Notes from Stoney

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November 7, 2006

To:             District One Membership
From:             Jeff Stone
                     District One Director

Re: Notes From Stoney

Hi Folks...The District One election is now history, and I humbly thank you for your support in me as I begin a second term as your District
Director...I want to thank Maria Hutsick for her willingness to run...she was a worthy opponent, and I hope she considers running again...she has always been a credit  to District One...

The election gave me a lot of time to reflect on how far we have come as a District, and what we can to maintain our place in the NATA...I have asked Tim Adams,
a past District Secretary, to review our By-laws and make sure that they are proper and pertinent and are in line with NATA and EATA statutes- he will also check individual state by-laws and advise State Presidents on any needed updates...

Our District Officers are preparing a Policy & Procedures manual to aid future Executive Council members....at lease two State Presidents rotate off the Council each year as their term expires...District Treasurer Gail Connolly is chairing a sub-committee on our District Scholarship program, and both Gail and District Secretary Tim Weston will attend the NATA District Secretary-Treasurer Meeting in February in Dallas to keep up-to-date with on-line membership lists and dues payments...

Starting this month, you will be able to read minutes from the NATA Board of Directors on our website, as well as District meetings and Executive Council minutes...I plan to get on the road again and visit more college campuses with athletic training education programs, as well as travel to NATA committee meetings that I serve as BOD Liaison...

I'm proud to be your Director and pledge to keep working for you and keeping you informed... I'm thanking my family for their support by making a donation in their name to the NATA-REF and NATAPAC...I am also making a donation to my alma mater, Northeastern University, for all they did for preparing me as an athletic trainer...I also want to thank the Executive Council and Committee Chairs for their continual help and assistance...

Here's a list of items that merit your attention...

 

1.    Get Well Mike Linkovich!
2.    EATA Elections and 2007 Annual Meeting in Boston
3.    BOC Athletic Trainer Director Election
4.    Chronicle of Higher Education highlights Bowdoin's Dan Davies on MRSA concern
5.    Senate Bill 3963- Legislations Introduced to add Athletic Trainers as Medicare Providers
6.    Senate Bill 3963- Post Card Campaign to support Legislation through U. of Oregon Graduate AT Students
7.    NATA-REF
8.    NATA Convention- Anaheim 2007
9.    Internships available from Boston Red Sox
10.  NATA Awards Deadline is November 15th
  

1.    Get Well Mike Linkovich!

I've received word that Mike Linkovich, the venerable Hall of Famer from Brunswick, Maine, suffered a heart attach on Thursday, November 2nd.True to form, he had an angioplasty and was home within two days. I talked to him Sunday, and he was his usual self.

I'm sure he would appreciate a note or card- Mike Linkovich c/o Bowdoin College Athletic Dept., Brunswick, ME 04401

2.    EATA Elections and 2007 Annual Meeting in Boston

Please read the following info from EATA President Phil Hossler and EATA President-Elect Doug Mann concerning EATA happenings:

 EATA Members: As we enter November, we are reminded that cold weather is coming fulltime, all that we have to be thankful for, two months until EATA in Boston and now is the time to vote in EATA elections. The EATA election is open for the month of November only.
The EATA will be holding elections for President-Elect and Secretary from November 1-30, on the EATA website (www.goeata.org).

Candidates for President-Elect are:

        Frank Mastrangelo    Dexter School- Brookline, MA
        Robert Ward             Moravian College- Moravian, PA
       
Candidates for Secretary are:
       Michael Gay            Penn. State University
       Carrie Graham         U. of Connecticut
       
District One member Frank Mastrangelo, from the Dexter School in Brookline, is a candidate for EATA President-Elect.  District One member Carrie Graham, from the U. of Connecticut, is a candidate for EATA Secretary.

FYI- Dr. Doug Mann, EATA program chair/president-elect reports:

3.    BOC Athletic Trainer Director Election

      The Board of Certification (BOC) has been interviewing candidates for the Athletic Trainer Director position on the BOC. Four certified athletic trainers have been submitted for the ballot. Those athletic trainers are:

       Marcia Anderson, Ph.D., ATC    Bridgewater State College
       Valerie Herzog, EdD, ATC         Utah
       Robert Sandman, MEd., ATC     Hurst, TX
       David Stuckey, MS, ATC           Abilene, TX

       On October 11th, an e-mail will be sent to you allowing you to vote. Please go to the BOC website (www.bocatc.org ) to review each candidate's bio. The election will be held from October 11th- November 10th.

       District One member Marcia Anderson, from Bridgewater State College, is a candidate for the BOC Athletic Trainer Director position.

4.    Chronicle of Higher Education highlights Bowdoin's Dan Davies on MRSA concern

Bowdoin College Head Athletic Trainer Dan Davies was featured in the September 29th edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, in an article concerning MRSA entitled "An Unwelcome Visitor in the Locker Room"...it's a good reference on MRSA prevention.

 

5.    Senate Bill 3963- Legislations Introduced to add Athletic Trainers as Medicare Providers
            New Legislation Introduced to Add Athletic Trainers as Medicare Providers

            Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyoming, has proposed federal legislation to add athletic trainers as covered providers of Medicare services.
            The bill, S. 3963, was introduced in the U.S. Senate Sept. 28. Called “Access to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services Improvement Act of 2006,” the bill aims to make health care services more easily available to Medicare patients.
            “This bill is important because it gives Medicare beneficiaries an opportunity to have access to the unique skills of certified athletic trainers,” said NATA President Chuck Kimmel, ATC. “I think this will provide a level of care for a population that desperately needs it and hasn’t been able to access it.”
            The bill does two things:
            1. Essentially overturns the challenged CMS incident-to rule and is consistent with existing law;
            2. Makes athletic trainers and lymphedema therapists covered providers under Medicare.
            Of the group of practitioners who were blocked by the CMS incident-to rule, athletic trainers and lymphedema therapists can save the Medicare program money via their services. In the case of lymphedema therapists, there is an urgent need for professionals who can perform these services.
            The success of this legislation is critical to the future success of athletic training, Kimmel said, because private insurers tend to mimic Medicare policies.
            “Any opportunity for reimbursement begins with Medicare,” he said. “If Medicare doesn’t pay for athletic training services, which are part of the physical medicine and rehabilitation codes, then [some private insurers] won’t, either. As we’ve already seen with the incident-to ruling, athletic trainers lose their jobs as a result.”
            NATA Sec. /Treasurer Marjorie Albohm, MS, ATC, urges all members to get involved.
            “Every member must assume personal responsibility for contacting all people who could be influential in understanding and supporting our position,” she said.  “The more people that we can educate about the importance of this, the more influence we’ll have on Capitol Hill.”
            NATA lobbyist Bill Finerfrock said he will focus on recruiting co-sponsors after members of Congress return from their October recess. However, NATA members should take advantage of educating legislators on the bill while the lawmakers are in their districts campaigning.
            “While we don’t expect Congress to act on this bill in the few remaining months of the session, we can use this time to build support for the bill in the next Congress,” Finerfrock said. “Its success is heavily dependent on a strong, grassroots response.”                                                                                    
What You Need to Do:

– Write letters to your lawmakers, asking them to support the Access to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services Improvement Act of 2006, S. 3963.
Don’t know how to reach your U.S. Senators and Representatives? Go to www.firstgov.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to get the names and contact information.

– Ask physicians, employers, administrators and other professional colleagues to write letters supporting the Act.
We’ll show you examples of letters in the November NATA News.

– Ask your patients, athletes and parents to contact their legislators in support of the Act.
We’ll give you tips on how to ask for support in the November NATA News.

– Join us for Capitol Hill Day 2007!
The NATA will visit Capitol Hill on Monday, Feb. 26, 2007. We need athletic trainers from all 50 states! Sign up now at www.nata.org/capitolhillday/07reg.htm
Find Out More
The November NATA News will detail the proposed legislation and offer examples of what to say to lawmakers, professional colleagues and patients to get them             involved.
 Also:  Visit NATA’s Legislative Alert Center by going to www.nata.org, logging in to the Members Section and selecting “Legislative Alert Center” from the Quick             Links box

6.    Senate Bill 3963- Post Card Campaign to support Legislation through U. of Oregon Graduate AT Students

To my fellow athletic trainers,
>
> As you all probably know, there has been a recent change in legislative
> efforts to establish our place among health care professionals.  We are
> now fighting for the passage of a new bill, S.3963.  Instead of trying to
> change the existing CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
> "incident to" ruling, this bill will allow athletic training services to
> be reimbursed by Medicare and we know this will encourage other insurance
> companies to reimburse for our services as well. Don’t forget, the impact
> of this legislation can impact our profession in many ways, even in the
> “traditional” athletic training setting.
>
> Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you work in a high school or
> college/university setting you are not affected by this issue. The 2005
> CMS rule says that the only people qualified to provide physical medicine are
> physical therapists.  This implies that athletic trainers are not
> qualified, which we most certainly are!  It won’t take long before some
> clinics, high schools, and college employers start believing we are
> unqualified and hire less educated, less expensive physical therapy
> assistants in our place.
>
> Myself and fellow graduate students at the University of Oregon have
> designed three different postcard templates that can be sent to congress
> at the state and national levels.  To turn this into a national effort in
> support of this bill and to get this problem solved once and for all, we
> need athletic trainers all over the nation to get involved.
>Our opposition’s effort to fight this bill is swift, strong, and
> organized.They have already started fighting this bill and we need to make a
> statement NOW!  All athletic trainers should feel they have an investment
> and responsibility to get this bill passed so we can get the opportunities
> and recognition we deserve.  So let’s all work together in an effort to
> make our effort stronger than the opposition to achieve our goal!  So let’s
> get busy!
>
> Option A: Fax
>
> Please use the attached postcards and modify them for your state.
> Specifically, you will either need to change information about the number
> of certified/registered/licensed athletic trainers and how many patients
> they see, or simply remove this information from the postcard.  To find
> out how many ATs and patients you have in your state, email catel@nata.org.
>
> Make the change and then follow this link
> http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm to find
> the address for your senators.  Then try this link to get their fax number
> http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm.  If this link doesn’t have
> their fax number, try to Google them and I’m sure you’ll have no trouble
> finding their fax number.  Think of the impact it would have if their fax
> machine is blocked up with letters supporting this bill!  They may file
> them somewhere, but they can’t just hit delete like they might with email.
> However, if the only feasible option for you to do SOMETHING is to email,
> then please do that rather than nothing.  Just paste the postcard from the
> athletic trainer into an email and send.  Ideally we will attack this via
> fax, though.
>
> Option B: Regular Mail
>
> If you have time, we are also organizing an effort through regular mail.
> Please follow the instructions listed under option A to modify the
> postcards for your state.  Use this link to find the address for your
> state’s senator
> http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
>
> Then print the postcards.  Please color-code them.  This is essential!!!
> The card from the Athletic Trainers should be NEON YELLOW, the card from
> athletes/parents/community members should be NEON GREEN, and the card from
> physicians/health care professionals should be NEON ORANGE.  If feasible,
> work together with nearby schools so the postcards coming from your area
> look the same.  You can print the info on one side of the card and your
> senator’s address on the other.
>
> Then comes the fun part:
>
> • Sign the postcards yourselves
>
> • Have your athletes, friends, other community members who
> support athletic trainers sign their card
>
> • Have your team physicians or other medical professionals you
> work with sign their card
>
> • Try to keep track of how many faxes and postcards are sent,
> and report results to catel@nata.org.
>
> Tips:
>
> • Have a place for the athletes and people around your training
> rooms to put the postcards and fax/mail them every week, such as a box or
> envelope.
>
> • At high schools or other community settings, just hand them
> out and collect them back up or send them home with your athletes and have
> their parents sign them and send them.
>
> • Give them to your friends and family as well and have them
> fax the community card
>
> • For regular mail, consider sending them all together, for
> ease and impact.
>
> • We only have a few short weeks to make our best first
> impression! Make it your goal to send your first batch of postcards by
> October 30th!  If you’re faxing the cards, start today!
>
>
> Ask your local athletic training organizations to help you with funding
> for postage and printing/faxing of the cards.
>
> Please contact Kim Detwiler at the University of Oregon with any questions
> or concerns.
>
> kdetwile@uoregon.edu
>
> Thank you in advance for your support in this effort.  Let’s do something
> great!
>
> Kim Detwiler, ATC, CSCS
> Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer
> University of Oregon Athletics
> 541.349.8243

7.    NATA-REF

Here is a friendly reminder to the membership from Charlie Redmond and myself, encouraging you to make voluntary contributions to the NATA Foundation, to support their research and scholarship initiatives...while we all give a little when dues are collected, any
time we can support our national efforts helps all of us...please contact Charlie at credmond@splfdcol.edu /

8.    NATA Convention- Anaheim 2007

       The 2007 NATA Annual Meeting and Symposium will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center from June 26-30, 2007. Housing reservations are scheduled to open in November, 2006, due to the location of the Convention and the various entertainments
areas nearby. Keep monitoring the NATA website (www.nata.org) for Convention updates.

9.    Internships available from Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have six internship positions open for the 2007 minor league baseball season. Of the six openings, five of the internships
are for six months (March-August) and include spending the month of March in Spring Training. The other position is a 3-month internship
(June-August). Our minor league teams are located in the following cities: Pawtucket, RI (AAA); Portland, ME (AA); Lancaster (A); Columbia, SC (A);
Lowell, MA (SA) and Fort Myers, FL (Rookie).

Deadline for applications is November 30, 2006. If you are interested, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to me, or a fax number, and I will send you
the information (the info came via regular mail and was not sent via e-mail). Please send to Jeff Stone, 54 West Union St. Ashland, MA 01721.

10.  NATA Awards Deadline is November 15th

A reminder that the deadline to submit names for NATA Awards is November 15th...you can nominate individuals by going to the NATA webpage (www.nata.org)
and look up "Honors and Awards).

Thanks!

 

Stoney

Jeff Stone
District One Director