The Annual Business Meeting

The 2008 business meeting of the American Occupational Therapy Association took place in Long Beach on Saturday, with reports from AOTA officers and executive director Fred Somers. 

AOTA ran in the black for the third year in a row in fiscal 2007, with nearly a $200,000 profit, showing a strong comeback since its 2004 fiscal low point. Membership dues still account for about 37 percent of its $15.9 million revenues. Conferences brought in 15 percent of the revenue. This year more than 5,500 registrants attended the national conference, including 354 exhibitors. Registration was up by 600 over the2005 Long Beach conference.

Last year AOTA spent about $15.8 million, with professional development programs and publications expenses accounting for more than 50 percent of expenditures. 

A review of AOTA headquarters' compliance with ADA standards has been completed, and and the board received a final report on it in February. Results are available at aota.com. 

Indiana licensure for OTs and the regulation of OTAs in Virginia capped the organization's advocacy efforts in fiscal 2007, but AOTA is asking for an immediate response from its members and non-member practitioners to contact their federal legislators to push back the June 1 extension for re-implementation of the cap on outpatient therapy reimbursement. AOTA is asking for an 18-month extention, hoping to permanently repeal the measure.

A full report on the business meeting is available on the AOTA Web site. ADVANCE will offer a more detailed analysis in print shortly.