Edward Warren, MD, CMD

State Network News May 2006, Issue 58 Front Page: HOD Chair's Message Tarnove to Visit States AMDA Partnership with Chapters State Chapter Best Practices Help Reinstate Title VII Funding Flu Pandemic Checklist Upcoming Chapter Meetings Printable Version of This Issue

E-mail Your Articles What better way to disseminate information to other AMDA chapters than to include an article in State Network News (SNN)? If you would like to include an article in an upcoming issue, please e-mail it along with permission to reprint to Nicole Germain, Membership Coordinator, at ngermain@amda.com.

State Chapter Meetings Click here for a listing of state chapter meetings.

Call for Presentations AMDA’s Program Committee seeks proposals for AMDA 30th Annual Symposium March 29–April 1, 2007, Hollywood Florida. Topic areas: Clinical Medicine, Medical Direction, Hospice and Palliative Care, Home Care, Pediatric Long Term Care, Research, Assisted Living and Mental Health Submission Deadline: July 1, 2006. Only electronic submissions will be accepted at: http://amda2007. abstractcentral.com.

Focus on Futures The AMDA Foundation would like our state chapters’ leadership to keep in touch with the Futures participants in their area by adding them to the state chapter mailing list, inviting them to state chapter meetings/conferences and serving as a mentor to them. Please contact Erin Blume at eblume@amda.com for the list of Futures residents and fellows from your state!

Message from AMDA's House of Delegates Chair

Finally, there was extensive debate over the “Position Statement on Oversight of the Medial Director in their Role as Attending Physician” resolution. The issue is how medical directors can objectively assess their own function in facilities where they are also attending. Many of our colleagues in remote areas have no other options to deal with this issue. In the end, the position statement was defeated and will need reworking by the board. If you have any insight into this issue, then please share it with a board member, AMDA staff, or me. We will probably bring this back next year since it seems to require resolution.

At the House of Delegates meeting, we heard several reports from the staff and officers. Of importance was the report about the status of previously passed resolutions. This helped to give perspective to the ongoing work and mission of AMDA.

New officers were also elected for the House of Delegates. Congratulations to them all. The slate of candidates was excellent and strong. All of them were well qualified to fill the positions for which they were nominated.

• Charles A. Crecelius, MD, PhD, CMD (St. Louis, MO)
  Vice President
• Edward S. Warren, MD, CMD (Inman, SC)
  Chairman, House of Delegates
• Paul R. Katz, MD, CMD (Rochester, NY)
  Secretary
• Jeffrey B. Burl, MD, CMD (Sutton, MA)
  Board Representative from the State Presidents Council
• Kenneth K. Steinweg, MD, CMD (Greenville, NC)
  Board Representative from the House of Delegates

Thank you to everyone for electing me as Chair. I appreciate this honor greatly. We will use "Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure", as we have in the past. Most modern medical societies and organizations use it since it is easily understood and applied. Verna R. Sellers, MD, CMD (Norfolk, VA) has consented to help by serving as Parliamentarian for the HOD next year. We will start meetings on time and have fair discussions so that all sides are well heard. In my board activities, I will bring the understanding and perspective of a clinician as well as a medical director. Physicians need to be the ones making medical decisions for patient care and there needs to be adequate compensation for that work to make it something we can afford to do.

As we approach the 30th Annual AMDA Symposium in Hollywood, Florida, bring forth issues that the AMDA HOD can address. Submit resolutions about those concerns that require national action or coordination with other national medical organizations. The topic can be legal, ethical, policy related, or functional, among others. It is often good to filter them through your state chapter first. The main difficulty with resolutions that fail or get board referral for reworking is that they are not implementable. AMDA staff can help you in this regard. If you wish to have my input on your resolution, e-mail me at e-warren@att.net. Your resolutions bring needed guidance to the board about the issues and expectations of the general membership.

REMEMBER: The moral high ground in all of our efforts is patient advocacy.

Edward S Warren MD, CMD
Chair, House of Delegates

In This Issue of State Network News:

Tarnove to Hit the Road
AMDA Executive Director Lorraine Tarnove announced at the State Presidents Council meeting held in Dallas on March 17, her plans to attend all state meetings over the next two years.

AMDA and State Chapters: A Mutually Advantageous Partnership
As state chapters develop and grow so does AMDA, making it easier for physicians to practice in the challenging long term care continuum. The partnership between AMDA and state chapters provides advantages to both.

AMDA and State Chapter Best Practices
At the annual symposium in Dallas, state chapter representatives from around the country met with AMDA staff and developed a compilation of best practices to help guide the development of new chapters and increase the overall activity level of existing chapters.

AMDA Needs Your Help to Reinstate Federal Funding for Title VII
Because Title VII is the only federal funding for programs that train providers for underserved populations, it is imperative that you contact your members of Congress to request that Title VII is reinstated in the 2007 budget.

Newly Released Checklist Helps Long Term Care and Other Residential Facilities Prepare for an Influenza Pandemic
The Department of Health and Human Services has released the “Long Term Care and Other Residential Facilities Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist,” which provides guidance for assessing and improving the preparedness of such facilities for responding to pandemic influenza.