APTA's Multidisciplinary Summit Establishes Opportunities for Physical Therapists to Drive Health C...( ...),Health

"Go fast, deliver something provocative."

"Listen to caregivers and be willing to collaborate with them."

"Revolutionary technological change is coming; you can either master it or it can master you."

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the nation sits on the cusp of massive health care reform, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) has taken a unique approach to leading the charge to control costs, improve quality, and expand access to health care for all Americans. The Physical Therapy and Society Summit (PASS), a first-of-its-kind event, held February 27-28 by APTA, brought together more than 100 leaders and visionaries in physical therapy, medicine, academia, engineering, bioscience, information technology, and health care policy. Their goal - determine areas of opportunity to empower physical therapists to be leaders in: 1) integrating innovative technologies and practice models, and 2) establishing collaborative multidisciplinary partnerships that address current, evolving, and future societal health care needs.

"We embrace our responsibility to examine our role in meeting society's health care needs," said APTA President R Scott Ward, PT, PhD. "APTA's Vision 2020 is a reality in many physical therapist practices, and we can do more. PASS is the kickoff of that conversation."

Imagination. Inspiration. Innovation. was the theme of PASS. "Go fast, deliver something provocative." "Support the null hypothesis." "Listen to caregivers and be willing to collaborate with them." - represent just a few of the quotable moments from the Summit. PASS produced agreement among participants - PTs and non-PTs alike - that the physical therapy profession has a pivotal role in meeting society's health care needs, particularly in the area of prevention.

PASS Chair Colleen Kigin, PT, DPT, FAPTA, spoke on the physi
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