My name is Tori Williams, and I’m a 3rd year PT student finishing a year-long term as Chair of the Interprofessional Collaboration Project Committee (ICPC) for the APTA Student Assembly. This year, my committee set out in a new direction to
include interprofessional relationships in our work. With this in mind, we created the Strong at Home Campaign, a student-lead movement to build stronger relationships within our profession between PTs and PTAs, starting as students. We released
a series of 8 blogs on the Student Assembly Pulse, and 2 videos we hoped would educate, foster understanding, and encourage collaboration between PT and PTA students. All of this content can be found here under the Articles heading.
Our hope is that you will share these resources with your colleagues and most certainly with your students. Educating students early and often about the importance of a strong PT/PTA relationship can begin now with conversations about how to work
as a team in the clinic. Programs who participated in the Strong at Home campaign offer hands-on learning experiences through labs, case activities, guest lectures, or lunch and learns with neighboring programs, giving students the chance to develop
the skills necessary to work together for better patient outcomes and for a stronger, more united profession.
The elimination of the Medicare cap this year was a huge win for APTA, but the legislation included a last-minute addition of an OTA and PTA payment differential scheduled to be implemented in 2022 where PTAs will only be reimbursed at 85% for outpatient
therapist services. While the APTA works to identify potential options and strategies for advocacy to address this issue, the role as educator is vital. PT and PTA students need leaders who empower them to be advocates for policy change and professional
collaboration.