WATA Newsletter

Fellow WATA Members,

I would like to focus my message in this fall newsletter upon letting you know how your Board is working to advance our strategic plan. The most important role of your Board of Directors is to insure that that the organization represents its membership and that the initiatives that we decided upon move forward. A strategic plan is just writing on paper if it is not adhered to, and our Board considers our plan at all times when we make financial and strategic decisions. I think you will find some good progress is being made.

Today, I want to highlight developments related to four of our seven central themes contained within the WATA Vision for 2012.

Secure Third Party Reimbursement that is Consistent with Other Allied Healthcare Providers in Wisconsin.
As of October 1st, the WATA has contracted Prevention First Consulting, LLC and Dan Trampf to represent the WATA in matters that affect third party reimbursement. Dan will begin to represent the WATA membership with groups such as the Wisconsin State Insurance Commission, Wisconsin Hospital Association, and the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans. He will also work with insurance companies around the state to educate them about athletic training and what our training prepares us to do. He is also available for consulting with your institution and employer, but the WATA is not able to fund specific initiatives for institutions. Dan will work globally and coordinate his efforts with the WATA Reimbursement and Employment Committee. Nate Weiler now is Co-Chairing this committee with myself. It’s great to have Dan and Nate on board with us in these important capacities!

Expand Educational Opportunities
Jill Murphy and our WATA Professional Education Committee have been working diligently to expand affordable CEU opportunities for all members. For the first time, we will be able to offer 25 WATA sponsored CEU’s this year between our fall and spring symposiums. This has already met our 2012 goal. A WATA member can now receive 75 CEU’s through the WATA over a three year period if they choose to do so. We do realize that CEU’s need to be obtained in other areas, but we felt that the 25 CEU total was an important goal for us to reach. The creation of educational opportunities was your highest priority in our membership survey prior to the strategic planning process.

Enhance Governmental Affairs Initiatives at All Levels
As you know, we are planning to introduce new practice act language this winter. The language has not yet been finalized, but we are close. We will continue to work with other entities to attempt to find common ground on this language. The new language will focus upon allowing athletic trainers to function in a capacity consistent with their education and training regardless of the environment of employment. It essentially will bring our practice act up to date with current state legal interpretation and remove potentially restrictive language. Mike Van Veghel and the Governmental Affairs Committee have worked closely with the NATA to develop the language. Updating your practice act has not, and should not, be taken lightly. I can assure you that we have done our due diligence and have asked the right people about this. That said, we are open to compromise as long we feel the final language is not restrictive to our ability to practice. You will see much more on this soon.

Create New Sources of Revenue
Our newly formed WATA Finance Committee has created a sponsorship package that should allow the WATA to realize more revenue from our supporters and provide them with greater exposure. This will be detailed in the near term, but we are encouraged by early responses. Our goal is to launch this sponsorship program fully within the next 6 weeks. We have also been working to manage our expenses and improve the flow of funds from the NATA through GLATA. I can assure you that we are maximizing all of our grant requests from the NATA and from GLATA. We will plan to share some of our successes with you from a financial standpoint this spring. As you know, we need funding to continue to implement our strategy. This area is of utmost importance to our Board.

Please take time to read the other important updates this month! To close, you will soon see a communication from our Board related to the efforts of our newly created Leadership Development Committee. We have multiple openings coming up in the spring elections and we want to maximize our nominations. Please call or e-mail me if you would like to learn more about how to get involved and what positions will be available.

Sincerely,

Joe Greene
President, Wisconsin Athletic Trainers’ Association, Inc.