Summer 2019 Information and updates from HOD Meeting

Action Items:

A Recommendation about resolutions was presented by Teri Miller: Resolutions that pass the house should be presented to the BOD by the authors who are better able to explain the rational and answer questions the BOD may have. This recommendation passed the HOD. The BOD also passed this recommendation and expressed to the HOD that they felt this was extremely helpful and in line with President Shells initiative for the BOD to work more in tandem with the HOD.

Speaker Teri Miller reminded everyone about who Bill Bitzel was and how the scholarships continue his legacy to help students. The scholarship is a national fund through the ARCF. The full endowment must be $50,000, and it is getting close. It currently has $33,000. We need an additional $17,000 for endowment. Teri charged us with asking our affiliates for any ideas on how to use the scholarship money. A Bill Bitzel AdHoc Committee has been formed as well.

A recommendation was made from the Treasurer to mail any checks to the AARC care of Asha Desai. Please add descriptions in the memo line of the check so it will be known what fund the monies should go to.

Keith Hurst shared the realignment of the AARC strategic initiatives by consolidating them into four Ad Hoc committees. This realignment was passed by the HOD. The four Ad Hoc committees are Advocacy; Education/Professional Development; Communications/Marketing; and Membership/Affiliate Strengthening. Each committee is charged with developing ideas toward the AARC Strategic Plan Objective or Strengthening the Affiliate. Delegates are encouraged to enlist their Affiliate BOD and membership in developing resolutions targeted to strengthen and or grow.

AARC CEO Tom Kalstrom presented the following report:                                                                Membership down 1647 from 2018; Members in 2019 38,028; 2018 was 39,675

The AARC is working with the following groups and initiatives:

NAMDRC: Home Vent competitive bid issue

Allergy and Asthma Network: Promoting Telehealth, and working on an Airline Report card

ATS: O2 CPG paper; O2 Advocacy committee, Tom is invited to speak at the O2 Access symposium in Denver in 2020.

COPD Foundation: Overlap Study(COPD/OSA) and SHERLOCK Study (COPD and RTs)

CHEST: Reciprocity for doc/RT meetings, AARC is presenting at CHEST in the fall

CDC: Vent stockpile

AARC Disaster relief fund paid out $350,000; currently $173,000 in fund

Members can receive up to $500 and 1yr free membership. Must be declared a disaster area by FEMA or State. California requested a breakdown of funds issued by state.

Dr. Thomas Plaut; Author of the One Minute Asthma Book, ask the AARC to take ownership of the copyright. The AARC now owns the copyright and will be maintaining his legacy. The book may be updated in the future. Dr. Plaut passed away on January 30th, 2019.

There is a big concern about O2 and Flying. The AARC is trying to make it less of a hassle for patients. There was an Allergy and Asthma network survey about the situation in the air; 1000 answered.  The AARC and A&A network working together to create an airline report card. 13 airlines surveyed.

There are 4 international fellows this year. No superfellow this year.

Congress is in New Orleans- there will be a “night under the sea” event at the Aquarium.

Ted Koppel is the Key Note Speaker. He and his wife have funded/built numerous Pulmonary Rehab  Centers across the US and one of these is in New Orleans.

CoARC Report: Tom Smalling and Shane King:

NA2RC applied to CAAHEP.  CoARC asked for postponement and CAAHEP Denied. My be a second accrediting body JRCRC.  CoARC will continue to accredit existing AA programs. 1st APRT program in Ohio received CoARC accreditation. Presentation link will be posted on connect.

The RCS will open on Sept. 1 and be due by November 1. 

2020 standards revisions go into effect July 1, 2020.

NBRC Report:  No verbal report but a couple things in the written report to remember to let your Affiliate members know.   There will be exam changes in January 2020 with changes in the high cut score, as well as a new process for maintaining credentials.  An assessment to each specialty in which content will focus on competencies that put the public at risk when performed incorrectly and whose practice changes rapidly. RRT should be sure and participate in this process which begins in Jan. 2020 as well. 

President Karen Schell AARC Joint Session:

Implement and Share the 6 Horizon Goals with Affiliate members and BODs. They are as follows:

Advocacy: Respiratory care provided by a respiratory therapist is recognized and supported in all healthcare settings.

Communication/marketing: AARC consistently delivers the right message, to the right audience, at the right time, through the right channel.

Education/professional development: AARC offers engaging, valuable professional education that advances the professional practice of respiratory therapy and supports the elevation of the profession.

Events/meetings:

Membership:

Revenue and finance: The AARC produces ample revenues from diverse sources, which are managed to the highest standards.

Initiatives: of the AARC

AARC Times is changing to digital. In 2019 there will be no paper option.

Journal Conference – June 2019 Monitoring Respiratory Function in Adult Critical Care

22 CRCE are available through the journal each month.

The membership committee is working with HOSA. Affiliates are encouraged to be active with their local HOSA organizations.

H.R. 2508 BREATHE -  be ready for another initiative in early Fall.

Anne Marie Hummel AARC Advocacy and Government Affairs report:

E-Cigs/Vapes devices– Manufacturers have 10 months to submit for product review, FDA has one year to approve or deny device.  (Amicus Brief)

Youth – Social Media, TV ads, and posters are being created to educate children on the dangers of using E-Cigs/Vape devices. The posters will be sent to Jr. Highs to be placed in the bathrooms.

Improved access to Pulmonary Rehab- Implementation date 1/1/20  NP, PA can refer to Rehab

Ventilators: remove NIV from competitive billing

              18 organizations, 180 house members, 38 senators being driven by White House Domestic Policy Counsel; meeting being schedule with Deputy Administrator of CMS.

Florida: Telehealth bill; professional must maintain professional liability coverage at or above. Payer’s and providers can determine reimbursement.

Continued oversight occupational licensure bills. Be on the lookout. AARC will assist if ever needed.

16 organizations support the Telehealth bill. Campaign for house – social media in the fall: personalized   messages will be available.

Connect: Medicare Advantage Plan; 21 states, Breathe act cosponsors

Get with PACT rep and ask them to follow up with who they talked to on the hill.

www.congress.gov

              enter HR2508 in search bar; shows every co-sponsor and when they signed on.

AARC Virtual Lobby

              **** Have your Affiliate Membership Text BREATHE to 52886; can personalize and send. Send now and send often.

There will be a webinar in early August to help you prep to talk to your state rep/senator when they are home on break this August recess. 

Town Hall Meeting

AARC plans to help colleges. 24 states allow bachelor’s degree programs at community colleges. Only 4 have RT bachelors programs. RT’s concern is about cost, what they are going to gain. Challenge getting management on board. AARC will implement the 2030 Issue Paper on moving the profession forward. This ended our joint session.

1st Best Practice Presentation by Florida Society

              Shared how they use various forms of social media to communicate; started with twitter, Face Book, Instagram and YouTube. Looked at demographics. Found You Tube to be viewed most. For ages 18-49= 71-81% of time; and ages 50-64= 65% of time. Looking at your social media statistics can let you see how engaged people are with your page, and can help you decide what/when to post. You Tube let people see their personality. #RT Nation.

·       Affiliates need to invest in community, personality, and education

·       Affiliates need to “GET LIVE”, tell stories, and find storytellers to help

·       Call people out on Social media to “like” us, tell their story, and join our association because we are doing great things for the profession of Respiratory Care.

2nd Best Practice presented by Joe Goss : Website

Can see his presentation by going to bit.ly/BestPracticeMessage   Wordpress and Hootsuite are helpful tools. Monitoring analytics: let’s you see how the messages are being viewed (computer, phone, tablet) Bounce rate is important. Some view home page only. Session: Makes for a long page and hard to view on the phone so people just move on. A phone needs to be layered. Google analytics can show you where people are coming into your website through. Can also see days, why, devices, and “open rate”. Need to spread the work of monitoring the website between 2 or 3 people -cross train to know how to manage the site. Posting, linking, etc.

Gary Kauffman Best Practice

·       In every state; a CNA can deliver a neb if RN puts the medication in the device.

·       Measuring Productivity

o   Procedures, billable procedures, charges, missed therapies, CPT’s, APC’s, ADC, FTE/adjusted to D/C, AARC urm.

RT Value: Establish science of RT to services, communicate value to all stakeholders – need to fill the gap- we have value as cost reducers.

Managers and therapists…. be partners and team players with the nurses!!! They can be one of our best advocates!

RT departments need to have an actively engaged Medical Director!!

Need to create a Chartered Affiliate Managers group on Connect if your affiliate doesn’t already have one.

Call to action:

Showing value – RT leading Mobility protocol development

Protocols -need RT to develop & use Protocols

Nurses are our #1 Advocate

Engage Medical Director

Have Leadership/Management Group in your state

Offer education on benchmarking for managers

VON NICU benchmarking-  RT Collaborated with providers to educate physicians to adhere to the protocols

Amanda and Asha 3rd best practice Leadership Boot Camp

Membership; AARC resources and accessing them. Call or ask Asha or Amanda. Members Centric. Create flyer of myths/facts AARC. Survey state president and delegates please fill out the survey: https:jotform.com/91956623762972 membership - HOSA.

For state leaders, any leader in the society can attend Boot Camp

Be prepared to provide information, share what you learned, work action plans and answer follow-up questions.

Go over the BIG LIST information with your affiliates!!

No charge from the AARC to attend. You will need to cover your hotel, travel and food.

Open Mic Action Items

Student mentorship deadline for application is 9/23/19.

Go to schools and talk to school counselors about our profession and push our worth.

Not all HOD have pics showing up in Connect. Check privacy settings. Only shared with friends if you checked you didn’t want to share. You have to share.

Lanny – chartered affiliate, would like 50 apps for Summitt Award- app survey will be sent out

Tina- Michigan- Delegate assistance timeline will be sent out Aug 7th - 90 days before meeting

Volunteerism and Mentoring committee: Mickey Thompson of Florida received the Bill Lamb Award.

Amanda- Early professional 1 and 2 will receive student rate for congress, early profession 3 and 4 will pay regular rate.

President Karen Shell BOD Update:

For Delegates: AARC will reimburse for first two days of congress –through day of business meeting. Delegates will pay, then get reimbursed. Early bird reg last day Sept 9th.

Position paper: To BSRT- 2030- gives everyone more time to do right – request that CoARC and NBRC require BS.

Writing resolutions: be prepared to present and defend to the BOD! They liked it.

Voting opens for AARC BOD in October

CoARC-BOD send a letter of support – drafting a statement

Keith Segal; past speaker HOD/BOD

All 5 resolutions passed by the AARC BOD.

Approved summer 2020 forum at Snow Bird Utah

Discussed at March BOD in Dallas, Recommendation: Policy liquidation management –AARC should have a certain amount of cash on hand. Decided that AARC would keep 6 months of cash on hand.

AARC is adding a diversity speaker to their speaker list

Joe Goss- entry to practice BS 2030 – all will be published in RC journal

***Ca002 Policy 15.  Affiliate Audit will start 18 months from now – 2021 timeframe                            The process for submitting documentation is still being determined.

Treasurer Jennifer Anderson

Total Donations $13,150.00

Disaster Fund total: $9150.00              ACRF Fellows total $2750.00           

  Bill Bitzel total $250.00                                  ACRF Research $1000.00

Teri Miller Closing remarks

Make sure we are sharing the Big list with our Affiliates.

Focus on Membership, Passion, Involvement, call to action.

What are we going to do about it? “LEAD”.  If we are not at the table, we could end up on the table.

Jennifer Anderson challenged each delegate to get at least 1 new member prior to congress and be prepared to report on how you recruited your new member!!!