Dear PT Advocacte: As health care reform heats up in Congress, its time to make sure physical therapy is at the table. After months of summits, hearing, and discussion, it is expected that legislative proposals and alternatives will begin to emerge next week. The time is now to begin to tell the story of the importance of physical therapy as a solution to our Nation's health care dilemma.

• Ensure that rehabilitation services are an essential element of a standard benefits package in any proposal to reform the insurance delivery system and provided by licensed health care professionals.
• Eliminate existing payment policies that impede patient access to cost-effective outpatient rehabilitation services provided by physical therapists -- before authorizing new policies.
• Enhance initiatives to develop a national strategy that will ensure that an adequate health care workforce exists to meet the needs of patients.
• Include policies to reduce regulatory burdens on physical therapists in order to help them be more efficient and effective in delivering health care to their patients at the right time and place, including addressing physician self-referral concerns as it related to physical therapy services.