The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA),Bethesda, Md, has renewed its national partnership with Genesis Rehab Services (GRS), a national provider of rehabilitation therapy services. GRS began its national partnership relationship with AOTA in 2007 and now provides membership to more than 1,000 of its occupational therapy practitioners.

GRS sites of service span 23 states and the District of Columbia, according to its Web site.

This national partnership, which has now reached AOTA’s Platinum level, will continue to combine the efforts of both organizations to provide educational and professional-clinical opportunities for AOTA members while serving to advance OT practice in line with AOTA’s Centennial Vision objectives, says AOTA. It will enable GRS to continue its support and encouragement of practice, and enhance AOTA’s work with continuing education and board and specialty certification for practitioners.

AOTA and GRS seek to further the high standards of the profession and to proactively support practitioners in the field. “The national partnership between AOTA and GRS will continue to allow both organizations the opportunity to better reach occupational therapy practitioners,” says AOTA President Penelope Moyers Cleveland, EdD, OTR/L, BCMH, FAOTA. “Both organizations have prioritized the importance of having better informed practitioners. The national partnership will facilitate open discussions that will lead to a productive collaboration. Those exchanges will culminate in a clearer understanding of the realities and issues impacting today’s practice.”

AOTA and GRS also share a commitment to give practitioners a voice, especially given the current environment of regulatory and reimbursement changes. According to Dan Hirschfeld, GRS President, “GRS supports and encourages our staff to participate in advocacy efforts through a variety of channels, including professional associations.”

The alliance benefits everyone involved. “At GRS, our mission is to provide excellent care to our patients by employing the best clinicians,” says Garry Pezzano, GRS vice president of clinical operations. “This national partnership allows us an incredible opportunity to support AOTA’s efforts in advancing practice for their members—many of whom are educators, students, researchers, treating therapists and GRS employees.”

AOTA represents the professional interests and concerns of more than 140,000 occupational therapists, assistants, and students nationwide.

[Source: AOTA]