Meet CTF’s new leader, Tamara Kittelson

By Liz Beaulieu, Editor
Updated 4:33 PM CST, Fri January 17, 2025
MINNEAPOLIS – One of Tamara Kittelson’s major goals as the new executive director of the Clinician Task Force is to elevate the role of clinicians in the provision of complex rehab technology.
“There seems to be considerable concern among our membership and myself about continuing to value the role of clinicians,” said Kittelson, an occupational therapist and a RESNA-certified ATP/SMS who has been a member of the CTF since 2008. “We’re not just people who sign a piece of paper and who are a box to check off that a licensed medical professional has conducted an evaluation. This is becoming a struggle, especially in certain parts of the country.”
Kittelson replaces Cara Masselink, who was executive director of CTF for four years, a role that is typically a two-year commitment but was extended due to the pandemic.
The CTF, Kittelson says, is the perfect organization to help clinicians embrace the full breadth of what they do by, for example, providing information on scope of practice and other resources.
“While there is certainly a teamwork element (in the provision of CRT), clinicians are important and they need to have the confidence to do all the things that are expected of them in that role,” she said.
Kittelson wants the CTF to help clinicians embrace, in particular, their role of educating users and families on equipment. That’s an important aspect of a nonprofit she started called Eleanore’s Project to provide wheelchairs to those in need in Peru, as well as mentor OTs and PTs.
“Users and their families need more education,” she said. “And yet, clinicians are not always involved in the delivery anymore; it’s just the provider. I think it could be interesting if the CTF could somehow join forces with user organizations to really look at increasing the understanding of and the capacity of the people using equipment to make the best use of it.”
As executive director, Kittelson also plans to see through several priorities and efforts already in the pipeline, including securing coverage for power standing systems and modifying coverage for power assist devices.
“Right now, you have to be in a manual wheelchair for a full year before you can be considered for a power assist device,” she said. “We’re working on a paper that provides evidence for why it’s important for people to be able to access power assist earlier.”
Kittelson acknowledges that, as the mother of a child who had cerebral palsy and as the founder of the nonprofit Posture 24/7, she hopes her passion for postural care will also get some attention at the CTF. She’s currently part of a RESNA workgroup that is readying to submit a position paper on just that topic.
“If that could have a bit of a higher profile, I’d be happy about that,” she said.
- Related: Representatives urge CMS to cover power standing systems.
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