E22 - Chapter Updates with President Nick Weber

We share a quick president’s desk update with the wins, gaps, and next steps shaping physical therapy across Nebraska. We cover the Capitol visit, where the medical liens bill stands, why our ballot needs more names, and how to stay connected through conference season and new APTA resources. 

• Takeaways from Legislative Day and strong student participation 
• Status of LB 1012 medical liens bill and unanimous committee support 
• Plan to move the bill forward through LB 912 as a legislative vehicle 
• Virtual ballot update and need for nominations, especially nominating committee roles 
• Encouragement to step up despite imposter syndrome and time barriers 
• Annual conference schedule, registration, business meeting, and banquet networking 
• SPARC resource for payer advocacy, denials, appeals, and reducing admin burden 
• Condolences to Pat Hageman and ways to find service information on association social media.

Episode Links:

• Legislative Advocacy: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=62787&docnum=LB912&leg=109
• Annual Conference: https://npta.starchapter.com/meetinginfo.php
• State Advocacy Resource Consortium (SPARC): State Payer Advocacy Resource Consortium (SPARC) | SPARC

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the APTA Nebraska Podcast, where we dive 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, 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 0:25

Welcome back to the APTA Nebraska podcast. My name is Brad Dexter, and I've got Nick Weber again with me today. How are you doing, Nick?

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Good. Hi, Brad. Good to see you and chat with you again.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yeah. Hey, uh, this is our this is our usual update from the desk of the president episode where we're trying to cover anything going on from an advocacy standpoint or any practice updates throughout the state. Uh, I really enjoyed the conversation that we had with Robert Dyer and Chris Nichols a couple weeks ago. I thought that was just enlightening to kind of hear their perspective on uh I guess their own journeys from PT to CEO of their respective systems and just the things that are going on across healthcare and uh some of the challenges that they're facing currently, too. So I thought that was a fun conversation and and hopefully this is um well, one, maybe a little bit shorter. You and I aren't going to be as um as verbose uh because we don't have as many good things to say. But uh, you know, we also just have maybe a couple quick updates to share with our membership too. So um last thing with you, Brad.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

That was a fun conversation and uh inspiring in a sense that you know, for some that maybe feel like they're stuck in a job that doesn't have the opportunity to, you know, move up in a in a role administrative, whatever. I thought that was just a a cool discussion to hear of how you can kind of go outside our profession, but still use your skill set in a really positive way.

Legislative Day Takeaways

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Yeah, I I was honestly, I mean, struck by their humility in ways, and then just the the curiosity that each one of them talked about. Um those are things that I was just kind of making mental notes of in my own mind, uh, listening to them. So uh yeah. Robert and Chris, if you're listening, we enjoyed the conversation. Uh, hopefully you guys that are listening enjoyed it as well. Um, Nick, the last time that you and I met together um was before legislative day that happened earlier in February, where we had a chance to go talk to some of our state senators at the Capitol. Uh, really good turnout, by the way, for that, wouldn't you say?

SPEAKER_02 2:34

I agree. I uh yes, it was uh a very positive day overall. I felt like we had a good clinician turnout, uh, as well as uh we had the students that came were very uh informed on our topics and spoke very well when with their interactions uh with the senators. In fact, I got some great feedback from senators that were blown away by how comfortable students were speaking to them and able to share their own personal story, whether they were from Nebraska or from outside the state and what their plans were. Uh so just yeah, all around, really, really positive day and a good day for our profession.

Medical Liens Bill Update

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, so we had a chance last time you and I were on to talk about um the bill that was covering medical liens. Um physical therapists were included on, and that was one of the topics that we discussed with some of those senators at the breakfast uh back in February, too. Would you want to give our listeners and our membership an update on where that bill's at?

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Yeah, so our bill related to the medical liens is LB 1012. Uh, we had our hearing late February and it went really well. We had no opposition uh test testifying and the questions we received. I felt like we handled really well. Uh, we got a lot of support letters submissions online. So I appreciate everyone in the community that uh took the time to do that for us. And our bill got out of committee unanimously. So we had the full support of the committee, which is huge. Um now the next steps here are our bill was not prioritized, which was not surprising. Like that's not something we were necessarily working toward. We were looking more to um attach this bill to another that had that kind of priority tag and support. Um, in fact, so that happened this week. Our bill was amended uh by Senator Hanson, who's a sponsor of our bill, into LB 912. And what I want listeners to to know about that bill is just more as a vessel at this point. It's not necessary for you to dig into exactly all the details of that bill. But that bill also has strong support from the Health and Human Services Committee, and a number of bills that got out of committee unanimously are also being attached to it. And so essentially it's just a vessel at this point. And what we think will be uh our way to get LB 1012 across the finish line before the end of the short session, uh, which isn't that far away now. So we'll track that on the floor as that uh proceeds to votes. Uh, but we're hopeful at this point that that will hopefully get done for us.

Chapter Elections And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah, that's that's good news. Um anytime makes it out of committee, that's fantastic. Um yeah, very good news and appreciate the work of many of you that are even listening that have contributed to helping that happen. Um, Nick, there's a couple other directions I'd I'd love to go. Um, just with maybe the life of our our chapter right now and what's going on. Uh, one of those would be elections that are coming up and current ballots that exist, and then the other one would be our upcoming state conference. So uh let's maybe start with elections and the ballots that are currently out. Can you give us an update on where we're at with that?

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Yeah, this is like you said, this is a busy time for us uh leading up to the conference here. So we're we're doing a virtual ballot this year. Hopefully everyone's uh seen that in their email. Uh, please take the time to open that up and and see who's been nominated and take the take the just a few minutes to respond to that. Um, I think, you know, my one disappointment with with just where we are right now as an association is is we have uh a number of people that are are very committed to the association and do a lot of work for it, uh, and others that support the work but uh are maybe not stepping to the plate uh to you know jump in when there's opportunity. So right now, if you look at the ballot, you'll see it it it looks pretty empty, unfortunately. I we didn't get the nominations that we were expecting. And I think a good chunk of that, the responsibility for that, or the you know reason for that is our nominating committee needs support. And so we actually had three nominating composition committee positions open uh this cycle and had no nominations for any of the three spots. So uh this guess this is my call out to everyone listening that if you feel like you can contribute to that group, uh write your name in on the ballot in one of those spots, and we will kind of update you or or reach out to me and I can update you on what that role looks like. But ultimately, these are the people that we want out building networks for us, um you know, speaking to what the association is doing and then recruiting future leaders in our group uh with my support and the support of the board in that role. Uh and and I'm hopeful that future ballots look a lot more competitive and and fuller in the sense that we see people want to be involved. So uh we'll track that. But please, if you if you think you have even the time to participate on the nominating committee, just write your name in on the ballot and we'll go from there.

Annual Conference And Banquet Plans

SPEAKER_01 7:47

I recognize there could be a number of different barriers for that. Um, but uh just speaking to for membership or anyone listening here too, if you have a sense that uh maybe you're not qualified uh or you're you're anything that would fall under the umbrella of imposter syndrome, right? Like it's okay, jump in. Um more hands are better than fewer hands when it comes to the life of organization. If we have more people involved, it's it's just gonna make the lift uh of the work that we're doing uh lighter and lighter. Um, and and hopefully infuse our chapter and beyond that, our profession, with a little more life and energy as well throughout the state. Um, so I appreciate the work of many people that have come before us and that are doing the work right now. We need to continue to be involved and engaged in the work that's happening at the state level. Um, Nick, let's go to uh our upcoming annual conference next. Uh any updates that you have for us regarding the conference beyond the fact that we have the business meeting on Friday, April 10th, and the conference is happening on Saturday, April 11th.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Yeah, it should be uh it looks like a good event. I think it uh last I heard we had over 200 people registered. So excited about uh the turnout we're expecting already at this point. Uh the courses look great, and uh I'm looking forward to even contributing us a small part in a couple this year as well. Uh so yes, uh Saturday's schedule looks great. So if you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, please do that and consider uh still registering for the conference. Uh we'll have the business meeting Saturday and then uh the the banquet uh for Friday night. We still planning is still ongoing, but it should be a fun event. If you haven't been in the past, it's a it's a great networking opportunity. Uh there's usually heavy hors d'oeuvres, an opportunity to kind of get a snack, um open bar for those that are 21. Um and then yeah, maybe uh we're still kind of tentatively working on an Oxford debate, and hopefully that can come together as planned against kind of the same thing, just making sure we we get people committed to it, and hopefully that'll go well. Uh, if not, uh we've got a backup plan with some entertainment. So we'll it'll be a fun event either way, but uh really hope to have a good turnout both for the banquet Friday night as well as uh the conference and business meeting on Saturday. So looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Fantastic. Yeah, uh great time to connect. Um, hopefully see some people that you haven't seen for a little while or and network and meet a few new people um that you maybe haven't known before, too. Um, Nick, is there anything else? I've got one last thing on my mind, but anything else that you want to talk about before we wrap things up?

SPARC Resource For Payer Advocacy

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Uh maybe I'll just put a plug-in for uh something that's that's come out from APTA, uh, as well as maybe something that we'll hopefully uh get into the podcast in the near future. APTA in partnership with APT Orthopedics and APTA Private Practice has uh published the State Payer Advocacy Resource Consortium, otherwise better known as SPARC, uh that has lived inside of APTA private practice for a little while. Um, but it's got a ton of great resources uh really on the advocacy front, uh, from as well as like the business side of things, how to how to deal with insurance companies, how to reduce administrative burden, um how to deal with denials and appeals, things like that. So there's great resources out there. Just you can look it up, uh S-P-A-R-C Spark. Uh, and we're hoping to get someone from the committee that built this thing on the podcast of the near future uh to tell us a little bit more about it. But great resource that's available to any APTA members. Uh, it does live behind the membership wall. Uh, but check it out. I think you'll find it's a pretty valuable resource.

Community Loss And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Thanks, Nick. And I'll make sure that I link that in the show notes uh so that you can check that out to look into it as well. And yeah, we've we've got to get someone on the podcast in the future to talk a little bit more about that too. I think that would be really, really helpful. Um, hey, my last thing, uh you know, we posted this on social media here in the past couple weeks, but uh many of you listening may know Pat Hageman. Pat has been a long time uh APTA Nebraska member, uh large part of our community, uh, has served in many roles at UNMC, one of those being program director for many, many years. And Pat's husband, Bruce, passed away late in February on February 27th. Um, and so we just wanted to give our deepest condolences and let Pat know that our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family as they continue to walk forward. Again, many of you probably know Pat, and I would direct you to Nebraska Physical Therapy Association's social media pages for information about coming services, visitations, or uh ways to even write a letter or leave a note. With that, um, Pat, know that you're appreciated uh by our community. You have many friends behind you. And Nick, thank you for your conversation today, for the things you're doing for our chapter. I know there are many others doing great work. We had a great CE event back in uh the end of February here, too. And so uh grateful for the people that have helped put that together and uh we'll keep trudging forward. So thanks for your time today, and listeners, thank you for listening.

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SPEAKER_00 13:31

Thanks for tuning in to the APK Nebraska podcast. Stay connected with us for more conversations to 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.