NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF PRACTICE WELCOMES ATHLETIC TRAINING ACADEMY

The National Academies of Practice held their 2021 Virtual Forum on March 18-20 and as part of this momentous 40^th anniversary event, welcomed their newest academy – The Athletic Training Academy.

After nearly two years of significant focused work and deliberate preparation, the organization’s leadership unanimously approved Athletic Training as the newest academy to join the National Academies of Practice. Ten new Founding Distinguished Fellows and Professional Members were inducted into the National Academies of Practice during Saturday’s Induction and Awards Ceremony. Anthony Breitbach, PhD, ATC, FASAHP, FNAP will serve as the Chair of the Athletic Training Academy and Aaron Sciascia, PhD, ATC, PES, SMTC, FNAP will serve as Vice Chair.

The process to apply to become a National Academies of Practice academy requires submitting detailed information on how a specific profession meets the following criteria:

• Demonstrates evidence of being a collaborative profession
• Enables professionals to make decisions independently that affect the health and/or well-being of individuals and/or communities
• Has a Code of Ethics for the profession
• Has a defined minimum level of professional education
• Utilizes a recognized accreditation process to establish and maintain high educational standards for the profession
• Uses an established process of licensing, registration, or certification to ensure its colleagues are qualified and in good standing in their profession
• Professionally disseminates peer reviewed scholarly activity

To ensure momentum for the new academy, the National Academies of Practice also asks how the new academy could contribute to the advancement of the organization’s vision to lead and exemplify interprofessional healthcare that promotes and preserves health and well-being.

The story of the athletic trainers’ journey and the steps taken to apply for and be recognized as a new academy was featured in the organization’s Societal Pages in the January 2021 issue of the Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice.

The National Academies of Practice proudly welcomes the Athletic Training Academy and its Distinguished Fellows and Professional members and looks forward to learning more about the profession and its integral role and responsibilities within the interprofessional healthcare team.  

NAP believes that healthcare practice with an interprofessional foundation focused on the whole person is essential for effectively addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and other similarly complex and multisystem conditions that necessitate coordinated and comprehensive delivery of interprofessional collaborative care from multiple professions.

Many professional associations have requested telehealth provisions be included among acceptable and clinically appropriate services to facilitate truly patient-centered care (see addendum for a list of professional associations representative of the NAP membership). To provide quality interprofessional collaborative care during the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth services have been expanded for a number of professions, with positive outcomes. National advocacy organizations, such as the National Association for the Support of Long Term Care (NASL) and the National Association of Rehabilitation Providers and Agencies (NARA), have partnered with professional associations to advance the appropriate use of telehealth in an effort to assure universal access to health care.

Policies and Regulatory Revisions directing the types of providers eligible to provide telehealth services and the circumstances under which those apply affects all of the professions represented in NAP. Read our full position statement here.

NAP has published a Commitment Statement on Equal and Safe Access to Health Care and Individual Health and Well-Being. NAP is committed to do our part to end injustices and advocate for equal and safe access to health care, individual health, and well-being, and delivering person-centered evidence-based care through an interprofessional approach. 

Read our full statement here.

NAP submitted comments and recommended edits to the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on their definition of "Omissions of Care."  View the letter and comments here.

As a key stakeholder to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), NAP had an opportunity to provide public comments to the ONC and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program.

View our comments to ONC here.

View our comments to CMS here.

NAP submitted comments to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health IT and Electronic Health Records (EHRs).

View the comments here.