Request to our Members

Over the last year, the ACAPT Board of Directors has been in discussions with the APTA Board of Directors about the relationship between ACAPT and APTA and how we can best work together to promote excellence in academic physical therapy. 

For the ACAPT Board, these discussions have focused on how ACAPT can best represent and serve its core constituency of institutional members consistent with our mission and striving towards our vision.  

To be clear, the ACAPT Board cannot -- and will not -- make any decisions about our relationship with the APTA without the involvement and support of the membership. To engage the membership in this process of assessing our current relationship with the APTA, a review of the history of ACAPT is critical.

History of the formation of ACAPT

In 1942, the “Physical Therapy Schools Section” was formed within the APTA, and within that Section, the “Council of Physical Therapy School Directors” was developed to bring school directors together. The Council voted to dissolve in 1973, and at the time, program directors shifted their efforts to form the Academic Administrator’s Special Interest Group (AASIG) within the APTA Education Section (now known as the APTA Academy of Education). Members of the AASIG formed a task force that worked in 2008-2009 to develop a recommendation for the formation of a Council of Physical Therapy Academic Programs. The APTA was petitioned in 2009 to form the Academic Council, which resulted in a motion by the APTA Board, co-sponsored by the Education Section, to form a workgroup that would explore the conceptual details and a potential structure that would represent physical therapist education programs. In 2013, two motions were presented and approved by the House of Delegates (RC 2-13 and RC 3-13) that established ACAPT as a component of the APTA with its own set of bylaws. ACAPT was incorporated as a 501(c)(6) nonstock corporation in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2014.

The background materials provided as support to RC 2-13 and RC 3-13 noted:

• The American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT), as a component of APTA, would be separately incorporated and financially self-sustaining. To participate in ACAPT, academic programs would pay annual dues, which would support ACAPT activities. Like other components in APTA (chapters, sections, etc.), ACAPT would determine how to obtain staff services and would finance those services from its budget.
• Most other health professions organizations have established separate organizations to which their academic programs belong. Adopting RC 2-13 and RC 3-13 would be the first step toward creating consistency with the external marketplace, in that academic programs would be engaged in setting policy relative to academic physical therapy education.
• As ACAPT develops and assumes more of a leadership role in establishing academic physical therapy policy, the role of APTA in setting academic physical therapy policy will likely change.

As stated in its Articles of Incorporation, the purposes of ACAPT are:

• To develop, implement, and assess new and innovative models for curricula, clinical education, teaching/learning, scholarship/research, mentoring, and leadership in physical therapist education;
• To provide mechanisms for active and ongoing involvement of physical therapist educators and researchers to promote quality physical therapist education standards at the institutional and national levels;
• To promote academic physical therapist education through collaboration with organizations and institutions that represent health professional education; and
• To provide resources, mentorship and leadership to those seeking change and improvement in academic programs/departments/schools associated with physical therapist education.

From our most recent ACAPT Strategic Plan (2021), the core purpose of ACAPT is to lead physical therapy in the pursuit of academic excellence and our mission is that our member institutions are champions of innovation, inclusion, and inquiry in academic physical therapy.

The Education Leadership Partnership

The Education Leadership Partnership (ELP) was established in 2016 as a collaborative effort between ACAPT, the Academy and APTA.  The intent of the ELP was to develop a comprehensive strategy to drive excellence in physical therapy education.  Through the work of the ELP, a report entitled “A Vision for Excellence in Physical Therapy Education” was developed and published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Education in December 2021.  In the report, six pillars were identified as necessary to achieve this vision.  Those six pillars included:

1. Accessibility of Education
2. Collaboration and Networks
3. Competency-Based Education
4. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
5. Education Research and Data Management
6. Infrastructure, Capacity, and Faculty Development

While the memorandum of understanding between the three organizations ended in 2021, the leadership of the three organizations are committed to the organizations working collaboratively to achieve the aims of the vision.

The federated organizational model

According to the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), “associations with multiple corporate structures are common and often referred to as federations. Federations comprise a national or international entity and affiliated regional, state, and local component associations that are separately incorporated.”  APTA is a federated organization.  The purpose of a federated association is uniting around a shared purpose, while preserving the autonomy of the affiliated entities. In the case of APTA, based on the 2021 amended bylaws, the affiliated entities are referred to as “Member Groups” which includes Components and Institutional Group. Components are defined as sections/academies  and Institutional Groups are defined as institutions that share a common practice setting or area of interest in physical therapist practice, education, or research.  In the 2021 APTA bylaws, ACAPT is no longer specifically named in any article or section.

Federated associations do not have a one-size-fits-all approach. They also have little to no legal authority over one another as noted in APTA’s Bylaws Concepts, Special Committee report from August 25, 2020: “APTA does not have legal control over chapters, sections, and ACAPT as each of these entities has its own board of directors, which is legally required to meet fiduciary obligations on behalf of each legal entity. Chapters, sections, and ACAPT have their own property and debts, and are subject to the relevant corporation statute of the state in which they are incorporated.”

Federated associations may benefit from unity of purpose, shared brands and marketing strategies that translate to greater visibility, pooled resources, and a greater impact on common advocacy initiatives, among other things. 

The value of establishing an agreement with APTA

The ACAPT Board believes that ACAPT is responsible for leading the development and maturation of the physical therapist educational programs and their clinical affiliates within academic physical therapy. However, some confusion persists regarding the roles of other organizations in the physical therapist education space, including the APTA and the Academy of Education.   The unique role of ACAPT in this space is that it is an organization of physical therapist education institutions. ACAPT seeks proactive, robust, and ongoing collaboration with both the APTA and the Academy of Education and believes that ACAPT should serve as the leading voice of academic physical therapy at the institutional level.

In the bylaws of the American Physical Therapy Association, amended in 2021, ACAPT is not specifically mentioned but appears to fit in the new member group entitled “Institutional Groups” (Article IV Member Groups, Section 2). The definition of “Institutional Groups” in the APTA bylaws is as follows: “Institutional groups represent institutions that share a common practice setting or area of interest in physical therapist practice, education, or research.” In Article IV Member Groups, Section 2 Institutional Groups, C. Structure, it reads “Institutional groups shall enter into written agreements with the Association to facilitate business between the Association and the institutional group.”

We value our relationship with APTA and want to continue our common goals of advancing the profession of physical therapy, improving the health of society, and building community. We will continue to be supportive of APTA, and wholly recognize APTA as the leading voice in the areas of practice and reimbursement. At the same time, we believe ACAPT and its members represent the expertise necessary to transform academic physical therapy. That is why we wish to establish terms through an agreement, which currently does not exist, to more clearly define our relationship in a mutually beneficial way. 

The ACAPT Board recommends that this agreement would include the following:

• ACAPT and APTA are two separate legal and independently controlled and governed organizations.
• Neither organization will have “controlling interest” over the other, but rather support the field of physical therapy at large, with each organization representing its specific membership base and interests.
• ACAPT and APTA are mutually invested in each other’s success.
• ACAPT plays a vital role as the voice of academic physical therapy.
• As a separate and distinct legal entity, ACAPT member representatives shall be able to amend the ACAPT bylaws without APTA approval.
• ACAPT shall have a vote in the APTA House of Delegates.

The agreement should identify areas for mutually agreed collaborations.  It should also be re-evaluated at a minimum of every three years with the option for either party to propose changes or terminate the agreement with advance notice.

The proposed agreement is the result of a legal review of our organizational documents concluding that APTA does not have authority over ACAPT’s bylaws. Our legal counsel also has concluded that ACAPT’s Bylaws can be amended by a vote of the ACAPT membership and without APTA’s approval.

Why is this important to note? The most important governing document of an association are the articles of incorporation. The ACAPT Articles of Incorporation, dated April 10, 2014, identify that ACAPT “members shall be educational institutions that operate physical therapist programs in the United States accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).” There is no reference to the APTA in the Articles of Incorporation. Bylaws are the second most important governing document of an association and are the rules by which an organization governs itself. In the context of an association with dues-paying members, it is considered the board’s contract with its members. This implied contractual relationship explains why certain provisions of the bylaws cannot be changed without approval by the voting members of the association. Presently, the APTA Bylaws (Amended 2021) read in Article IV, Section 2, C. Structure (1) Institutional groups shall have bylaws that do not conflict with these bylaws and must be approved by the Association. 

ACAPT currently does not have a vote in the House of Delegates, though in the view of the APTA bylaws, ACAPT is subject to the decisions made by the House.  ACAPT is considering a non-voting delegate in the House, and we are allowed 2 delegates.  As a delegate, we are allowed to bring motions forward to the House and speak to motions on the floor, but we are not allowed to vote.  Other non-voting delegates include the APTA Board of Directors, APTA Student Assembly, Ethics and Judicial Committee, and Bylaws and House Documents Committee.  The ACAPT Board believes that ACAPT represents a unique constituency and voice, that being academic institutions housing DPT educational programs, and as such, should have a vote in the House given the impact of motions on the education of physical therapists. 

Better together

The ACAPT Board of Directors believes that APTA and ACAPT can work together in an innovative manner that is more beneficial to the physical therapy profession at large while providing academic physical therapy with dedicated and independent representation so critically necessary to address the evolving opportunities and challenges facing physical therapist education.

Finally, we want to express our deep gratitude to the APTA for the support in starting this organization more than a decade ago and for assisting us through the years.  We believe this transformation of our relationship results from our maturation as an organization and reflects what was envisioned even before ACAPT was formed. 

Your feedback

Please feel free to forward questions, comments, or suggestions to any or all of our leadership as identified below. 

We look forward to your feedback on this request. 

The ACAPT Board of Directors