, and we'll be compiling that data uh, I think starting October 6th. And so I believe that the survey closes October 5th. So would love for everyone to just take maybe 10 minutes to fill that out, uh, give us your thoughts so that we can utilize that as we sit down as a group of um our executive board and all of our committee chairs and just kind of work through that um planning for the next few years.
SPEAKER_01:Do you wanna do you wanna maybe just say some of the things that would be on that survey, Nick?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, I think you know, APTA just uh is working on theirs now and has kind of highlighted some of their priorities. Obviously, reimbursement is number one by far nationally. Um, and we're gonna do what we can locally as well. There, I I would think. Um, but there's there's other things, right? Like um, you know, should we be looking at scope of practice? Should we um be doing things to enhance membership value? Are there certain resources that that people want better access to? Are there better membership benefits we should be offering? Um cost, all those kind of things are included in the survey. And so we want we want feedback on that. And and then there's just open text options, right? So if we just completely miss something that we create as we created this survey and someone has feedback for us, we want to hear from that too.
SPEAKER_01:That's great. Uh again, that's just another way to make sure that your voice is heard. Um, it's a way to get connected into the organization. Um, hey, I'll just say, you know, I was thinking as you were talking earlier about you know going um going and advocating uh in front of some of our state senators, right? Like I've been guilty over the course of my career of just kind of in the back of my mind thinking, uh, yeah, someone else will do that for me. So someone else will do that. Um and I'm just realizing more and more, um, call it naivety on my own part, right? Um, but I'm just realizing more and more, no, I don't know that someone else is gonna do that. Like we we've got to make sure that we're um uh we're kind of setting the direction of how we want to be practicing, right? Um and if you're not letting your voice be heard, uh it's it's not gonna be heard, right? It'll be lost.
SPEAKER_02:As you said, as you said, strengthen numbers, right? Strength in numbers. It's it's a powerful thing. And when that senator sits there for hours hearing testimony after testimony on on what is going on in the state, that stays with them, right? Versus hearing one five-minute spiel from me trying to cover the whole topic, right? If if person after person is testifying in front of them, um, that that's memorable to them. And so when that topic comes up on the floor, maybe a month later, they have that memory of, oh yeah, this is a this is an important thing that's that's impacting a lot of Nebraskans.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. I this is uh this is maybe just a plug for a future podcast that's gonna be coming down the pipe. But um, you know, I want to talk about the prevalence of burnout, um, not just in healthcare, but in in our profession. And one of the things that we've been trying to do on this podcast is highlighting the stories of members within our organization. And uh, hey, listen, we we all are facing different challenges, whether that's as a private practice, um, a business, small business owner, or um just recognizing that uh gosh, it's it's hard to get the time that you need with your patients in other settings, right? There's all kinds of challenges that we face. But um in some of those interviews with our members, I've been trying to focus on, hey, why do you enjoy being a physical therapist? What still brings you joy about it? Because what we do is valuable, right? It's valuable to the people that we serve. Our patients recognize that value when they get to us. Um, and and we we've got to remember that, what, right? We've got to remember our why and what we're doing uh over and over. So um I I didn't I didn't mean to like you know get really motivational there, but like that is the intent of this podcast in many ways. It's how do we connect people together? Um, how do we strengthen our organization a little bit more so we can ultimately uh have a stronger voice within our state? Um and we we can find more joy in the way that we're practicing physical therapy too.
SPEAKER_02:I I completely agree. I mean, we all have our reasons for getting into this profession, and I would bet none of us would be like, oh, it was about reimbursement and salary.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Right. And so I, you know, that's not what we want to be top of mind all the time. But in order to get back to doing what we love and just being able to do it comfortably and for the joys and the reasons we got into this, uh, you know, this is where we're at. And we need to we need to fight these battles right now so we can get back to that. And hopefully that helps uh take care of some of the burnout issues that we're seeing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Fantastic. Nick, thanks for your time. Uh, appreciate you joining the podcast. Uh again, the views or the listens are probably not views, no one's watching any of this, right? Uh the listens uh are probably gonna skyrocket on this one just just because your voice is is uh entering into the conversation.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it's great. Maybe, yeah, maybe if we can keep getting the numbers up, we can go to more of a viewing podcast in the future.
SPEAKER_01:There you go. Yeah, we'll we'll find a full studio and everything. Well, listeners, thanks for thanks for listening into this. Um I hope that some of this information was valuable to you and and uh we'll continue bringing it forward uh uh as we as we keep walking together.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for tuning in to the APTA Nebraska podcast. Stay connected with us for more conversations that elevate our profession and improve the lives of Nebraskans. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and join the discussion. Because together, we're driving the future of physical therapy forward.
