House of Delegates
What is the House of Delegates?
For the APTA, it’s a group of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants that serve as a link between the PTs and PTAs of their state and the national APTA organization and Board. They can represent a state (TX, SC, ND, etc) or section (aquatics, neuro, ortho, peds, etc). Admittedly, I haven’t 100% figured out the process for becoming a delegate but my current understanding is that someone must be nominated then elected. These delegates meet once a year to discuss and vote on motions. Sometimes these motions are a stance of the organization, words they commit to standing by. Sometimes these motions are charges, which is more like a task a group (like a committee or the Board) must complete.
The House of Delegates gets a bit tedious at times, especially when you get to amending amendments to motions! And I noticed a lot of formalities - pleases and thank yous and very patiently awaiting your turn. It felt very silly at times but when they got stuck on a motion, just going back and forth in debate, I realized how very necessary those tedious formalities are. All conversations stayed very civil and most everyone who had a piece to say got to say it. I can see how, without rules and order, policy making debates could quickly devolve into hostile situations.
Not our actual speaker for APTA. Maybe next year I’ll get to go in person and get my own pictures!
Photo by Su Casa Panamá: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-a-suit-standing-while-holding-a-microphone-9727921/
What do the delegates do?
APTA delegates host town halls to hear the thoughts, concerns, and feedback from PTs and PTAs in their state. Town halls now tend to be virtual, allowing the delegates to easily reach people across an entire state. They use this feedback to create or edit motions, which they then present to the House of Delegates at their annual meeting. The delegates then vote on which ones to accept (aka adopt) or reject. I’m sure there’s much more that they do but these are the main actions I’ve observed over the last month.
What’s so important about this?
At some point while watching the House of Delegates last weekend, I started thinking to myself “These are just a bunch of words, nonspecific ones at that. How does this process help create actual change?” Instead of dismissing the significance of passing motions, I asked questions and listened and allowed things to mull over in my mind for a while.
One of the delegates from last weekend spoke about how they were able to use a passed motion as an official statement that supported changes she was advocating for in her workplace, where many different kinds of health care providers work. In this case, a passed motion didn’t actively create change itself but an individual was able to create change with a supporting statement from a passed motion.
Photo by RODNAE Productions: https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-male-doctors-talking-with-each-other-6129455/
Members of PTPAC (our profession’s lobby group) and people who work directly for APTA use these motions and statements to guide their work tasks and where our money should go.
Charges are a little more direct because they assign tasks to do, like charging the Board to conduct a study to see how feasible it would be to include image ordering in the PT scope of practice.
Again, I believe there’s much more benefit than what I’ve listed here but these are the main things that jumped out at me.
For more on specific topics discussed at the 2022 House of Delegates annual meeting, click the link below:
