Kara is the director of regulatory affairs at APTA. She joined APTA in 2017 and provider leadership and strategic direction to the regulatory affairs team on key programs, initiatives, and policy development in the federal regulatory space. She has extensive knowledge and experience working on policies related to Medicare, Medicaid, health care reform, and provider billing and reimbursement. Prior to joining APTA, she was a health care consultant with Drinker Biddle and Reath, where she developed and executed comprehensive public policy strategies for her clients that integrated legislative, regulatory, and communications efforts. She also served as an attorney advisor for the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, and she clerked with the US Senate Sergeant at Arms. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Montana and law degree from the University of Montana School of Law, and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Heather currently serves as director of quality for APTA. In her current role, Heather coordinates quality initiatives for the association and develops and implements key member resources related to quality. Two areas of focus in her work include the physician quality reporting system (PQRS) and the functional limitation reporting (FLR) requirements for therapist services under Medicare. She also serves as staff lead on the Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry. Heather previously worked for New York Presbyterian Hospital and University of Pennsylvania Health System, where she served in quality improvement. Her transition into quality was facilitated in part by the acquisition of her master’s degree in public health from Drexel University. Previous to her role in quality improvement, she was a practicing clinician for more than 10 years, with the majority of her focus on orthopedics in the outpatient setting.

Sharita is Senior Regulatory Specialist at American Physical Therapy Association, where she specializes in Medicaid billing and compliance, Medicare compliance, and health care innovation. Sharita's past experience also includes health care reform, prescription drug benefits, and fraud waste and abuse prevention strategy.