A Day at the Capital... and the Dentist

Yesterday was the state's advocacy day for physical therapists. So being a physical therapy student with with lots of involved professors, we took the day off from classes and headed down to Frankfort for the afternoon. Our goals were to make a presence (we had students from Bellarmine, University of Kentucky and PTA students from Somerset as well as practicing physical therapists). We wanted to talk to our personal legislators and enlighten them on what physical therapy is and the value in our practice act as well as the importance of allowing physical therapists to have practicing autonomy.

The capitol, however, yesterday it was rather dreary, cold and snowy!

In Kentucky, we do have direct access, meaning a patient can bypass their doctor and come directly to a physical therapist and be evaluated and treated-sounds great right!? Not so much-while technically this can happen, unless the patient is loaded and capable of paying for the intervention, they're out of luck because insurance won't cover direct access treatments.

Classmates working hard to represent physical therapy in the capital building.

Also there are several health care providers billing for physical therapy when in fact a physical therapist is not performing the services. Athletic trainers and chiropractors are among those repeatedly billing for physical therapy despite the fact they are not physical therapists. So our goal in Frankfort was to get the legislators on our side and let them know that we are a force, we are a profession with a practice act and with unique knowledge and skills that can benefit the community.

On a side note, while eating a Sierra Turkey sandwich at Panera prior to getting to the capitol, one of my bridges became dislodged :( Soooo sad. So I didn't get to spend nearly as much time at the capitol as I would have liked and way too much time at the dentist. But it's all good now, so I'm happy bout that and really proud of my classmates who made an impact at the capitol.