The Schedule

Kathleen Caufield PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT  &  Ashley Cassel PT, DPT, OCS

Results First, Referrals Later: Why PT is the new PCP 

Physician shortages and rising chronic disease burden are stretching primary care systems—leaving patients with physical and functional impairments especially vulnerable. Embedding physical therapists within primary care teams offers a powerful, team-based solution that expands access, streamlines care navigation, and lowers overall costs. This session will highlight current models integrating physical therapists into primary care delivery and challenge attendees to reimagine how their own systems can move toward integration.

8:10 - 9:30

Matt Quanrud PT, DPT, OCS

Turns Out the Couch Is Not a Good Retirement Plan

Aging is hard and inactivity in this population can contribute to numerous issues.  This section will weave updates related to sarcopenia/GLP-1s and frailty in various aging clinical populations and discuss the role of language/motivation in assisting clinicians in talking with their patients about the true risks of inactivity/frailty and the benefits and challenges of getting active and strong.

9:30-10:10

Kathleen Picard PT, DPT, FAPTA  &  Josh Ney

How the Sausage is Made!

Description - Coming Soon

10:20-11:00

Steven Johnson PT, DPT & Olaf Morkeberg PT, DPT

Closing the Loop in Patient Care:  Screening, Referral, and Implementation of

Social Determinants in Health Programs

This session will serve as a refresher on social determinants of health and how they impact our patients. As well as considerations for screening, recommendations for referrals, and being curious about how to ask about and treat the impacts of social determinants of health.

11:00-11:40

Panel of Curiosities #1

Moderator: Chris Kramer PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT

There will be prize drawings for the best questions asked of the panel

Topics 1-5

11:40-12:00

Allie Smith PT, DPT, PhD, OCS, FAAOMPT

You're Advocay Muscles are Atrophying!

Most PTs join the profession because they want to help people. Unfortunately, some PTs are burning out, dealing with declining reimbursement, high workloads and productivity requirements, high administrative burden, and moral injury. Other PTs are venting their frustrations on social media, complaining about their job, their patients, other PTs, and the APTA, while accomplishing and changing nothing. We will discuss the idea that most of the issues we face are systemic and structural, and require advocacy to make real change.

12:30-1:10

Serena Bangasser PT, DPT & Natalie Nafzger PT, DPT & Cayla Renwick PT, DPT

No - It Isn't a Rhomboid Strain - It's the Schneck

Your patient presents with an insidious onset of medial scapular pain and they used an AI search to determine it is a rhomboid strain.  You aren't so sure so you start to look elsewhere and determine it is actually schneck pain.  This session will dive into the schneck and discuss the process of differentiating nebulous upper quarter pain and its treatments.   

1:10-1:50

Tony Von Ruden PT, DPT, OCS

Back to What Matters: AI and the Future of PT

You joined the PT world to treat people, yet the modern PT spends a startling amount of their day doing everything but that.  Excessive administrative burdens aren't minor inconveniences, they erode focus, fuel burnout, and chip away at the joy that drew us to this work.

This talk explores how AI tackles that load directly, automating documentation, synthesizing a rapidly expanding evidence base, and surfacing the right information at the point of care. The opportunity isn't just efficiency. It's reclaiming purpose and the conditions that produce better outcomes for the people we treat. When we lift the burden, we get back to what matters.

1:50-2:30

Ellie Johnson PT, DPT & Grace King PT, DPT

My Certification Is Better Than Yours

Clinical professions love to develop certifications as a way to recognize competence.  Or maybe it is a way to keep us all coming back to complete more courses in their specific dogmatic approach.  Either way, there are numerous certifications available to PTs across the industry and this session will discuss the value of certification and explore where we might find value and where we might be seeking an absolute truth that may not exist. 

2:40-3:20

Jill Lawrence PT, DPT, TPS

The Yellow Flags are Waving… Are You Drowning in What to do About It?

The PT profession recognizes biopsychosocial factors are often critical to patient care encounters.  Despite this, clinicians can feel uncertain at times of how to utilize these findings in their decision making.  This talk will work to provide a framework and action path to improve provider confidence in implementing these aspects into clinical practice.  

3:20 - 4:00

Panel of Curiosities #2

Moderator: Chris Kramer PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT

There will be prize drawings for the best questions asked of the panel

Topics 6-9

4:00 - 4:30