Board Chooses Centennial Vision Priorities for FY 2010
At its February 27-28, 2009 meeting, the AOTA Board of Directors prioritized the organization's Centennial Vision objectives for the upcoming fiscal year which begins July 1, 2009. The Board actions are being shared with AOTA leadership and volunteer bodies to assist in thinking and planning for projects and activities during the next year.
Included among the priorities are wide-ranging advocacy efforts, a continuation of the new public awareness campaign, and outcomes and evidence initiatives to support current and emerging occupational therapy practice arenas. As the Board assessed priorities for the coming year, their discussions were guided by the strategic importance of the projects to be undertaken, and building and delivering member value.
The activities and outcomes which were ranked highest by the Board are those which support increasing the power and recognition of the profession (Fig.1), and those that position the profession to be evidence-based and science-driven (Fig.2), both of which are central tenets of the Centennial Vision. The Association continues to engage in activities that support other important elements of the Centennial Vision, including work to enhance the occupational therapy educational system, foster more international collaboration within the global occupational therapy community, and develop a more diverse occupational therapy workforce.
The activities that were ranked as the most critical for staff, financial, and volunteer resource allocation and attention moving forward during the next year are listed below, with each followed by the related most highly-ranked outcome measures to be achieved in the near term:
- Engage in broad-based advocacy to ensure funding for OT in traditional and emerging areas
- The role of occupational therapy in schools for behavioral mental health interventions will be recognized in IDEA and No Child Left Behind (or similar legislation).
- Occupational therapy will be able to open cases under the Medicare home health benefit.
- Medicare will continue to cover occupational therapy in all current settings and in new and emerging settings, encompassing the full scope of practice of occupational therapy especially in low vision, home modifications, driver rehabilitation, and community participation.
- Overall expenditures for occupational therapy under Medicare are increased commensurate with overall Medicare expenditures increases for services in Parts A, B, and C.
- Medicare will adopt occupational therapy-appropriate documentation and outcome measure standards as these requirements are modified.
- Create a national outcomes database
- AOTA will have a national database for occupational therapy outcomes by 2011.
- Competencies in using outcome measures and interpreting/applying outcomes data will be incorporated into occupational therapy education curriculum and standards by 2013.
- Develop major image-building campaigns
- The brand for occupational therapy is successfully launched through:
- Provision of materials to all members, promoting the brand directly and via the Web branding page
- Articles about new brand are placed in two trade publications and two national media outlets in 2009
- Paid advertising promotes the brand in two trade or targeted publications
- The brand is integrated into all AOTA communication materials as appropriate by 2011
- Materials integrating the brand are developed, targeting all six Centennial Vision areas of occupational therapy practice.
- Media coverage of occupational therapy is increased each year to result in a total of 10 national media stories by 2013.
- Promote dissemination of evidence-based knowledge
- Evidence is being used to support areas of practice in work with external decision makers (public policy, reimbursement, licensure, ethics).
- Evidence is incorporated into the AOTA Blueprint for Education.
- Continually scan the research environment
- Create a research agenda
- AOTA will approve a research agenda for the profession in concert with AOTF.
- AOTA's research goals are aligned with those of federal funding agencies and private foundations by 2010.
- Create a research database
- By 2010, AOTA maintains a database jointly with AOTF for (a) research and training grants that have been awarded to occupational therapy programs, and (b) all occupational therapy practitioners involved in interdisciplinary, extramural research including NIH, NIDRR, and DOE, as well as foundations.
- Create the emerging leaders development program
- 50 new practitioners have gone through the emerging leaders training and have assumed active leadership roles in ad hoc committees or commissions and committees by 2015.
- The COOL leadership database is created and has over 100 entries by 2012; potential leaders utilize OT Connections as a way of identifying themselves and their interests.
The Board rankings of Centennial Vision outcome measures and priority activities can be found in more detail in the Board of Directors section of the AOTA Web site at http://www.aota.org/.