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Be Change Architects and 'Embrace the Fear,' Preview 2020 Speakers Urge

The dynamic future of physical therapy was the focus of Preview 2020, an APTA conference that drew a record 500 people to Las Vegas November 19-21. Programming looked at trends and success strategies in the areas of business management, cardiovascular and pulmonary health, foot and ankle issues, health and wellness, integration of laboratory values, low back pain, obesity, radiology, and vestibular concerns.

In his opening plenary address, Joe Black, PhD, APTA's senior vice president of education, emphasized that the "DPT Does Not a Doctor Make." Black noted that an ever-expanding number of entry-level doctor of physical therapy programs are available to students and a "vast range" of transitional DPT (t-DPT) options await practicing physical therapists. He suggested, however, that achievement of Vision 2020's goal of all physical therapists completing the DPT by that year will ring hollow unless each practitioner demonstrates integrity, accountability, and excellence, as defined in "Professionalism in Physical Therapy: Core Values." Black urged attendees to be "architects" of change rather than "passive agents," to be "intolerant" of clinicians and academicians working at cross-purposes, and to insist on "earning" the privileges inherent in the title "doctor."

Drew Bossen, PT, MBA, offered attendees "A Perspective on Our Profession" that emphasized the need for private practitioners to "embrace the fear" and develop new business models in the face of increased competition for consumers' health care dollars. Bossen's plenary address outlined the manner in which his Iowa City, Iowa-based company, Progressive Rehab Associates, has grown by differentiating itself in the marketplace and partnering with such businesses as the communications and aviation electronics giant Rockwell Collins and the mammoth furniture manufacturer Steelcase. Drawing parallels between private practice physical therapy and corn production in his home state, Bossen said the "tired" strategy of seeking growth by constantly adding patients makes no more sense than the failed agricultural strategy of "growing more corn."

In her plenary address, Colleen Kigin, PT, DPT, MPA, MS, discussed autonomous practice in terms of the profession's current achievements and future responsibilities, the risks inherent in accepting those responsibilities, and the keys to overcoming those risks. While emphasizing that "we've come a long way," Kigin, chief of staff at the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, pushed action models that collectively will "create an environment in which we can function as autonomous professionals." Elements of those models, she said, include standardization of data-collection systems, "on call" availability to patients, greater community involvement, and an expanded physical therapist role in the shaping of health care policy.