Friday, September 28, 2007

CEU Repository

Did you ever wonder at NCTRC recertification time, "Now what did I do with those CEU transcripts?" If you have moved and misplaced the box containing your ATRA files, accidentally threw them away, your dog ate them, or just plain can't remember where they are - you are not alone. Every year in March and September ATRA receives numerous calls from members needing copies of their transcripts from the last 5 years. If you are one of these people, the CEU Repository is for you!


Requirements are that you must:

1. Remain an ATRA member in good standing.

2. Update your personal information with ATRA.

3. Pay the Annual CEU Maintenance fee ($25) for which you are billed annually.

4. Purchase a transcript at the conference you are attending. ATRA CEU Repository tracks ATRA conferences and CEUs provided by ATRA to other workshops. You are responsible for non-ATRA CEU workshops.

Transcripts will be sent out around September 15th for November 1st recertification or March 15th for May 1st recertification. ATRA will also provide an annual update on the number of CEUs received during that year.

You can also save money by using the CEU Repository. This year ATRA provided 25 transcripts to a person who took advantage of the CEU Repository. If they had not had this service, it would have cost them $375 for duplicate transcripts. Instead, it only cost the annual CEU Maintenance fee of $25 per year.

So go to the CEU link on our website, http://www.atra-tr.org/, complete the application, maintain your ATRA Membership, and the nominal CEU Maintenance fee. At your five year NCTRC recertification, ATRA will send you copies of your ATRA transcripts from the five year cycle. It's that simple!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

ATRA in the News

Visit http://www4.uwm.edu/chs/news/TRconference.html for an article on the Milwaukee conference and information on the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, which provided registration support and a sponsorship for the conference.

CMS Seeks Therapists for PAC-PRD Participation

Want your inpatient rehabilitation facility to be a part of CMS' upcoming Post Acute Care Payment Reform Demonstration (PAC-PRD)? The agency is actively soliciting participants for the next phase of the project, which CMS hopes will beget a new reimbursement tool and payment structure uniform to all types of postacute care.

To be considered, contact Barbara Gage, the principal investigator at RTI, at 781/434-1717 or bgage@rti.org. The demonstration and data collection will begin in January 2008; RTI is CMS' contractor for the project.

Monday, September 17, 2007

ATRA's RT Medicare Project Update

We are very pleased to provide this update on behalf of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association's Recreational Therapy Medicare Project.

Next week the United States House of Representatives will be introducing the "Ensuring Medicare Access to Recreational Therapy Act of 2007". The legislation will assure Medicare beneficiaries will have access to Recreational Therapy services in Inpatient Rehabilitation, Inpatient Psychiatric and Skilled Nursing settings. You will be hearing directly from our Federal Public Policy Team leaders in the near future that we need you to contact your Member of the House of Representatives. Please wait for their contact and then follow their directions as soon as possible.

We are within reach of finally having recognition on Recreational Therapy by the Medicare program in the inpatient Rehab, Psychiatric and Skilled Nursing settings. Success in these settings is the necessary order before we are able to look at additional gains in the outpatient arena.

To successfully complete this process we must raise $60,000 in the next 60 days specifically for the costs of lobbying this legislation through Congress. We kicked this goal off with the "R.T. Medicare Project Goal Line Offense Fund" earlier this week at the ATRA Annual Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the first 48 hours of this campaign we raised $6,500 from Conference attendees.

We need your financial support and assistance within the next two weeks to push this legislation through Congress! We need you to assist as an R.T. Medicare Project 1st & 10 Team Leader and help us raise the remaining financial $53,500 goal. Through your generous contribution and by your contacting the Recreational Therapy professionals, organizations and supporters in your area you can have a tremendous impact in assuring the success of the R.T. Medicare Project.

If you can assist, in sharing this important project update and request for support of the R.T. Medicare Project please contact G.T. using the contact information below. We have talking points prepared to make your participation simple and easy to complete.

While anyone can learn from history, we have the opportunity to be part of making history with the support of this landmark Recreational Therapy project.

Best Regards,
G.T. Thompson, M.Ed., CTRS, NHA/L
Recreational Therapy Medicare Project Co-Chair

Melinda Conway Callahan, MPA, CTRS, CFRE Recreational Therapy Medicare Project Co-Chair

2007-2008 ATRA Board of Directors

At the ATRA Annual Conference Membership Meeting, the 2007-2008 Board of Directors were installed. These include:

President: Marcia Smith
President-Elect: Mary Ann Keogh Hoss
Secretary: Missy Armstrong
Treasurer: Vicki Scott
Members at Large: Mary Ann Aquadro, Charles Bond, Carla Carmichael, Janice Elich-Monroe, Judi Voelkl
CAC Chair: Heather Sedletzeck

We also had the opportunity to thank the outgoing President, Sandy Negley, Treasurer Kelly Parker and CAC Chair Karla Belzer for their service.

2007 ATRA Annual Conference - A Success!

The 2007 ATRA Annual Conference was a tremendous success with over 450 attendees and presenters. Thanks to Patty Thomas and the Milwaukee Host Committee for a fabulous conference and for all of their hard work. Kudos to you all! Thank you also to the PEG Connolly Scholars for their hard work.

Congratulations to the 2007 ATRA Awards Winners, and in particular to Sharon Nichols, who was awarded the Distinguish Fellow. This is ATRA's highest honor.

Feedback on the conference was extremely positive - ranging from the excellent quality of the session topics and speakers to the food to the networking opportunities. Of course, there were the usual complaints about the rooms being too cold.

We in the National Office are recovering from the conference and catching up. We'll post more info on the conference shortly.