APTA has reached out to the Oklahoma Chapter offering our condolences, assistance, and support following the devastating tornado this week. The chapter board has voted to designate funds toward relief efforts, with matching funds provided from APTA. Through its social media outlets and other channels, the chapter continues to reach out to identify those directly affected by the storms in the physical therapy community. At this time, a designated fund for relief efforts to directly benefit our community has not been established.

Members interested in contributing to relief efforts are encouraged to donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

A blog post by APTA "Fit After 50 Member Challenge" winner Patsy Shropshire, PT, is the featured story on www.BoomerCafé.com. Shropshire talks about her health and wellness group for women who primarily are in their 50s and 60s. The group is called "Women With Balls," and most are cancer survivors. Read their story and post about it to your social sites!

Join the Foundation for Physical Therapy for a special evening at the Foundation Gala: Honoring Past and Present Visionaries on Thursday, June 27, at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center during APTA's Conference & Exposition. The program will include recognition of the Foundation's 2013 service award recipients and a special tribute to past trustees of the Foundation's Board of Directors. The evening also will include a special celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Marquette Challenge.

Enjoy dinner, dancing, and the opportunity to bid on the following items in the Silent Auction: elegant vintage jewelry provided by Empire Diamond, an adventurous half-day sail aboard Stanley Paris' Kiwi Spirit, and an exquisite selection of handmade pottery by Roger Allen Clay.

If you have not already purchased a ticket, please do so by June 5. Regular admission is $150 ($100 for students). Table sponsorships are $2,000 and include 10 tickets plus additional benefits. Find out how to purchase tickets or call Erica Sadiq at 703/706-8595.

There are 7 million people in the United States who have survived a stroke, according to the National Stroke Association-and these survivors are your patients. Now, during National Stroke Awareness Month, help ensure their access to physical therapist services by e-mailing your legislators and asking them to repeal the Medicare therapy cap. Tell Congress that your patients-their constituents-must receive timely and proper care after they have suffered a stroke.

APTA has joined the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) to highlight National Stroke Awareness month on Capitol Hill through this rolling e-mail campaign. The goal is not only to repeal the cap but to bring awareness to the importance of rehabilitation following a stroke.

Nonmembers and patients can also get involved and contact their legislators using APTA's Patient Action Center. Please take time to personalize your e-mails and share your experience as a physical therapist, physical therapist assistant, or patient. Members of Congress care how this issue impacts their constituents.

As summer approaches, this issue will heat up as Congress works on legislation to reform the Medicare physician fee schedule and the sustainable growth rate formula. It is more important than ever to let your members of Congress know that patients should not be subjected to an arbitrary cap on medically necessary services.

Join Mike Klonowski, PT, DPT, PCS, who has been treating Sen Mark Kirk (R-IL) following his stroke in 2012, and help ensure no one is denied necessary physical therapy by taking action today.

The global bodies for the 5 leading health professions, representing more than 26 million health professionals worldwide, are calling for a new emphasis on collaborative practice. Health professions working together around the world can lead to improved health services and a more effective use of resources, they say.

The World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA), which brings together the World Confederation for Physical Therapy, the International Council of Nurses, the International Pharmaceutical Federation, the World Dental Federation, and the World Medical Association, issued a statement during the World Health Organization's 66th World Health Assembly this week.

WHPA calls on governments to fund health system structures that support interprofessional collaborative practice, promote shared learning in education programs, and encourage health professionals to respect each others' expertise.

Marilyn Moffat, PT, DPT, PhD, DSc (hon), GCS, CSCS, CEEAA, FAPTA, president of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy said: "Effective interprofessional collaborative practice brings benefits in every area of health services-from health promotion through injury prevention to condition management. Working together, professionals can effectively address pressing societal health needs such as the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors."

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who want to better understand the health insurance exchange initiative that resulted from the Affordable Care Act, also being called the health insurance marketplace, can tune in to webinars from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Repeated several times throughout June and July, these training opportunities are broken into 2 levels:

Level 1: Health Insurance Marketplace 101. A 1-hour high-level overview of the accomplishments of the Affordable Care Act and a basic introduction to the marketplace (exchanges) highlighting who is eligible and how the marketplace will work.

Level 2: Understanding the Health Insurance Marketplace. A 2-hour detailed review of the marketplace (exchanges), including eligibility, enrollment, plan structure, Medicaid expansion, and the streamlined application.

The training sessions are free but first-come-first-served, with a limit of 200 people per session. CMS said, however, that it will add sessions if there's high demand.

Due to necessary upgrades of the content management system powering APTA.org and other APTA websites, there will be no new content posted at these sites effective immediately until the system upgrades are complete.

During this time, you can still access content, login to your account, and perform usual transactions (course registrations, profile changes, etc), but APTA will not be able to make content updates to sites, including the posting of breaking news.

The "content freeze" could last as few as 48 hours, but it also could end as late as Friday, May 24.

Affected sites are:

• APTA.org 
• ABPTRFE.org 
• ABPTS.org 
• CAPTEonline.org 
• PTCAS.org 

We regret the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

Contact APTA's member services department if you experience any problems on these sites during the upgrade period.

To help clinicians meet the July 1 functional limitation reporting requirements, PTNow is providing appropriate tests and measures for member use. The tests and measures were identified by APTA section teams and EDGE task forces for the highest-volume conditions in their content areas.

Because many of these tests are copyrighted, APTA is securing licenses to offer them via PTNow and will post links to the usable tests as they become available. (New tests are added almost daily.)

The tests are grouped by clinical focus and condition, and tests are listed alphabetically within groups. In the coming weeks the tests will be organized and searchable by functional limitation category (Mobility: Walking & Moving Around, Changing & Maintaining Body Position, Carrying, Moving, & Handling Objects, Self-Care, Other PT/OT Subsequent Functional Limitation).

Physical therapists from disadvantaged backgrounds can apply for up to $40,000 in student loan assistance through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Faculty Loan Repayment Program (FLRP). Applications now are being accepted for the program, which offers health professions faculty, including physical therapists, the opportunity to pay off qualified student loans. FLRP is designed to increase the recruitment and retention of health professions faculty with the goal of preparing the next generation of health care professionals. In return for loan assistance, accepted applicants will provide 2 years of service at an approved health professions institution.

Deadline for applications is June 27, 2013. For more information or to apply, visit the FLRP website.

APTA continues its public policy priority to include physical therapists in additional student loan repayment initiatives.

APTA's popular Business Skills in Physical Therapy: Strategic Marketing home-study course is now in its second edition, with the latest strategies—along with the tried-and-true guidance from the first edition—that will help every practice, large or small, capture the opportunities to build and maintain a strong customer base in today's vibrant, yet challenging, health care marketplace.

See what's new from author Peter R. Kovacek, PT, DPT, MSA, founder of PTManager.com:

• The Physical Therapist Marketing Readiness Assessment Tool for you, your team, and your entire organization
• Discussions on branding your practice and the physical therapy profession
• Updates on regulation and legislation that affect payment for services
• Guidance for using "new marketing" tools such as the Internet and social networking
• Expanded analysis of evaluating success
• Contemporary covered-coil binding that lays flat for easier reading

Strategic Marketing includes case studies, the marketing readiness assessment tool, and an outline for developing a full marketing plan.