From Tools to Transformation: ATP Gateway Opens Career Pathways for Repair Techs

Published in Complex Rehab on June 24, 2025

Tyler Mahncke This article was originally published by HME News.

U.S. Rehab added a new ATP Gateway program to the back end of its recent live tech training event in Dallas, giving 15 repair techs the opportunity to learn more about becoming assistive technology professionals.

The program, which will also be part of upcoming tech training in Columbus in September and Charlotte in October, is U.S. Rehab’s latest effort to increase the funnel of ATPs entering the market by leveraging the repair tech workforce.

“We’ve done a great job educating these repair techs at these events, but we’ve never said, ‘Hey, while you’re here, stick around another day and let’s talk about what makes a good ATP,’” said Tyler Mahncke, senior vice president of clinical mobility and accessibility for VGM & Associates. “It was exciting.”

U.S. Rehab also offers the ATP Academy, an online program for rehab techs to learn about everything from anatomy and physiology to seating and mobility to service and delivery; and, in partnership with RESNA, the ATP Guidance Program, a pathway for rehab techs certified by the Assistive Mobility Repair Group to become certified by RESNA as ATPs.

The ATP Gateway program helps rehab techs explore whether pursuing a career as an ATP is a good fit for them and, if it is, encourages them to take the next steps, Mahncke says.

“There is a contingency of repair techs who just love being techs and wrenching on equipment and being in the warehouse,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with that. We need that 100%. But there is another contingency of techs who want to be more hands-on with clients, and this starts them on that path.”

An important component of the ATP Gateway program is education on augmentative and alternative communication, a component of ATP training and testing that repair techs might not have as much exposure to, Mahncke says. In Dallas, reps for Tobii Dynavox were there to provide hands-on training.

“There are a lot of companies in the industry that don’t do AAC, so that’s a gap we’re filling in for them,” he said.

U.S. Rehab has wanted to do an in-person ATP education program for some time, but it wasn’t until VGM brought on board Cindi Petito, director of VGM Live at Home, that it had “the right person to pull it off,” Mahncke says.

“She’s an ATP, as well as a therapist, and she’s an educator at heart,” he said.

For Josh Hollinger, a repair tech for Delta Medical in Rogers, Ark., attending the ATP Gateway program in Dallas confirmed his desire to become an ATP and he has set a goal of sitting for the exam in 2025. He has already completed training programs offered by manufacturers like Quantum Rehab and he’s also working through course material independently.

“I’ve given myself that deadline to be ready,” he said. “I’m mentally putting myself under the gun.”

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