Future of Physical Therapy Symposium June 10, 2026
Odenton, MD.
Members are invited to join us from 1- 5 pm at Odenton Public Library. RSVP for details.
APTAMD’s government relations committee works with our Lobbying Team, Brocato and Shattuck, throughout the year to protect the practice of physical therapy in Maryland.
APTA Maryland Payment, Practice, and Legislative Advocacy Update
On May 6, 2026, APTA staff met with Emily Chen, Senior Advisor, CMS Office of the Administrator to discuss current therapy issues. The topics included the current crisis with the Medicare Fee Schedule, MPPR, PT’s role in physical activity and movement across the lifespan (particularly as it relates to the MAHA agenda), the ACCESS and ELEVATE models, and prior authorization in Medicare Advantage (ensuring the insurance companies follow through on their pledges).
Department of Education Final Rule: On April 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education released its long-awaited final rule on federal student loan limits. Under the final rule issued April 30, the department finalized an arbitrary and limited definition of “professional degree” solely for the purpose of determining eligibility for higher federal loan limits. The department finalized its approach to reserve the highest annual and lifetime loan caps of $50,000 per year and $200,000 total only for 11 degree programs it categorized as “professional” for student loan purposes: theology, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, and clinical psychology. All other programs, including DPT programs, are categorized as “graduate degrees” and subject to significantly lower caps of $20,500 per year and $100,000 total. While the department acknowledges these are solely internal classifications and not a judgment of a program’s professional standing, the practical effect is clear: many DPT students will face federal borrowing limits that do not align with the real cost of education and the cost of living during full-time clinical training… Read More
Department of Education Litigation: On May 19, 2026, a coalition of state attorneys general and governors filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education that advocates for the dismissal of the department’s final rule on federal student loans based on procedural and substantive grounds. A second lawsuit led by the organization Democracy Forward was filed on May 21, 2026, that similarly asks the court to block the Dept of ED final rule on the grounds it violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
APTA is monitoring this lawsuit, as well as other legal challenges from third-party organizations and professional associations. APTA has not joined these legal challenges at this time but continues to assess the situation and engage with those involved in legal efforts
On Thursday, May 21, 2026, the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee unanimously advanced the APTA-endorsed legislation Provider Reimbursement Stability Act [(H.R. 8163). The bipartisan bill would raise Medicare’s budget neutrality trigger threshold from $20 million to $57.64 million beginning in 2028 and place guardrails on abrupt year-to-year payment fluctuations tied to budget neutrality adjustments. The legislation would also create a reconciliation process for correcting inaccurate CMS utilization estimates tied to budget neutrality calculations, require CMS to periodically update practice expense cost inputs used in physician payment formulas, and cap annual conversion factor fluctuations caused by budget neutrality adjustments.
On May 11, 2026, Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) introduced S. 4480, the Optimizing Postpartum Outcomes Act. This bipartisan bill, which mirror H.R. 4074 in the House, is aimed at increasing awareness of the availability and importance of pelvic health PT and pelvic health in general for pregnant and postpartum women. The legislation would require HHS to issue best practices on pelvic health in general, and pelvic health PT in particular, to state Medicaid and CHIP agencies. The bill would also order the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study on how state agencies are managing pelvic health. Finally, S. 4480 would instruct CDC to issue pelvic health informational materials to pregnant and postpartum women and their providers. Sen. Blunt Rochester introduced the legislation as the centerpiece of a tranche of women’s health bills just after Mother’s Day.
On April 28, 2026, Senators Heinrich (D-NM) and Rounds (R-SD) introduced S. 4420 – the Physical Therapist Workforce and Patient Access Act. This bipartisan legislation, which mirrors H.R. 5621 introduced in the House of Representatives, would add physical therapists to the National Health Service Corp (NHSC) Loan Repayment program. The NHSC awards up to $50k in student loan repayment to eligible healthcare providers who work in a medically underserved area and in a federally approved facility for at least two years. The legislation also would provide community health centers with the option to hire PTs as FTEs and bill Medicare and Medicaid for PT services, a benefit those programs already cover. In addition to APTA, the bill is endorsed by almost 40 organizations, notably the American Farm Bureau, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National Rural Health Association, and the National Association of Rural Health Clinics.
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