First, a quick thank you to everyone who supported the AOTA elections by giving your opinions, your feedback and suggestions and voicing your concerns.

Second, congratulations to Wendy Churchill-Hildenbrand and Debra Young who were elected as President-Elect and Vice-President. AOTA will be in the hands of committed and skilled leaders.

Third, thanks to everyone who supported me by voting for me, by engaging with me during the election and for all the nice messages I received after. Your words and the caring and appreciation demonstrated in them via Email, Texts and Facebook messages helped to soften my disappointment. I gave it my all and I am proud of that with no regrets!

Now, on to the future! During the campaign there were many expressions of concern over 1) the lack of diversity in the profession, in AOTA and in AOTA leadership, 2) the lack of OTA engagement in AOTA and in AOTA leadership, and 3) the need to mentor a group of young and diverse leaders so that we had fresh faces stepping forward!

Okay, time to step up! AOTA’s Volunteer Leadership and Development Committee (VLDC) has put out the call for applications for quite a number of positions. Several of these in the SIS’s are specific to newer practitioners, and most could be filled by an OTA.

I am walking the talk by reaching out specifically to several young practitioners who I “met” through the campaign and to staff who work at MD Anderson Cancer Center. I am forwarding the link to the AOTA Website and offering my assistance with anything I can do to help with the application process.

I challenge all of you, but especially anyone who voiced concern since November about the lack of diversity in AOTA leadership, the lack of OTA involvement OR the fact that many of the same people step forward again and again to make sure you contact no less than 1 person and ask them to submit their application. Offer to help if they need it, provide them encouragement, ask them to share the link, and refer them to me or any other seasoned AOTA volunteer if they have questions.

We can determine our own future and if we want a group of future diverse leaders we can create that cohort now!

https://www.aota.org/Publications-News/AOTANews/2018/VLDC-Seeks-Candidates-for-Appointed-Volunteer-Positions.aspxwww.aota.org/Publications-News/AOTANews/2018/VLDC-Seeks-Candidates-for-Appointed-Volunteer-Positions.aspx

​The last two months of campaigning to be the next AOTA Vice-President has been an invigorating, inspirational and illuminating adventure! What a ride! When I decided to run for VP I decided that I was leaning in hard and going all out! I truly believe that I am the right leader for the right time at AOTA and I want to have zero regrets about anything I should have done to get my message out to AOTA members.
 
So over the last two months I have:

• Skyped with 10 classrooms of OT or OTA students (and have 3 more scheduled)!
• Mailed postcards (20,000!) to every OT and OTA educational program in the country!
• Held two “Candidate Listening Sessions” for OTAs and OTA students on increasing OTA engagement in the profession and AOTA leadership!
• Participated in an hour-long Facebook Live interview with Alexis Joelle (https://www.facebook.com/8alexisjoelle/videos/1377655329046666/)!
• Held individual phone conversations with 8 AOTA members who wanted to speak with me directly in a 1:1 discussion!
• Held numerous Email conversations with member and non-member stakeholders.
• Vigorously participated in social media to get my message out including Facebook, OTConnections, Twitter and my personal webpage www.brentbraveman.com.
• Answered member questions in the OTConnections Elections 2018 Forum (https://otconnections.aota.org/sis_forums/f/7928.aspx)
• Posted “just a few” videos on serious subjects such as Vision 2025, leadership, diversity and the future of occupational therapy

(https://www.facebook.com/brent.braveman/videos/10212962611638001/  https://www.facebook.com/brent.braveman/videos/10212946146266377/  https://www.facebook.com/brent.braveman/videos/10212864225698414/) 

and a couple just to show my FUN side (https://www.facebook.com/brent.braveman/videos/10213094218608093/ and https://www.facebook.com/brent.braveman/videos/10213014488774897/) and https://www.facebook.com/brent.braveman/videos/10213004301720227/)  

So what I have I learned? Here are some of the key points:

• There is great optimism and enthusiasm among occupational therapy practitioners about the future of our profession! AOTA leadership and AOTA staff deserve high praise for the progress made under pursuit of the Centennial Vision.
• Member and non-member stakeholders have deep interest in AOTA’s Vision 2025 but need to develop a deep understanding.
• Diversity matters and is still a primary concern for our members! We’ve made some progress but not nearly enough in making occupational therapy a diverse workforce. We need to take a step back, reassess, recommit and re-engage to increase diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, participation of practitioners with disabilities, gender and other characteristics.
• We need to GO BIG in selling the value of our occupational therapy assistants! Here also we need to take a step back, reassess, recommit and re-engage with our OTA members and develop new strategies to increase the participation and engagement of OTAs in the profession and in AOTA leadership. We need to examine our habits, our language, and our messaging about the contribution of OTAs as part of effective and cost-effective, science-driven, evidence-based and occupation-based care.
• We have a burnout problem. Practitioners in multiple areas but especially our practitioners in SNFs are struggling to maintain their enthusiasm in the face of unreasonable expectations for productivity and questions about the level of support they receive from their profession and their professional association. There are significant concerns about the potential impact of the proposed Resident Classification System (Version1) (RCS-1) on the practice of occupational therapy in SNFs.
• Member and non-member stakeholders are concerned and some are angry about the possible implications of the ACOTE mandates for OT and OTA education. Some have grave concerns over how decisions are made and how they are communicated. Transparency in decision-making and communication is critically important.
• We have to look forward to Vision 2025 AND pay close attention to the challenges that practitioners face in SNFs, in medical model settings, in schools, in private practice and in the home, workplaces and the community. We MUST and we CAN do both. We cannot accept a false, forced choice.
• We need AOTA leaders who are accessible, engaged and open to feedback from both AOTA member and non-members.

 
I am excited that we have a slate of highly qualified, committed and skilled candidates running for AOTA offices this year. I am pleased that the level of engagement of the candidates has been raised to a meet a new bar; and I hope that I have been instrumental in making that happen.
 
I have 33 years of experience as a direct care clinician, manager, educator, researcher, scholar, and a consultant to community-based agencies. My experience as a State Association President, in SIS leadership, as Speaker of the Representative Assembly and as Secretary of AOTA have provided me with broad knowledge, skills and experience to be a highly engaged and effective Vice-President. I am passionate and committed to service to AOTA as a servant leader.
 
If you have not voted and have questions please reach out to me on Facebook or at [email protected].
 
If you have not voted, please vote at www.aota.org.

If you have voted, THANK YOU for participating! 

​One critical function of the AOTA Board of Directors is to choose an Executive Director for the
Association. With the retirement of Executive Director Fred Somers there are some very knowledgeable and experienced shoes to fill. Given the time frame the new AOTA officers who will take office on July 1 may be involved in the final decision. For this reason I am sharing my thoughts about how I would approach interviews of final candidates. I have much experience over my roles as a manager, as a Program Director of an educational program and as a Board of Director member of a community-based organization in hiring at many different levels. My typical focus is an experiential-based approach asking candidates to give examples from their background and experience to tell me about the type of employee they would be.
 
An Executive Director of a health related professional membership organization such as the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) needs to be someone with a documented history of strong leadership and effective organizational management. I’ve been involved in a lot of hiring and searches in my career. I tend to use a behaviorally based interview approach. I would look for someone who can give examples from their experience of when they have been able to or would be able to:
 

1. Combine transformational leadership with transactional leadership. The evidence on effective organizational leaders tells us that highly effective leaders help those they lead to connect their everyday work to the greater mission and vision (transformation) and at the same time are able to help them overcome obstacles and see clear paths forward to achieving operational goals (transactional).
2. Lead groups in large scale strategic planning, visioning and using values to make tough organizational choices.
3. Assess the needs of various stakeholder groups and be able to speak the language of each group and varied audiences including within the profession, in other professions and our consumers.
4. Have an understanding of the landscape of the varied systems that members of AOTA must navigate including health systems and policy, educational systems and policy, governmental and NGO systems (e.g. NIH, American Heart Society, American Cancer Society, National Alliance on Mental Illness etc.).
5. Plan, implement and manage complex budgets on the scope of AOTA including the ability to address contingencies and respond to shifts in the economy and the stock market (i.e. AOTA investments).
6. Demonstrate an awareness and operational command of varied types of law including human resources, real estate, contracts, health law, disability etc. and show a shrewd awareness of when one must rely on experts and consultants to give expert advice.
7. Demonstrate strong interpersonal skills and be able to effectively interact with a wide scope of stakeholders. The ED needs to be able to operate smoothly in the Boardroom, in the classroom, and in front of large audiences. They need to be strong listeners and strong communicators. They must be comfortable with conflict and skilled at both managing conflict and managing agreement.
8. Understand our past and envision our future, to build upon our successes and to confront our challenges (e.g. diversity, apathy and engagement, workforce development etc.).
9. Lead and guide quality initiatives both within the Association (e.g. with the paid staff such as Lean approaches, continuous quality improvement etc.) and understand the application of quality approaches in the varied settings in which occupational therapy practitioners work.
10. If not experience in the development and growth of the membership base, at least a strong understanding of approaches and strategies to assess and meet member needs in order to maintain and grow our membership. This means a working appreciation of the needs of student members, occupational therapy assistant members and occupational therapist members across multiple generations.
11. Effectively develop and lead multiple teams. AOTA has a relatively small paid staff and the top leadership (what has been called the “Facilitating Team”) including the CFO, the COO, the Chief Academic and Scientific Affairs Officer etc. each lead a diverse group of projects and teams. The ED MUST be highly skilled at teaming.
12. Clearly and articulately communicate the distinct value of occupational therapy to varied stakeholders and audiences and show a passion for affecting the quality of life and occupational performance of individuals, groups, communities and populations.

 
During my two terms on the AOTA Board I was involved in the annual performance review of the ED six times and have a good understanding of the duties and responsibilities. I’ve had the opportunity to directly witness great successes and times when things could have gone better. I hope to have the opportunity to be involved in the hiring of the new ED although that process could be complete or near complete by July 1. I also hope that we may find an occupational therapy practitioner with the skills, experience and qualities to take the lead, but association management is a field within itself and the best candidate may not be an occupational therapy practitioner.
 
If others have something I left off of my list that you would be looking for?
 
Thanks!

I genuinely appreciate the opportunity over the last 10 days that I have had to engage in dialogue with others and to reflect on the topic of diversity in the occupational therapy profession; especially diversity in representation in leadership in our professional association.
 
On December 6th I published a blog post titled “Where is the diversity?” (https://www.brentbraveman.com/blog/where-is-the-diversity) and posted a link to it on Facebook. The blog post has the highest readership of any blog post so far on my website. There have been over 800 unique readers and the Facebook post resulted in quite a bit of discussion. Since then, a number of AOTA members including several students and young leaders in AOTA have also sent me Emails and personal messages to express concerns and share their experiences, opinions and perspectives.
 
One of the students who Emailed me described some of the comments on Facebook as initially “heated” but gave me props for responding calmly and creating opportunities for dialogue and learning. I hope that is true. I hope that I asked relevant questions to help me understand, and I hope that I listened and learned.
 
Several of the folks who have contacted me have referred me to resources and blogs by others who have shared perspectives on diversity in the profession and in our leadership. Reading first person narratives has been incredibly instructive and impactful. I am going to reach out to some of these folks and ask if they are okay with me calling attention to their blogs and sites.
 
I hope that others will use their voices and that the dialogue continues and grows. I have added a page on “Diversity in Occupational Therapy Blogs and Resources” on my website https://www.brentbraveman.com/diversity-in-occupational-therapy-blogs--resources.html. If there is a blog or resource you think I should add please send me the link. 
 
What did I hear and learn over the last 10 days?
 

• I heard directly from members of AOTA who are persons of color or persons with disabilities who do not believe that their voices are always heard equally.
• I heard that some of these members believe that their perspective is not uncommon and that it is more pervasive than has been acknowledged.
• I heard that some of these members who have stepped forward to volunteer at various levels of our organization perceive that they have encountered varying degrees of discrimination.
• I learned that there may be tacit or subtle barriers to participation that result in opportunities being perceived as not equally available to all of our membership.
• I learned that there is great hope in the value of role models and mentorship.
• And, I learned that if you stop and say in earnest, ‘Tell me more” most often the person you are speaking with will do so.

 
I am pretty sure I already knew that last one, but it is good to get a refresher every once in a while and to be reminded of the importance of asking questions and listening. I was also reminded that while I can pull from my own experiences as a member of the LGBT community to empathize with the experience of others, it only takes me so far. Like all of us, I have many traits and characteristics and whatever discrimination I have experienced as a member of the LGBT community has been tempered by also being a white man in today’s society. The experiences of women, of persons of color and of persons with disabilities within the profession have some similarities to my experiences but there are more differences that I can only hope to appreciate if I work hard at listening and understanding.
 
It is tempting to offer a bulleted list of solutions and a path forward. I have some ideas, and shared some of them in just such a bulleted list in my initial blog post  https://www.brentbraveman.com/blog/where-is-the-diversity (and other suggestions have been provided by some of the members who have joined the dialogue in the last 10 days). After all, I am trying to convince members to cast their votes for me to be the next AOTA Vice-President, and, I tend to be action oriented; but after reflecting on the dialogues that I have been involved in over the last 10 days I think that making two commitments is the most important thing I can do.
 

1. I commit to continuing to be open to dialogue, to ask questions, to seek to understand before I seek to be understood, and to listen and learn.

 

1. I commit that at any opportunity where I can, I will ask that voices of diverse representation are included; and that we seek the direct advice of those we hope will be more represented on how to accomplish that.

 
Thank you to those of you who have spoken out in the last 10 days and I invite others to join in.
 
Thanks!

As the next Vice-President of AOTA I will be a tireless advocate for occupational therapy practitioners and consumers of occupational therapy! All this week is advocacy week at www.brentbraveman.com and each day I am highlighting a critical piece of legislation address at the AOTA Legislative Action Center.

Today I am going to revisit a critical issue a second time because we are very close but Congress must take action before January 1st to end the therapy caps!

Please call your Senators and Representatives today and tell them you want them to act now so that the arbitrary therapy caps do not go into place on January 1!

Visit this link and enter your Zip Code to get the numbers of your Senators and Congressional Representative. The screen shot below shows you that all you need to do is enter your Zip Code!

http://capwiz.com/aota/callalert/index.tt?alertid=79352641

Join me, AOTA and AOTPAC and your colleagues and Take Action Today!

As the next Vice-President of AOTA I will be a tireless advocate for occupational therapy practitioners and consumers of occupational therapy! All this week is advocacy week at www.brentbraveman.com and each day I am highlighting a critical piece of legislation address at the AOTA Legislative Action Center.

The Lymphedema Treatment Act is a piece of legislation that is near and dear to my heart as I see consumers struggling everyday with the sometimes debilitating effects of lymphedema at MD Anderson Cancer Center where I work as Director of Rehabilitation Services.

As AOTA explains, “Lymphedema is a complex, chronic condition affecting three to five millions of Americans. It results in the buildup and swelling of the affected body part due to the insufficient function of the lymphatic system. Untreated, lymphedema is progressive and can cause complications, comorbidities, and can impact an individual’s day-to-day functioning. It is most commonly caused by the removal of lymph nodes or vessels during treatment of cancer (AOTA, 2017, Online at: http://capwiz.com/aota/issues/alert/?alertid=73918626)

Evidence shows that compression garments are highly effective in controlling lymphedema (Braveman & Hunter, 2017) but Medicare does not currently pay for compression garments. The Lymphedema Treatment Act would change this and provide critical coverage for patients with lymphedema.

Take action now and urge your Member of Congress to support proper treatment of lymphedema!

Visit: www.aota.org/take action today!
​
Braveman, B. & Hunter, E. (2017). Occupational therapy practice guidelines for cancer rehabilitation with Adults. Bethesda, Maryland: AOTA Press.
 

Did you know that despite the critical role that occupational therapy plays in home health care and in helping consumers to stay in their homes safely, occupational therapy practitioners CANNOT open a home health case?

According to AOTA, “Even when ordered on the plan of care, occupational therapists are not permitted conduct the required initial visit under Medicare.  Additionally, they are not allowed to complete the comprehensive assessment unless OT is the qualifying service, such as under Medicaid or when OT is the qualifying service on a “continuing need” basis.

Proposed legislation titled, “The Medicare Home Health Flexibility Act of 2017 (H.R. 3820/S. 977) change this and allow home health companies increased flexibility to use the most clinically appropriate skilled service to conduct the initial assessment visit and to complete the comprehensive assessment
.
Here is a link to an information sheet you can use to explain the problem:

https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/Advocacy/Federal/Fact-Sheets/Medicare-Home-Health-Flexibility-Act-One-Pager-2017.pdf

Go to www.aota.org/takeaction and contact your Senators and Representative and ask them to co-sponsor or support the Home Health Flexibility Act!

Join me and take action!

Have you ever heard of the “pay go” rule? I hadn’t either until I logged into the AOTA Legislative Action Center at www.aota.org/takeaction.
 
The “pay go” rule requires that any decrease in revenue such as tax cuts either must be paid for in other ways or automatic cuts happen in critical programs such Medicare, student loans and “safety net” programs. Right now both the House and the Senate have passed tax reform bills and leadership in both halls of Congress have indicated that this rule will not be enacted, but we can’t be sure and this is important!
 
According to AOTA, “there are many issues competing for Congressional attention over the next several weeks: completion of tax reform, funding the federal government, raising federal spending caps, reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, fixing Medicare policies such as the therapy cap, and working towards an agreement for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)” (Retrieved Online at: http://capwiz.com/aota/issues/alert/?alertid=79317626&PROCESS=Take+Action).
 
We need to be sure that our Senators and Representatives hear from us and we need to let them know that waving “pay-go” is a must. This means they must take action and so must we.
 
Go to the Legislative Action Center and you will find prepared text for an Email to send to your Senators and Representative. You can edit the text of the Email if you like but it is fast and easy. Stand up for our stakeholders and let your voice be heard!

We’ve dealt with the Medicare Therapy cap for the past 20 years and this is the year for us to put a stop to it! The arbitrary cap places an arbitrary limit of $1960 on the amount of outpatient occupational therapy a Medicare can receive each year, regardless of medical necessity or therapeutic need. Despite having an “exceptions process” in place, the cap creates extra costs and potentially harms clients who would benefit from occupational therapy services.
 
We currently have bipartisan support in the “Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2017 (H.R. 807/S. 253)” which would permanently repeal the therapy cap.  Sponsors and co-sponsors include Representatives Erik Paulsen (R-MN), Ron Kind (D-WI), Marsha Blackburn, (R-TN), and Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Susan Collins (R-ME).
 
According to AOTA, “In April 2015, Congress passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which fixed other flawed Medicare policies, but failed to pass a permanent fix to the therapy cap. Despite strong bipartisan support for a permanent solution, Congress ultimately approved a two-tiered "exceptions process" through December 31, 2017” (AOTA, 2017: Online at http://capwiz.com/aota/issues/alert/?alertid=74944626).

You can find talking points on repeal of the therapy caps at this link:   https://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/Advocacy/Federal/Tips-and-Tools/Therapy-Cap-Talking-Points-8-2-17.pdf
  
Visit the AOTA Legislative Action Center at www.aota.org/takeaction to find contact information for your Representatives and Senators and Email them today! You can find editable text following this link: http://capwiz.com/aota/issues/alert/?alertid=74944626. By entering your home address, Email and phone number you can send an Email in less than 5 minutes!
 
Join me by speaking out and asking to end the therapy caps now! I contacted my Congresspersons, now its your turn!