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
E25 - Chapter Updates with President Nick Weber
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We celebrate Nebraska’s new PT and PTA graduates while making the case for staying connected through APTA to strengthen the profession and reduce burnout. We also break down timely state and federal policy updates that could shape workforce, reimbursement, postpartum care, and access to physical therapy across Nebraska.
• Graduation season highlights and why association membership keeps the PT community together
• Nebraska Rural Health Workforce Incentive Program basics, eligibility, award types, and the end-of-June deadline
• Differences between the workforce incentive program and Nebraska loan repayment, plus why you cannot do both
• Federal RISE Act designation ruling and how lower federal loan caps could impact the DPT pipeline and access to care
• New federal bills to repeal MPPR in Medicare and to boost postpartum physical therapy awareness through HHS education
• Simple ways to track legislation and take action using the APTA Advocacy app
• Upcoming APTA Nebraska nominating and legislative committee meetings and why networking matters
• A practical framework for involvement: support, show up, steer
Anyone that wants to participate, please reach out to Nick. You can find my email on the APT Nebraska website.
Episode Links:
APTA Nebraska: Nebraska Physical Therapy Association
Welcome And What We Do
SPEAKER_01Welcome 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_02Welcome back to the APTA Nebraska Podcast. My name is Brad Dexter, your host, and I'm joined today by our fearless president, Nick Weber. Nick, how's it going?
SPEAKER_00Good. Hi, Brad. Thanks for having me back.
SPEAKER_02Hey, just re-elected to another term. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thanks. Excited to be back for another two.
SPEAKER_02Um, well, hey, as is our custom when we get together, we we kind of go through uh, you know, whatever's laying on the president's desk for these podcasts, right? That typically uh kind of floats around advocacy issues that are going on, any practice updates within our state, anything else that's kind of come across your desk since
Spring Highlights And Family Sports
SPEAKER_02then. Uh but before we jump into those things, let's just do a little icebreaker question. Let's talk to our audience about maybe what our highlights have been over the last month. I'll let you go first, okay?
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um well, let's start with uh uh Friday night not too long ago. Uh the Arthritis Foundation had their uh their night at the Storm Chasers game with our partnership, got to attend that. Uh, had a lot of people there to support that organization and a fun event. Uh every every year, I always take my family with me, always a fun night uh to go catch a storm chasers game. How about you?
SPEAKER_02Did you have good weather too?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, couldn't complain at all. Yeah, it was great.
SPEAKER_02Um mine mine's actually a baseball game as well. So just took my son down to um the Nebraska-Iowa baseball game this past Saturday. Um and was it this past? Yeah, it was this last Saturday. And uh Nebraska had just, you know, kind of smacked Iowa on Friday night, 10 rundown, and then Saturday, kind of this. I mean, it was going in the same direction. Um, I think Nebraska was up like 7-0, and then middle innings kind of fell apart with pitching a little bit. Um and Nebraska ended up winning the game 15 to 11, but uh so a lot of runs scored. It was an exciting game, but some highs and lows throughout there. But uh, you know, for my son, it was uh I think that was the first Nebraska baseball game I had taken him to. We're big Husker fans, and he uh it was just fun to watch him. He was he was thrilled, uh, you know, and just get getting into the game the whole time too. So it was a blast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the back and forth keeps it engaging. Now, hey, you're uh if I remember right, you you coach kids' events and stuff, sporting events. You do that in the spring?
SPEAKER_02Um you know what? It's actually been a couple years since I've been coaching in the spring. I so I used to coach a lot of soccer during the spring, but my my oldest got out of soccer, and my youngest uh plays on a team where they have a coach. And uh my my youngest, my son, uh I would have coached him this year, but he's been rehabbing a femur fracture from the fall. So we uh I did not coach him this spring, but I will be coaching flag football this coming fall.
SPEAKER_00So nice, yeah. That's a fun thing. My uh my oldest was on her first soccer team this spring, and so I'm helping out a little bit, and it's been fun. We uh we tied our first game. We lost the first, I don't know how many, but uh we're getting a little better.
SPEAKER_02Do you have a background in soccer?
SPEAKER_00Uh no, I mean I played as a kid too, but sure it was not a sport I excelled at per se.
SPEAKER_02So are we talking, are we at the level where it's just kind of bunch ball, like everyone with the ball?
SPEAKER_00Looks like a rugby game, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. I I forget who told me this early on, but and it works in a lot of different sports. Um, but just that giving the kids that concept of hey, give the ball space, just give the ball space, and they they start to gradually move away from it. It you know, it takes like six years, but they finally get there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly what's going on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, hey, uh thanks for some highlights and a little bit of conversation to to get things
Graduates And Staying In The PT Family
SPEAKER_02rolling. Um, hey, let's jump into another highlight. It is May right now. That means we have graduates from PTA programs, from PT programs throughout the state. Um, so congratulations to all of our graduates. Um, Nick, I know you're pretty involved in bouncing around to the different programs and um really just kind of highlighting APTA Nebraska to them, ways to get involved or at least encouraging involvement at a national level if they're leaving our state. Um do you have anything you want to say to our graduates from May here, or even anything else that you want to highlight in those regards?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, uh, you know, I appreciate to the schools that let us uh come in for an hour or two every year, like the week before graduation, and and just uh congratulate the graduates uh as they're getting ready to set off on new careers. Uh, it's really it's really a fun time to meet with them and uh just you know, you can see the excitement on their face, obviously, after uh years of just grinding and getting through the process as as we remember. Um, but yeah, we got to go in and and talk a little bit about just the value of uh you know the association and kind of staying in that PT family as it feels like you know you're graduating and you've had this group of people you spend every day with for you know on the PT side three years, and you know, and then all of a sudden, like you're just kind of off, right? And uh kind of divided a bit. So uh we talk about just how association keeps us together and the value of membership and strength and numbers and all the things we're trying to do together, um, and just had a lot of positive feedback about um students already kind of seeing an opportunity to get involved, and that's great to hear. Um, as well as a lot of graduates from Nebraska planning to stay in Nebraska, which is something I really took away from this year. Uh just excitement to see so many people want to be here, live here, and um have opportunity to find work here as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's um that was I I at least got to attend the one A UNMC. I didn't get to join you at Creighton, but um you know it was it was kind of fun to see the number of people that had questions afterwards and uh some of them that have already uh formally kind of gotten involved with the association as well. So uh it's been it's been a highlight to get to talk to them and uh see some of their eagerness to uh to contribute um to the strength in numbers concept and uh and bring some good energy into the association too. So I love seeing that.
SPEAKER_00For sure. I mean, I actually sat on a call with the early professional group, uh special interest group recently, and and they've already, you know, latched on to some of those new grads and that wanted to get involved. And so great to see them, you know, start to get infused into that early professional group as well. It's it's just a lot of excitement right now about around the profession and and uh a group of young people that are energized and want to, you know, help the association move forward.
SPEAKER_02Um, you know, one of the things that you talked about in each of those meetings at at least the UNMC at Creighton to the the DPT graduates uh was the Nebraska Rural Health Workforce Incentive Program.
Rural Workforce Incentives And Medicaid Access
SPEAKER_02Um, you know, certainly applicable to our new graduates. Do you want to talk a little bit more about that here?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Yeah, the the state has opened up applications. Um and this comes out of that rural health transformation program um that came from last summer, and so the the applications are finally open, um, but it's a pretty short window. So, you know, what the state is trying to do is uh retain providers that are uh currently uh assisting the Medicaid population, um, as well as try to create opportunity um for more access. So uh there's essentially two award types. So for patients that are for sorry, for providers that are um currently treating the Medicaid population, they're looking to just increase by a small percentage year over year within their current practice. Um but for those that you know see an opportunity maybe to expand services, uh there's a there's a higher award type. And so, you know, it's open to anybody, but for even these new grads as they go out, this is an opportunity to latch on to some additional funds if you're gonna be practicing in Nebraska. And it doesn't matter if you're practicing in Omaha, Lincoln, you know, across the state, wherever, um, there's potentially funds here. And so the state has a list of providers uh that they're looking for and PTs on that list to just kind of create more access for this patient population. And so, yeah, I highly encourage people to look into this program. I know applications are due at the end of June. Um, so it's something that they need to move quickly on, but uh it's something they can find on the uh Nebraska Health and Human Services website, a lot of information there for them, and and recommend they go take a look at that.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, again, I think I followed up with a number of students that were pretty um pretty good pretty eager to find out about that, and we're starting to do some research on it uh already as well. So certainly that's um Nebraska is not the only state with rural um rural health workforce issues um having having difficulty getting people. I was just talking with uh with a colleague out in the panhandle in Nebraska recently about um the the lack of of PTs within that region. Um you know, I think it was like an hour and a half away for access to a PT uh where she was. So, you know, a program like this I hope can continue to incentivize individuals to get into those areas and to provide high-level care to um to the folks of our state that live there too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know, Brad, based on what you said, I think it's an important distinction too that this is a separate program from the Nebraska loan repayment program that was previously in place, right? So the state had previously identified those uh kind of provider deserts, and like you're saying, where we where we needed more providers. Um, and so those are different funds where the state will pay your lender directly if you're willing to work in some of those uh counties of need. Um, and the the one thing is you can't do both programs. So, in that sense, it's important to look into both and see which ones maybe a better fit for you as a provider.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, good distinction. Um, all right, let's shift gears and get into some federal topics here.
RISE Act Ruling And Loan Caps
SPEAKER_02So uh you brought up a few legislative matters at more of a federal level that have come about. One of those was removal, potential removal of MPPR through a bill. Um, there's another one on optimizing postpartum care. And then maybe you can just talk uh real briefly about the Department of Education's final ruling with the RISE Act that came out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, maybe we start there, huh? Because that's I know that's a big one for a lot of people. Um, yeah, so the Department of Education finally came out with their final ruling around uh the professional and the graduate degree designations. Unfortunately, despite all the advocacy that I know took place, uh, we were not able to get them to change our designation from graduate to professional. So based on PT still sitting in that graduate designation, uh, there's just a lower cap essentially, right? For for the amount of loans that our future students will be able to take out. Uh we we really think this is gonna impact workforce issues down the road. And and so I think even though the final ruling came out, you know, the the advocacy doesn't stop. So, you know, what I know talking to some folks at APTA National, um, they're thinking there might even potentially be some legal ramifications around this, and and maybe one hope is if if that's the case, uh this ruling gets frozen while the courts kind of work it out. Um, but if not, there is legislation that's already been introduced um in both the Senate and in the House federally. Um, I know Don Bacon has already signed on to one of those uh particular bills, and we're we're in discussions with our other legislators trying to encourage them to get involved as well. Um, so I think you know it's something we're just gonna have to continue to work for toward and um hopefully we can make a change this year. But if not, you know, we have a responsibility to to speak out and and really inform our legislators on what this impact is as we go. I think we'll have to kind of track it. Hopefully, um, you know, you gotta hope that the impact is smaller than we're projecting, but um, you know, I don't know. I don't know if that's really possible at this point. So we'll see where it goes. Uh, but this is gonna be one of those things we need to continue to keep on the minds of our legislators.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh Nick, feel feel free to fill in some of the gaps here for me, too. But um, just for our listeners, if you're not familiar with the RISE Act, um, that was part of the big beautiful bill that came out last year. Um, and essentially what it did is it it it kind of peeled away some professions uh from what would be considered a professional, which ultimately impacts the amount of federal loans that they're able to receive, correct?
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_02And and so it wasn't just PT, it was also occupational therapy, it was physician assistant, it was nursing, and probably a few more um that were in that, right? But but we're talking allied health professions that kind of got peeled off of that professional designation. Um, and and so to what Nick is talking about, you know, this isn't just an APTA thing. We've got a lot of national organizations that are trying to uh to work together on this and advocate um uh in these regards within our uh our profession, the APTA, the Academy of Education, the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy, like all of those organizations have been working together pretty well among all of the other professional organizations at a national level, uh, trying to get word out. And, you know, I was pretty proud of some of our students at uh legislative day back in February. Um, you know, while this is more of a federal issue, not a state issue, uh, I know several of them started just engaging with some of their state representatives to kind of talk through what some of the issues they were anticipating could come from uh this type of legislation as well. So interesting stuff. I I don't understand uh how all of this is going to play out in the long run. You can only hypothesize a little bit and and listen to people that are smarter than you, or at least that you think are smarter than you, but um uh it's it's certainly something to continue watching because it's not it's not just going to affect students entering into um uh DPT programs, it's likely going to impact workforce as well.
SPEAKER_00Which then leads to access to care and it just you know, right, it goes it goes a lot of bad places from there. So you're right, we gotta just continue to watch this and and see what impact it has. I think the the intention in a way was good, right? Like I I I think a lot of us NOAPTA is in favor of trying to get tuition under control. Um I think that was kind of the original intent of this. I I just think putting the burden on you know future students is probably not the way to go about it. Um so yeah, uh hopefully there's there's better ways to address the b elephant in the room, as we want to say. Um, but I don't think this is is necessarily the correct step.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a hard, it's a hard thing. You know, my only analogy is I often try to do DIY projects around my house, and sometimes the DIY fix that I have for something impacts something else down the chain, right? So you have your intended consequences, and then there's the unintended consequences of what you're trying to fix. And uh this is probably just another one of those circumstances, too.
SPEAKER_00I'm very familiar with that problem as well.
SPEAKER_02I'm not the only one. No, no, no, uh, you know, short side story. I don't know, somewhere around COVID, I I tore out a bathroom downstairs just like everyone else that started working on their houses around that time. And I think it took me at least two and a half years to realize I'm not gonna put this back together on my own. I think I I need help. Uh it has it has gotten put back together now, but I did require help.
SPEAKER_00So I you know, I appreciated individuals like you who tried to take on those projects because now um, as I even consider them, I don't have to go buy my own tools. I I've learned from those of you that I heard doing these things, like who's got a tile cutter, who's got you know whatever I can go steal.
SPEAKER_02There you go. Um, you're you're benefiting from those that have gone before you.
MPPR Repeal And Postpartum Outcomes Bill
SPEAKER_02Um all right, how about legislation to remove MPPR and uh optimizing postpartum care?
SPEAKER_00Yes, you know, uh we talked about it at the business meeting, uh at the annual conference, but just this push both in Nebraska as well as at the national level, where advocacy is right now the priority. Um so good to see at the national level, you know, kind of some some early signs of follow-through on that. Uh a bill was introduced that would repeal MPPR from the Medicare system. Folks here in Nebraska will remember that as we went through that big fight with Blue Cross a couple of years trying to do just that. Um, but would love to see that get taken care of at the Medicare level. And then we would hope that that would kind of trickle down into all the private groups as well. Um, and then you mentioned the the optimizing postpartum outcomes act. Really excited about this one. This is one that APTA has been working on for a while, um, something that they've continued to try to move forward um despite maybe a little bit of slow progress early on. But now it's uh bipartisan legislation and has been introduced in both the House and the Senate. Uh, and what this legislation would do would just task uh health and human services with doing a big kind of educational thing for 30 days. And so essentially it um it would inform the general public on the value of physical therapy after uh delivery, as well as there's an ad or kind of an educational campaign to directly to providers to also inform providers and make sure that they recognize the value of uh physical therapy services kind of in that fourth trimester. So uh we're hoping this one gets across the finish line. I think it's a really good thing for our profession, and we and we know it's a service that has a ton of value. Unfortunately, not enough individuals are taking advantage of those services still at this time. So uh hopefully this will get across the finish line and change that.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um, and for our listeners, if you guys are interested in continuing to follow some of that legislation, uh, I'd highly, highly encourage getting the APTA Advocacy app. That's a great place to kind of stay up on some of the uh the topics that um APTA National is involved in. Uh, and it's really, really low bar to be able to engage with your senators, uh to send letters quickly, uh, and to understand what the issues are at hand too. So APTA Advocacy app would be your hub to continue following some of those things at a national level.
Committee Meetings And How To Join
SPEAKER_02Um, Nick, let's uh let's just shift uh shift away from more national things and come back to our local association here. So you have a couple meetings coming up uh later this month in May and then in June. So May you're gonna be getting together with the nominating committee, June you're getting together with legislative committee. Can you just talk briefly about each one of those?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm we again we mentioned at the at the business meeting, state conference, how we've uh kind of rebooted our nominating committee. Uh we've got a new group this year um with a kind of a new direction and new intentions, uh mostly around networking, right? We we have a lot of people that are really well connected, but maybe they just haven't been in the right role. Um so we're hoping with being very intentional uh with who who we've been able to add to the nominating committee uh to just be able to better network and then hopefully uh get people into more roles within our association to continue to move us forward. So we're meeting at the end of the month. Um, but we what the reason I wanted to talk about this today is that we welcome more. If anybody else is interested in kind of serving in that role, uh even without like some big you know, chair title, say whatever. Uh, we're just looking for more people to contribute and help us identify the right candidates for for future service. So that's coming up here end of May. And then uh in June, we're gonna pull together our legislative committee. Uh, with the primary elections just kind of wrapping up. Uh, we've had some meetings with our lobbyists now, and then so starting to look at um kind of maybe with what candidates we want to support come November, uh, as well as starting to already think about you know, what legislation do we not want to kind of tee up for 27 and 28? Um, and maybe what opportunities are are there to collaborate with other associations, other provider groups with that legislation going forward. So that'll all kind of that planning will start in June. And again, welcome anyone that wants to be a part of those meetings to reach out to myself and uh help me to include them in those meetings.
SPEAKER_02That's that's excellent. Um, you know, with with nominating committee, you know, when you're talking about having a few more people join if people are interested, that that one's really about networking in a lot of ways, right? It's just understanding, hey, who might be a good fit even to join a committee. The more people we can get on some of these committees, the better, right? We can start doing some better planning for the future. It's easier for knowledge translation, passing on what we know um uh within those within each of those committees and groups. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_00So uh and even yeah, Brad, you know, even for our new professionals who, you know, maybe don't feel like they have this huge network yet, we welcome them as well as an opportunity to to help you in that path to networking. Um, and then maybe you know, growing into one of these roles down kind of down the line.
SPEAKER_02So absolutely.
Support Show Up Or Steer
SPEAKER_02Um I I keep from a membership standpoint, I just keep thinking uh, you know, there's different levels to membership. You can support, you can show up, and you can steer. Um, and the support is fantastic. I think we have a number of people that just know there's good work going on. They continue to to pay chapter dues on an annual basis, and and that's phenomenal. Um, and then showing up, showing up matters, right? Showing up for state conference, for district meetings, for events that are going on. Um there's some element of showing up even on a committee. If you're on a committee, uh that's really, really valuable. It energizes, it brings new ideas. Um sometimes it helps stop bad ideas, right? Like uh it could be prophylactic in those ways. Uh and then steering, right? Not not everyone needs to to lead or to steer, but um we continue to just look for for people in each one of those tiers, right? And so if you if you haven't thought about that in that way before, I hope that you might. I hope that you might think about where you could fit in. Um, we all have a little bit of an inferiority complex, probably, or or imposter syndrome. Um, you're you are welcome. Everyone is welcome to be a part of what is going on at the chapter level.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, every every little bit helps. Um, you know, it keeps us all energized to be connected and it really helps us prevent burnout. So we welcome any amount of support you all can give us.
SPEAKER_02If you are interested in joining either of those meetings, um again, do you have do you have the dates for those off the top of your head, Nick?
SPEAKER_00The nominating one is May 20th. I don't have the legislative one set just yet, um, as I'm still kind of reaching out trying to identify what the best time for that is. But again, uh anyone that wants to participate, please reach out to me. You can find my email on the APT Nebraska website. Um and yeah, happy to include you. We'll we'll probably do both of those in a kind of a hybrid format where there'll be an in-person option or welcome anyone that wants to zoom in as well.
SPEAKER_02Excellent.
Deadlines Discounts And Final Congrats
SPEAKER_02Uh last couple of things I have. Uh for anyone that is planning on or is interested in getting your specialty certification, uh, just a heads up that the early bird deadlines for those specialty certification applications is July 1st. So that's gonna come up upon you probably quicker than you anticipate. Um and uh don't don't hesitate to reach uh or to get onto the APTA national website and check out the membership deals that exist there. Um, you know, I was just looking into one of those recently for some tickets to Worlds of Fun. Uh so we're gonna try to get there pretty soon as a family, and uh certainly gave a nice discount uh for us as we were looking into the tickets for that. Nick, can you? Sounds fun.
SPEAKER_00Can I come?
SPEAKER_02Uh no, I didn't get any tickets for you. But okay. But I would encourage you to look on the website and uh see if there might be some more discounts for you there.
SPEAKER_00I'll go check that out. We gotta get the family on a vacation still this summer, so I'll go check that out myself.
SPEAKER_02I love it. Uh hey, any parting words?
SPEAKER_00Uh just another congratulations to our graduates this month. Really excited for their opportunity and and hope they go on to do great things.
SPEAKER_02I love that. Maybe uh instead of the typical outro to this podcast, I can get this is a shout out to Nate Holm, who does a lot of the post-production work. Uh maybe Nate can throw in like vitamin C's graduation song or something that's graduation oriented uh just to celebrate all of our new grads. Uh and we'll make it as cheesy as possible. Um Nick, thanks for the conversation. Um thanks for sharing your highlights earlier, and I'll look forward to the next one of these audience. I hope that this was informative, helpful, and maybe just a little bit uh entertaining for you all. Be well.
SPEAKER_01Stay 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.
