Date: August 12, 2026
Time: 6:00–7:00 PM CST
CE Credits Offered - Yes
Location: Online via Zoom

Margaret Mead said, “What people do, what people say and what people say they do, are entirely different things.” When asked if our patients get good outcomes, most of us honestly respond “Yes!” We remember the patients that return to function and are satisfied with their treatment. Measurement, however, can keep us grounded in the reality that we need to continually self-evaluate and improve. This session focuses on applying continuous improvement (CI) principles, traditionally used in manufacturing, to identify opportunities and enhance patient outcomes in healthcare, especially in the field of physical therapy. The session will be pragmatic, covering the frameworks for improvement and root cause analysis. Audience engagement will be a focus through case examples, polling and group discussion. Examples from both the acute and out-patient settings will be included. Attendees will come away with the ability to immediately use basic CI tools such as pareto charts, fish bone diagrams, 5 whys, and run charts.

Michael J. Nilsen, PT, DPT (Intermountain Healthcare)

Speaker Bio:  Michael Nilsen, PT, DPT, OCS received his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland in 2011 and Doctor of Physical Therapy from Drexel University in 2014. He then went on to complete an Orthopaedic Physical Therapy residency at Drexel University in 2015. Shorty after completing his residency, Michael moved to Utah and has been working with Intermountain Health since 2016. At Intermountain he has been involved in many quality improvement projects focusing on patient outcomes for LBP, neck pain, and TKA within rehab. Michael is currently working with Intermountain’s continuous improvement team, helping support leaders on continuous improvement projects within the health system along with coaching on continuous improvement methods and Intermountain’s Operating Model.

Stephen J. Hunter, PT, DPT, FAPTA (Intermountain Healthcare)

Speaker Bio:  Stephen Hunter PT, DPT, OCS, FAPTA received his Bachelor of Arts in physical therapy from University of Utah in 1984, and his clinical doctorate in 2008. He is board certified in orthopedic physical therapy. He has received extensive training in Continuous Quality Improvement beginning in 1992 under the mentorship of Brent James MD. Stephen has completed two Advanced Training in Quality Improvement courses and lectured widely on the topic. Currently, Stephen continues to treat patients and is the director of Internal Process Control for Intermountain Health’s rehabilitation services. He leads the standardization efforts for Intermountain working to establish a culture of quality and evidence-based care across all rehabilitation disciplines and services. He is the past president of NARA (National Association of Rehabilitation Providers and Agencies). He supports research efforts including data collection and clinical implementation. Examples include investigations on Occupational Therapy Outcome Collection (Stern 2025), Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) and low back pain (LBP) resulting in recent publications (Minick 2022, Caplin 2022) and three randomized LBP trials (Brennan 2006, Fritz 2014, Delitto 2020). He was the lead clinical author for a review publication developing a care guideline for TKA for physical therapists (Jette 2020).

Tyler Peck, PT, DPT

Speaker Bio:  Tyler Peck, PT, DPT, MBA received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in 2011, DPT from the University of Nevada Las Vegas in 2014, and most recently his MBA with a health care emphasis from Western Governors University in 2021. He has worked at Intermountain Health for over 10 years and has experience working in the OP, Inpatient Rehab, and Acute Care Therapy settings. Currently, Tyler serves as the Standardization, Compliance, and Safety Director for Acute Care Therapy. Additionally, he has been an enterprise leader for Safe Mobility, supporting Safe Patient Handling, Patient Falls, and Mobility. Tyler is a long-standing member of APTA and has completed the Intermountain Healthcare Delivery Institutes' Advanced Training Program in Clinical Quality Improvement.

Please note: After completing your online registration, you will be directed to a page with a secure link to finalize your Zoom registration. This two‑step process helps protect the virtual session and ensures that only individuals who register through our website receive access.

Registration Fees:

• $15 – Academy Members
• $30 – APTA Members
• $45 – Non-Members

Webinar Description:
Social media developed as an influential internet phenomenon in the 2010’s and 2020’s, with recent data demonstrating that approximately 80% of Americans participate in some form of social media and nearly three in four individuals use the internet to search for health-related topics in a given year (Kolade et al., 2023). While social media may have useful elements for patients and for clinical care (Cook et al., 2018), it has also led to a rapid rise in the potential spread of medical misinformation. It has been suggested that as prevalence of chronic illness increases along with lifespan, healthcare resource shortages may occur that prompt patients to seek “self-management” via social media (Knight et al., 2015). Studies demonstrate that 40-87% of information on social media regarding certain health topics is considered misinformation (Fridman et al., 2023; Suarez-Lledo & Alvarez-Galvez, 2021). There is significant patient belief in information found on social media (Kolade et al., 2023).There are no studies examining social media use and misinformation among physical therapists. The purpose of this platform is to explore two social media platforms (Instagram and TikTok) for information developed by physical therapy professionals and students. The platform will describe trends in social media use among PT's and discuss “viral” posts with the hashtags “#physicaltherapy” and “#physicaltherapist" tracked over a 3-month period. Quality of PT-related information on social media and prevalence of PT-related misinformation on social media will be analyzed. Evidence-based strategies for combatting PT-related misinformation will be discussed.

Speaker:
Katie June, PT, DPT

CE Credits:
CE credits will be offered for this webinar.

Continuing Education (CE) credit approval varies by state. Please check your state’s guidelines to confirm eligibility.

Please note: After completing your online registration, you will be directed to a page with a secure link to finalize your Zoom registration. This two‑step process helps protect the virtual session and ensures that only individuals who register through our website receive access.

Registration Fees:

• $15 – Academy Members
• $30 – APTA Members
• $45 – Non-Members

Webinar Description:
Health professionals of varied disciplines within and outside of the United States have been expanding their view of environmental determinants of health, wellness and safety beyond traditionally accepted factors such as falls hazards.  This course will address physical therapy’s “green gap” by increa.sing attendees’ understanding of relationships between health and environment and exploring clinical decision-making, patients’ vulnerabilities and exposures, and options for restructuring clinics to promote improved patient outcomes while supporting sustainability.

Speaker:
Srishti Banerjee, PT, MPT
Cindy Moore, PT, DPT, PhD, MPH

CE Credits:
CE credits will be offered for this webinar.

Continuing Education (CE) credit approval varies by state. Please check your state’s guidelines to confirm eligibility.

Date: October 21, 2026
Time: 7:00–8:00 PM ET
CE Credits Offered - Yes
Location: Online via Zoom

Registration Fees

• $15 – Academy Members
• $30 – APTA Members
• $45 – Non-Members

The use of predictive analytics, large machine learning, and artificial intelligence are quickly emerging in healthcare. The time for physical therapy professionals to engage in and embrace this technology is here. This presentation is to introduce a fall prediction tool; as well as the development process, clinical use factors, and lessons learned that can be translated to all practice settings. According to the CDC, falls are the leading cause of injury and injury related deaths for adults aged 65 years and older, and more than one out of four people over the age of 65 experience a fall every year. Over 14 million, report falling every year and these numbers continue to rise with profound impact on healthcare costs. PT’s have the unique ability to address the multi-contributing cause for falls. However, accurate fall risk identification is imperative to reduce falls, improve quality outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and demonstrate professional value. PT’s have long relied on unreliable assessments to identify clients at risk for falls. Since the determination of fall-risk is so complicated, most fall-risk assessments are often unreliable and inaccurate. The application of predictive analytics offers a perfect potential solution. This predictive analytics project began with data from over 200,000 discharged inpatient rehabilitation clients and hundreds of potential data factors that might contribute to falls; but in the end, it identified nearly fifty contributing factors. These factors were embedded into a fall prediction analytics tool which is used to better prepare therapists to appropriately intervene and prevent falls.

Speakers:

CE Credits:

CE credits will be offered for this webinar.

Continuing Education (CE) credit approval varies by state. Please check your state’s guidelines to confirm eligibility.