Mission 

The mission of the West Virginia Physical Therapy Association is to advance excellence and quality of the physical therapy profession through advocacy, education and services for its members and the public.

History 

The WVPTA, as a component of the American Physical Therapy Association, was formed in 1949 as the principle membership association representing and promoting the profession of physical therapy in WV.  Over recent years, WVPTA has made progress toward reaching its goals by successfully implementing policy changes such as direct patient access, repeal of the Medicaid provider tax for individual providers and medical liability reform.

Additionally, WVPTA has helped advance continued growth and licensure of physical therapy programs within WV including master and doctoral level programs.  Structurally, the organization has seen a continued increase in membership, and has made positive organizational changes with the hiring of an association management firm, and development of a website, enhanced newsletter and regular e-mail communications to keep members informed.

Future

The WVPTA will continue to build upon its successes through its focus on priorities in the areas of membership recruitment, advocacy of health policy changes to protect and enhance the practice of physical therapy at both the federal and state levels, and provision of educational and training opportunities.  New directions for the association include developing a regional structure to keep members directly involved and informed, developing a statewide legislative alert system to enhance advocacy efforts, expanding educational opportunities through an annual conference that offers concurrent sessions and more networking opportunities, and implementing recruitment and leadership strategies to expand the membership base and engage more members in the organization.