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Hope you are following Ralph Kohl's tweets @AOTARKohl . If you can't follow him on your phone, you can check him out on-line. He got to race around the Charlotte Motor Speedway at 175 miles per hour, which is probably the speed he is actually moving to get around to all the activities at the...

This week AOTA is writing comments to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) on their report on March 8 about outpatient therapy services in Medicare. MedPAC is an advisory body to the US Congress. The Commission is composed of appointees but the work is generally done by staff. MedPAC is...

Health care may be perceived as on a negative trajectory these days, what with so much discussion of Medicare changes, threats and cuts to state Medicaid benefits, and the Supreme Court arguments over the Accountable Care Act mandate and other issues two weeks ago. (See AOTA's article http://www...

Whatever your views on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), today was a landmark day. The Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the ACA: it is constitutional, including the individual mandate. There will be lots of discussion about whether this was a good ruling on constitutional grounds, whether...

Several issues have come up this week that make me think about how important it is to describe occupational therapy correctly and convincingly. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission had a report at its meeting last week indicating that therapists use very general terms to describe what they do. Private...

AOTPAC is sending AOTA staff to the Conventions to represent OT and you can follow their activities on this blog. You can follow Tim Nanof at the Republican convention via Twitter @Tnanofaota #RNC2012 and Ralph Kohl at the Democratic Convention @aotaRKohl #DNC2012 While the conventions are held to...

Tim Nanof, Director of Federal Affairs, AOTA, made it safely to Tampa after a slight delay departing Baltimore due to storms. Tampa is just rainy. While the convention sessions have been delayed until Tuesday, a few other events are still being held. Watch for Tim's reports and follow him on twitter...

Here at the office getting Ralph Kohl's schedule of activities together and finalized for the Democratic Convention. Lots going on there. Ralph arrives Sunday night and is off to a start early Monday at an event for Rep. Mike McIntyre at the Charlottee Motor Speedway - sounds like fun! Then to more...

One issue AOTA regularly focuses on at the Federal level is the state of rehabilitation research, particularly the state of occupational therapy research. While there are many venues for addressing this critical if not overly sexy topic, a couple of the most well-known are the National Institutes of...

The conference in Indianapolis was a great time! The local conference committee and all the AOTA staff made it run like clockwork! My last post asked what was the future of OT in health care reform. Many conversations and presentations in Indy gave me some food for thought. I share these quotes: ...

Hello and greetings from the AOTA Division of Public Affairs. Within Public Affairs we have divisions and sections that address and support federal legislation, federal regulatory policy, private insurance policy, state licensure laws and regulations, other state issues, and AOTPAC, the political arm...

On January 3rd the new 113th Congress was sworn into office and OT was present. Aimee Sidhu, AOTA member from Washington State, was the winner of AOTPAC's contest to attend the Congressional Swearing in. She attended a variety of events, including visits to new Members of Congress' offices. She...