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
E27 - House of Delegates Update 2026: Conversation with Bobby Griese and Ian Thompson
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We bring back our annual House of Delegates check-in and break down what Nebraska’s delegation sees as the most urgent moves for physical therapy right now. We connect the votes in Portland to real clinic pressures like reimbursement, burnout, student debt, and how PT and PTA roles keep evolving at the state and national level.
• What the APTA House of Delegates is and how it governs association policy
• Why payment reform is a top priority and how APTA plans to advocate with Congress
• The push to define PTs as independent practitioners and what that means for state practice acts
• Workforce sustainability concerns including burnout, documentation burden, vacancy rates, and ROI on DPT education
• Why “professional degree” classification affects student loans and access to federal lending
• PTA delegation growth and the debate over joint mobilization language awaiting a national report get involved, show up, um, be a part of what's going on.
Don't forget to subscribe, share, and join the discussion because together we're driving the future of physical therapy forward.
Welcome And Delegate Introductions
SPEAKER_02Welcome 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_03Welcome back to the APTA Nebraska Podcast. I'm Brad Dexter, your host, and I'm joined by Ian Thompson and Bobby Greasy today. Guys, how's it going? Very good, Brad.
SPEAKER_00Do them all.
SPEAKER_03Well, this is uh this is becoming our annual House of Delegates check-in podcast. Um, Bobby is our chief delegate and Ian is our PTA council representative. And so I've just been trying to get these guys back on after they go to House of Delegates to give some updates on what's going on. Before I jump into some of the specifics uh with House of Delegates, can you guys just remind our audience uh of where you're at right now, what you're doing in life, and uh I'll let you guys give a little brief introduction of each of yourselves.
SPEAKER_01Go ahead, Ian.
SPEAKER_00All right. Um I'm as Brad said, I'm Ian Thompson. I'm a physical therapist assistant. Um just recently transitioned into the program director role at Southeast Community College in the PTA program. I've been the director of clinical education for the last uh oh since 2013. So it took 12 years, 13 years, and just have recently uh moved into that program director role. Uh I've been a part of the PTA council for uh six years, I believe. Um and this year was I'm I made the first trip um uh to the House of Delegates as a voting delegate. Uh so was uh able to uh move into that role this year. Um in Nebraska we we gained a seat uh because of our membership numbers, and so uh we had a special election in April, and I was able to fulfill that role. Um and so this year was, like I said, the first time that uh PTA was able to sit with the delegation on the House floor and and have a voice or have a vote. So was pretty excited to do that uh with this great group of delegates that that went to uh Portland this year.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Ian. How about you, Bobby? Yeah, Brad, uh Bobby out here in Chatter, Nebraska. I work at the uh hospital. Um we don't call it the community hospital anymore. That's the you can't use that. That's that's frowned upon, I guess. So just Chattern hospital now. Uh I've been the lead delegate ever since 2007, or lead delegate. I've been the lead therapist ever since 2007 here. Um everything, services, everything expands in in rural health, and it's great. Um, my wife, three kids. I'm a uh Shadown State graduate, as I was talking to Brad about just a little bit earlier. And my wife was from Shadown, so we ended up back in Shadown after uh living in Lincoln and Omaha for eight years.
unknownExcellent.
SPEAKER_01And I just want to piggyback off of Ian there. So this was this was a big movement for PTAs. Last year in the House of Delegates, uh, we voted in that the the PTA could sit as a delegate, um, not just on the council. So the council gets two votes, but now we had Ian and I think 15 PTA uh delegates in the House already this year. And so, in order to do that, of course, the national office says PTAs can be delegates. Then we went back to our state uh chapter bylaws and we had to vote that in through the membership of Nebraska, which happened. And so now here Ian is our first PTA delegate.
SPEAKER_03And if I had a button for applause, the applause would be raining in right at this point uh on the podcast. Uh well, before we dive in, guys, thanks to both of you just for serving in these capacities. Each of you have been doing this for a little bit of time now. Um, and so uh you've probably gotten to know each other decently uh while doing that, but you've also been serving our state and our profession um through uh House of Delegates for a number of years as well. So thank you for your consistency uh in doing that. Now, you did both get back from House of Delegates, what, two weeks ago, three weeks ago now? Okay.
What The House Of Delegates Does
SPEAKER_03So in Portland, it was in Portland this year. Um maybe give the the elevator speech version, the 30-second version uh for anyone that doesn't really have a good idea or has maybe forgotten what House of Delegates does. Can you just give that 30-second version of what's happening there?
SPEAKER_01Sure. So the House of Delegates is the governing body of the American Physical Therapy Association. We also run elections to elect our board of directors. So the confusing part is you have the APTA staff, and then you have the board of directors, and then you have the House of Delegates. And the House of Delegates is 450 members of all 51 chapters, 18 sections, and then the PTA Council. Uh cool thing, also, we also have a student council, they just don't get votes. We shot that down last year. No, no, no votes for the uh student council. But anyway, we govern we govern how the policies and procedures of the association go, and then all the state chapters model their practice acts around the American Physical Therapy Association.
SPEAKER_03And as you serve uh an uh as a delegate, um this is more than just showing up once a year to the House of Delegates, right? There's a fair amount of work that goes into it ahead of time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, correct. So when I first started in 2004, we had three ring binders of like 70 RCs on paper. Now it's all online, it's beautiful, but yes, it's an everyday occurrence that I get emails from the House of Delegates that somebody has something to say. And so it's it's a 24-7 process now to be a delegate, which is good because we get a lot of things hashed out before we get to the house so that we don't have a lot of what I call bickering.
SPEAKER_03Excellent. Thanks, thanks for the high-level overview there. So um, Bobby, as we were prepping for this podcast, um you kind of highlighted some positives from House of Delegates, and so kind of frame this conversation out to talk about those highlights. One of those was payment, another one was around empowering members, and then another one was around um just that term professional, right? As it's uh been discussed over the last year now, I feel like.
Why Payment Reform Leads Everything
SPEAKER_03Um so let's start out with payment. You said that payment was maybe one of the top priorities this year with delegates, right? Yeah. So let's let's just start there. What was actually on the table and and why why was that a big deal?
SPEAKER_01Membership plus the just the delegates in general. And and I should also point out that the chief delegates meet on a monthly basis now to go over you know important topics and to make sure that we then tell the delegates, uh, my five other delegates, kind of how we want to proceed. But in retrospect, payment has been a big issue for many of years, right? And we're always trying to figure out how we can stay atop and and keep our profession at the forefront of reimbursement. And so that was just one of the big priorities this year is to put on paper policies of how the American Physical Therapy Association is going to benefit the membership with going to Congress and fighting for payment reform.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Where where would you say is where where's the gap between what we're licensed to do and what's actually recognized or or paid for? How would you speak to that?
SPEAKER_01So let's let's think about it as so you have the medical doctor, okay, but then they spun off and they had the physician and assistant, okay, and then nursing spun off and had the nurse practitioner. Well, they still have to function under the doctor. So we are trying to define physical therapists as independent practitioners that are not defined by the medical doctor. And that's hard to do because the APTA can have payment policies set in place, but now we all have to go to the state chapters and make sure that our practice acts allow us to prescribe medication, to gain imaging access in the hospital, like where I work, instead of going through the medical doctor, because we all know we have to go through the medical doctor at this point. So the APTA is trying to define us as independent practitioners instead of taking the PA and the nurse practitioner role. And so there's a lot of debate. Um, you know, educators are our main delegate um encompaniment, and so there's a lot of talk that goes back and forth between educators on how we're gonna do that.
SPEAKER_03Can you are are you able to hit some of the highlights of what those conversations look like with the educators as they're um communicating on the floor?
SPEAKER_01And it's not just on the floor, it's it's more of the dialogue in the communities. In the communities, yeah. Yep. It's in depth. They go back to um documents in 2012 that were put out there on definitions of physical therapy. And so it's it's very in-depth and it's hard to just summarize. But the the main gist of it is that we're moving forward as independent practitioners. We are going to be the doctors of physical therapy.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So let let me infuse a little bit of terminology that uh has come into play
Defining PT As Independent Practice
SPEAKER_03over time, right? So we we moved from a master's degree to a doctorate degree. Um, the whole profession has really shifted to that now, right? All of well, I think all of our programs are DPT programs uh across the board, right? There's um direct access has been something that we've been fighting for for a long time. And I think that's now in place in all 50 states in some way, shape, or form. Um, and now we're hearing more about kind of primary care physical therapy coming into play. So, how do all those things kind of meld together uh alongside this independent practitioner concept that you're talking about?
SPEAKER_01Uh each of them gives gives us that voice to when we go to our state Congress on how we want to define our practice acts. Each state. And every state has already started to put in place. Um primary care is in Utah already. Umaging is in Maine and Wisconsin, Iowa, Iowa just got uh access. Um, so all states are starting to go to the the you know government floor and gain access for primary care. But it's just gonna take time. Every every state's gonna progress at their own speed, depending on how connected they are to their state Congress.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um you know, Bobby, this and Ian, this this probably starts to transition us into some of the other topics too. But uh as you're talking about working with the state practice acts and kind of defining what that independent practice practitioner piece looks like, how um how do you get membership on board with that? How do you get people excited about that? What are the conversations that need to be had? How do we communicate in a way that um uh empowers people to think about this happening within their practice and understand how that happens too? Go ahead, Ian.
SPEAKER_00I think uh one one of the things so the at the house this year, the two days leading up to the house was a payment advocacy summit. And so there were a lot of minds that came together. Um there were four of us that went to that. Um Nick Weber went to that, Megan Frazy, Dan McCutch, and myself went and getting everybody together and on the same page and then just understanding the wins and the losses at the state level and then help us as we move towards changes at the national level in order to improve access and payment. Um we talked about detoping primary care or getting primary care there being recognized, and then also Montana, uh they were able to be added, I believe, as positions under um work at comp. And so um that that was a big change, but just understanding different ways and how they're doing things and being able to share those uh those ideas on from state to state and so hopefully to make that stuff and see those changes and become more the the doctor and profession that we we want to be. I think the biggest thing is to continue to get those minds together and share the resources. There's a lot of resources that are out there and and members have access to some of those resources, and the biggest way to have that voice is to be a part of the association and be a member and and be able to maybe attend some of those types of things so that you can be around the like-minded people that want to move us, um, continue to move the profession in a positive direction.
SPEAKER_03Great answer. Bobby, anything you want to add to that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh to piggyback off that it is the leadership, not just in Nebraska, but across the United States uh that is going forward and being the voice for most of the membership. Because as far as all of our members go, they can't take an you know all their time out of their day in order to direct it to Congress or be with us as far as the leaders of the Nebraska physical therapy chapter. So we try to use what our membership wants as our voice going forward, which is payment reform, um, getting that designation as the doctors of physical therapy and being the being the voice for the majority of the membership. And they talk to us every once in a while. They don't necessarily get a hold of us as far as the House of Delegates go. You know, they're they're not too worried about RCEs, but they do, Nick does a good job of of keeping track of the the different areas in Nebraska and what their concerns are.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Excellent.
SPEAKER_01Our our uh chapter president.
SPEAKER_03So, okay, so we we spent a little bit of time on RC4. RC5, and we're kind of getting into some of this, I think, is on that empowering members uh concept, right? Um and you've you've already started tying payment to some of that. Um do you want to unpack that concept, RC5, just a little bit more for us?
Burnout Debt And Workforce Sustainability
SPEAKER_01Sure. And I brought up some uh statistics from our community. So I'm just gonna go to some of those. So it's concerning right now as far as how many people are getting out of physical therapy and how fewer students are applying to physical therapy school. And so we had to do something on the floor to kind of corral this negativity that's going around the physical therapy profession. Back in in 2002 when I graduated, right, the average debt load was 80,000. The the average salary was 44,000. So about half. So we're about twice that now. So the average salary has gone up to, I believe, 77,000, but the average uh school loan debt is at like 152,000. And so the the numbers are concerning because there's statistics out there that they quoted on the floor of the house that if we get to I don't remember what it was, Ian, what like we're close to the line of sales.
SPEAKER_00When you hit 150,000, I think is when you lose your return on investment.
SPEAKER_01Investment, that's what they were talking about. Yeah, yeah. So here's just some numbers that were brought up in, and this is just in the community. So the confusing part is that we have this online community just for the House of Delegates. I just want to put that out there. And so unfortunately, membership cannot access this, only the delegates can. But there's great literature that comes across uh this community from all across the country from different people that have time to put these out here. So the current state of physical therapists leaving the profession, 2024 to 2026, burnout rates and intent to leap. Nearly 49% of physical therapists report burnout. 65% of PT clinical instructors screen positive for moderate or high burnout. 63% of PTs experiencing symptoms, including emotional exhaustion, uh depersonalization, and reduced professional accomplishment. So that's burnout relevance. Intent to leave. 5% of PTs plan to retire or leave the profession within 12 months. 42% of physical therapy workers intend to just leave their jobs. So that that's troubling. That's that's a very high number. The drivers of burnout, 18 hours a week of documentation versus 12 hours in 2023. 2.3 hours of documenting for every hour of patient care. And then patient loads are 14 to 16 a day versus 10 to 12 five years ago. So then we go to turnover, attrition, and vacancy rates. Uh annual PT turnover rates across settings is 12.1%. Rehab therapy executives reported 11.4% workforce loss uh in the last year. Burnout-linked facilities experiencing 2.3 times higher PT turnover rates, vacancy and labor shortages, outpatient PT national vacancy rate 9.5%. The average U.S. industry is only 4.8%. So we're double the vacancy rates. 13% of PT PTA positions remain open in the outpatient setting. 72% of PTs reported insufficient capacity to meet demand. So the cost of losing a PT, the replacement cost for departure ranges from $25,000 a month to 85 to 125,000, including losses in recruitment, onboarding, and productivity. So that it goes on to workforce supply shortages and projections. But just to sum it up real quick, those are staggering numbers. And so it is very important uh that we listen to our early members and try to gain back their trust in a great profession of physical therapy.
SPEAKER_03And and I may have missed it, Bobby, but did uh did any of those stats speak to um when people are leaving the profession? Like is it with within the first three to five years? Is it 10 to 15?
SPEAKER_01What there was uh other down and down lower in the document. Um there is a bigger um loss in the early professionals.
SPEAKER_03Sure, sure. That was you know, I'll give a shout out to a previous podcast that we did with Dr. Nikki Sleddens, and um you know, she did some of her PhD work in burnout, specifically with physical therapists in Nebraska. And uh great conversation. Uh, listeners, if you guys want to go back and listen to that. But if I'm remembering correctly, I think some of those rates, at least with the work that she had done, was uh in earlier career um as well. Maybe some of that just not matching up with what expectations uh were at times, right? Which it sounds like you guys are really talking about in the communities for for the delegates as well. Ian, how how do you look at this from a PTA perspective and from a PTA program leader as well? Are you guys seeing this seeing similar things um in that realm?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think we've we had seen a little bit of a decrease in the applications across the board. I think um, you know, we're not necessarily in the same boat as the the physical therapist other than the the DPT programs, other than that we're kind of lumped into the profession together, obviously, because we are in it together. Um you know the the PTA programs tend to be uh you know, obviously less. Um, and there's not so much of a debt burden when you when you get out. But productivity and some of those other things um become an issue too. And so I I do see uh decreases in the number of uh of students or graduates that stay in probably over five years um and and I've seen that more so probably in the last uh five or six years of uh started there and and part of it is you know I thought when PDPN happened and when some of those other things, you know, it changed there was this big fear because we weren't gonna get paid. Um or there were layoffs because everything happened in a little short period of time with the the change in payment model and the still nursing time. And then also COVID happened in the same time, and so there were a lot of layoffs that happen. And and um I think there was fear of getting back into the profession. Now I'm seeing a bigger need in for PTAs uh because I I think that we've seen even with the reduction in reimbursement and reimbursement for the PTA in general, um I I still think that it's we're seeing that uh it is an economical model that that works well. Um but you know I I would like to see a continued growth in the number of applicants that that we have. And I'm not sure I've I've heard it it's it's down across the board. Uh but some of these changes um have I think will affect us in the long term. But I I have people trying to get a hold of me now that have positions that are open and they're not able to fill. But it's not that we're not able to fill because we, you know, we're we're not able to fill them because we just don't have the people, and there was a stretch where everybody was getting hired again. And um I don't have either there's a shortage, and I think there's gonna continue to be a shortage uh across the board and in physical therapy in general.
SPEAKER_03Um so so I think we've we've kind of laid out what the issue was at hand with RC5, right? Were there solutions that were proposed? What like where where did this end up?
SPEAKER_01So the motion passed in order to sustain our workforce. And so the APTA now has the the driver to continue to work on legislation at the national level, and then each of us chapters take this back um to our delegates or uh to our membership, and now we we work on driving the workforce sustainability in Nebraska itself with how our Board of Physical Therapy um directs its energy to our our political action.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Uh and and beyond the political action uh aspect of that, are are there any other like to-dos or action items that that are on the tops of your minds from that?
SPEAKER_01I think it's just getting the word out there that we need to stay positive and we need to confide in our leadership that we're gonna be okay. It's not the end of the world. There's trouble and there's troubled waters, and some people are more worried about it than others. Um but all in all, the profession is great, we're in a good spot, and we just need to keep fighting to keep afloat.
SPEAKER_03Um you know, Bobby, you're giving me a little bit of a history lesson because I was asking the questions before we started recording, but um, you know, even if if we go back to the you know the night say the 1940s with our profession, are we practicing in the same way today as we were in the 1940s? No. No, right? Uh have we have we been have we been fighting for maybe more autonomy um or um uh more responsibility as physical therapists since that time? Yes, yes, very much so. Has our healthcare system continued to evolve since the I could go back further, but you know, since the 1940s, has our healthcare system continued to evolve? Abs absolutely like you know, you were you were we went back maybe 25 years and we were talking, but I think the reality is um gosh, so much continues to change. Uh and what we're dealing with now isn't a new thing, right? It's just maybe a different manifestation of some of the same concepts just showing up at a different time, too, right?
SPEAKER_01That's the perfect way to put it because it's always evolving, and you have to evolve with the current times. And we have so just like you and I talked when I got out of practice or got out of school in 2002, everything was directed under the medical doctor. Now we are our own doctors. Are these practice autonomously?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, are are these do you guys have a sense that these same kinds of conversations are happening within a nursing profession or a physician uh profession, uh attorneys? Um I could maybe go on. Like, do you do you think that other professions have a sense of dissatisfaction at times or burnout?
SPEAKER_00I would think that the any any time that you're uh you know, looking at how you get paid for your services and those types of things, and then how uh costs over time continue to change, but reimbursement doesn't uh seem to change with those costs, that uh you you start to you know you you you start to look at those struggles and then what it is that uh that you can do. And so uh you know, across the board I do think the the costs are always gonna go up. And whether it's the cost of the building that you're in, or the cost of the worker, or the cost of the education that you need to get into the profession, those are always going to be changing. But if if reimbursement and those types of things don't change, then what do we do to make up the difference? We have to work harder, uh we're taking our documentation and stuff home with us. I would think that that's the same with any other profession that is especially in healthcare, because your time spent in the clinic is to be time spent with the patient and getting those outcomes. And and when all of those other things that still have to get done, have to get done. When do they get done? They have to get done later. And if you're not getting paid for that, uh it's gonna increase your stress levels, it's gonna increase all those types of things. And so, yeah, I think every profession probably has some sense or some issue uh when it comes to that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and the brilliant minds of the the House of Delegates is it's just crazy what they find. One of the only professions that doesn't have the as high of a burnout rate is the physician assistant. And so I don't know why. I don't remember all the dialogue about that, but somebody brought up that the PAs are the least burnt out of our medical profession, just to kind of put that out there. But I don't know why. I'm I'm sure they probably had some dialogue in there, but when you read like 4,300 uh emails since January 1, sometimes sometimes I forget what each one of them said.
SPEAKER_03It it all gets mixed up a little bit. Yeah. No, I um, you know, I just I was thinking about a couple of things that you guys said, and um you know what I I I don't want to at the risk of oversimplifying some of this, right? Like at the end of the day, we're trying to care for other people, right? And there are lots of things that get messy about that, uh and there are lots of ways to become dissatisfied. But I just think about the the career that I've had to this point and uh how many different people that I've worked with that have really like helped shade me and form me in different ways, right? Because I've had the opportunity to treat them um or work alongside them. And so it's a you know, Bobby, you're saying it's a good profession. It is, it's a phenomenal profession. And there are ways that we get to serve our communities and other people in in lots of lots and lots of different ways. Um, are there are there um problems? Are there thorns and thistles? Yeah, I think you're gonna run into that in any profession, but it's also a noble cause to take up to continue working on the things that are difficult or that are hard about it. And so uh that's why we're talking about this today, right? This is why you guys are at House of Delegates. Um and yeah, those are I think all of those things are probably true. And and I think Bobby, you said this earlier too. Um uh how do you continue addressing these things? Uh you stay united, right? You gotta have boots on the ground, you you gotta hear all the voices, you gotta communicate well, um, you gotta stick together in a lot of ways. Uh, you can't go do your own thing, right? Um, and that's how we keep moving things forward. So good stuff. Um all right, so good conversation around that. Uh, I want to get to the professional degree.
Professional Degree Status And Student Loans
SPEAKER_03Uh so the professionalism or professional title, right? This is Nick and I have talked about this a few different times, um, but this was on the floor in RC30, right? So, do you want to talk about just that term professional and what you guys discussed around RC30?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's just through the Department of Education. We are classified as a graduate uh program rather than a professional program. And so student loans uh took a big hit. And so there's a lot of scrambling across the country, especially the APTA as chief delegates have been talking about this ever since it came out on how we approach this. And so we just have it in the books that we are a professional uh degree. We are, you know, doctors of physical therapy all across the country. And we just have to continue to push our individual senators uh on the floor to make that happen.
SPEAKER_03And at a federal level, at least, uh, we know early July, there was kind of, you know, the pause button was pushed on some of that right of stuff in one of the courts. Um, and so as you were just saying, there's a lot of conversation, there's still a lot of advocacy that needs to continue happening to make sure that that's heard. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and we just wanted to get it out there to the membership that that we're all concerned. Student loans. I mean, because we talk about debt, uh, it's important that students can access federal loans. Because once you, you know, once you go down the rabbit hole of personal loans uh paying for school, it it it gets then you then you have to tie into somebody else. You have to have cosigners and all sorts of issues uh with loan applications. So we just wanted the membership to know that that the APTA is fighting and and it's a big deal for everyone. So that's again, we prioritized our first four for payment so that membership knows that payment is of utmost importance. And then we had to to talk about our our workforce sustainability, that we're a good profession, stay in it. And then, of course, for the students, uh, because there's a big concern for students uh that you know the needs are not going to be met for those students. So I think that's how we as chiefs, um, and I put the you know, we prioritized it as chiefs in order to set the stage to be more efficient in the house. And it really worked well this year because we got through every RC and it it it just I don't know, it just worked out this year and it it hasn't in the past.
SPEAKER_03Good. Well, well, well done with the organization of that. Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, I I'll just I'll mention as an aside, if you don't have the APTA advocacy app on your phone, that's a really what good, good and easy, simple way to stay up to date on some of the issues that are going on uh that the APTA is advocating for. And you can easily write and send letters to your state senators um to inform them of some of the issues that are going on. So um it it does not take more than 30 seconds to do some of that, too. Uh and all of those letters do matter.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, I want to put that out there too. It's so easy. Just go to advocacy on the APTA website. It's not just federal advocacy, it's state advocacy. And like you said, they already have the letters drafted. You just personalize the letter and send it. The the APTA does all that for you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. All right. A few few quick hitters
PTA Joint Mobilizations And Scope Language
SPEAKER_03here. Um, so Ian, can you talk to us about the PTA mobilization?
SPEAKER_00Um, and yeah, and just briefly, because I it was something that was brought up in RC18. Um, and really uh it was more about um the change of the word. So uh in the past, um AOMP and and APTA have a stance that there are certain things that are performed specifically by the physical therapist, and one of those has been joint mobilizations. Well, in practice, we know that that uh the practice acts across the country, I think that all but uh all but eight or maybe it's even less than that now, six um allow for PTAs to be able to perform joint mobilizations uh up to a grade four. And so there was a push to try to just change those that wording just a little bit. That um the specific uh the specific uh intervention performed by the PT uh exclusively, we just put the word thrust in front of that, um, versus just the joint mobilizations. Um but there was a couple years ago, there was uh an RC that that came out that had the APK look at uh what what it is that PTAs are doing in the clinic um across the country and with joint mobilizations being part of that. And so there's a report that's due to come out in November, I believe, that will outline a little bit more and maybe can inform the members more uh when they're making those types of decisions. And so uh there was a push from another state, and well, there was another state, and then there was a few other people to wait until that report uh came out uh before decisions were being made on on this particular RC. And so um there was just a couple votes. There was a vote to uh there an objection to it first, then there was a vote to postpone it indefinitely. Um, and that's really what happened uh was just to postpone it. So it wasn't necessarily that it didn't it didn't pass, it was that we would would like more information. And so um that's that's respectable to to want that information when making informed decisions about what uh the future of our profession. And so um I really just think for that will probably come back next year. Uh they just wanted to get everybody on board, FSBPT, CAFTE, APTA, um, and then the voices from the clinicians across the country to just get a better idea of what actually is going on before those decisions were being made. So um it was it it may have been a little frustrating uh just how it went because we spent a lot of time on it just to get to where we got. But uh it it definitely I I can see where that the decision just to wait uh and and wait for that report so we can make those decisions and have more information to make those decisions uh is just probably better.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Uh and outside of that, uh that was RC 18. Was there anything else that that surprised you guys this year at House of Delegates, or you know, something that passed that you didn't expect, or something that was that was brought up in general that uh yeah, it was just interesting?
SPEAKER_01Not really that surprised us. Um I just think sometimes amendments are brought forth and we kind of spin our wheels a little bit with unneeded amendments or certain members getting up and directing unneeded attention towards distracting conversations or debate as we talk about it. That's the that's the only thing that gets a little bit frustrating and and surprising on the floor, uh, would be unneeded debate and unneeded amendments. And I just want to go back to what Ian said. When we postpone indefinitely, that means that we're just like he said, we're gonna sit on it, we're gonna we're gonna work on it, and then it's gonna come back to the House again next year, starting January 1 with our concept. And bills get postponed indefinitely all the time in state legislature and federal legislature. That's that's not uncommon. Yeah, I I thought it was a good year. I I was really pleased with how the second day ended up.
SPEAKER_03Good. Well, um, we've we've talked about a number of things. If you had to just kind of boil it down and bring it home for people listening, um what what's maybe like one liner that you would use to describe
Final Takeaways And Getting Involved
SPEAKER_03how it went?
SPEAKER_00I think efficient. Um, just like Bobby had said, with with the way they changed how the house ran this year and how the chiefs got together and and prioritized the the RCs, um, getting done early. I've been this is my sixth house, I think, uh, and definitely have never been done early. Uh, and so I think that that them doing uh the work behind the scenes leading up to it made it much more efficient. And so uh getting getting through everything and even with debate on quite a few items uh was just uh government runs slow and the house typically runs slow. But this was one time when it was really, really efficient, and I think that we got a lot of good work done thanks to the the work of the of the House officers and the work of the chief delegates.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we are listening to the membership and we are moving forward with your concerns. That's the biggest take out of 2026 House of Delegates. And also, if you haven't hiked in Portland, outside of Portland, you should go hiking in Portland.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, where'd you go? Uh we went to two waterfalls, um Horetail Waterfall and then Malm. I can't even say the other one. Malmouth something like that. Very, very beautiful, uh, just right outside of Portland and good views of Mount Hood and good views of Mount St. Helens, which I'm not uh I'm not a geography guru. I did not know that Mount St. Helens was that far or that close to Portland that you could see it.
SPEAKER_03Excellent. Well, guys, uh thank you. Thank you for the work that you're doing. Um, thanks for the extra hours that you put in, and thanks for the conversation. Um, it's much appreciated. And listeners, I hope that this was a helpful rundown of House of Delegates. Um, in a small way, I hope that it helps you feel connected to the organization, ABTA Nebraska, uh, what's being done, the work that's being done for our physical therapists and physical therapy assistants in the state, and making sure that uh, you know, just putting the call out there, uh, get involved, show up, um, be a part of what's going on. I appreciate you guys listening. And uh guys, thanks again for the conversation. Thanks, Brett. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thanks 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.
