On today's episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Dr. Sharon Dunn, PT, PhD, OCS, the President of the American Physical Therapy Association, joins me to discuss the Combined Sections Meeting in San Antonio, Texas and the APTA's vision for 2017. Dr. Dunn is currently an Associate Professor and Chair of the Rehabilitation Sciences Department at Louisiana State University and was most recently elected APTA President.

In this episode, we discuss:

-The #ChoosePT campaign and its progress in promoting physical therapy as a pain management alternative

-The already record shattering CSM 2017 and what's in store for attendees

-Themes APTA is pursuing in 2017 including the "quadruple aim" and encouraging a "therapeutic alliance"

-Looking forward to the 7 for 2017: New CPT Codes, MIPS Benchmarking, Continued #ChoosePT, Student Loan Support, Enhanced PTJ Online, Diversity Milestone, and Registry Revolution

-And so much more!

Dr. Dunn takes a practical and straightforward approach to working with the White House. She says the best advice she received was to, "Show up and offer the solutions" to halt the growing opioid crisis with physical therapy.

Dr. Dunn is supervising the launch of the Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry which capitalizes on more clinical data to encourage policy makers to support physical therapy. Dr. Dunn stresses, "We need more data to justify a change in payment."

To meet the 7 for 2017 goals set by the APTA, Dr. Dunn believes, "The challenge is always alignment of stakeholder roots towards the collective vision of the profession."

For more information on Sharon:

Sharon Dunn, PT, PhD, OCS received her BS in PT in 1987 from LSU Health Sciences Center in her hometown of Shreveport, LA. She has since completed a Master's of Health in '96 and a PhD in Cellular Biology and Anatomy in '06. She has been a faculty member at LSU since 1990, currently as an Associate Professor and Chair of the Rehabilitation Sciences Department. Since beginning service through the professional organization as a student, Sharon has served as the State Government Affairs Chair; Louisiana chapter President, Vice President, and Delegate; and was most recently elected APTA President.

Resources discussed on this show:

Sharon Dunn Twitter

Combined Sections Meeting 2017

CSM Presentation: The Role of Physical Therapy in Exercise is Medicine: A Collaborative Symposium with the ACSM

Sharon Dunn LinkedIn

APTA Coding and Billing

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Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!

Xo Karen

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