PRESIDENT'S MSSAGE

Lke it or Not, Here They Come!

Give me a ‘thumbs up’ if you have ever watched The Social Network!  While the opinions vary wildly depending on who you ask, the movie chronicling how Mark Zuckerberg co-created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room in 2003 is fascinating.  Most tell me they couldn’t get over how dark the film depicted Zuckerberg’s ruthless quest to grow his idea with blatant disregard for anyone or anything.  Meanwhile, I was, and still am, mesmerized by the implications of so many people (quickly approaching one billion) who willingly provide and post their private information publicly and how Facebook leverages the data collected into billions of dollars through multiple marketing channels.

Whether you participate on Facebook or any other forms of social or business networks (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, etc.), one thing is undeniable, they are here to stay. These networks allow us to match our increasing pressure to basically create more time in the day. More specifically, it allows us to expand and extend our virtual personal and professional relationships as we try to manage our daily lives.

OK, so why is this important to us as medical society executives? Well, if you haven’t noticed, your younger members (medical students, residents and young physicians) frankly don’t understand the expression “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” They have single-handedly taken what has traditionally been an evolution between generational changes and created a revolution. The millennial, or Gen Y, physicians entering the workforce value a work/life balance. They find face-to-face interaction almost meaningless preferring to have gotten to know you via Facebook. They value technology over paper, and needless to say, they are very independent! The estimated physician workforce shortages in the coming five to ten years only exacerbates the issue.

Click here to continue reading the President's Message

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American Academy of Dermatology Announces New Senior Director of Philanthropic Programs

The American Academy of Dermatology has announced Ms. Nancy Ali as the new Senior Director of Philanthropic Programs. Ms. Ali brings nearly 28 years of professional experience in resource development, public relations, communications, strategic consulting, organizational development and cause-related marketing to her new position at the American Academy of Dermatology. Ms. Ali most recently was the Executive Vice President and Resource Development Practice Lead for the Metropolitan Group, a national consulting firm dedicated to advancing social-purpose organizations through organizational development, strategic communications and advancement services. During her time with the Metropolitan Group, Ms. Ali led their fundraising practice providing strategic counsel, advising on innovative marketing initiatives and building national partnerships. 

Alaska State Medical Association's Executive Director Jim Jordan will be Succeeded by Michael Haugen

Alaska State Medical Association's (AMSA) Executive Director, Jim Jordan, will retire June 30, 2012. ASMA President Mary Ann Foland, MD announced Mr. Jordan will be succeeded by Michael Haugen. Mr. Haugen, formerly the executive director of Alaska Physicians & Surgeons Inc., began work as ASMA's Executive Director-designee on May 1, 2012 and will become its executive director on July 1, 2012.

Congress Puts New Limits on Government Travel to Conferences
Per James Clarke, CAE, Senior Vice President of Public Policy, ASAE

Outraged by the General Services Administration (GSA) spending scandal that broke a couple of weeks ago, the House and Senate separately passed legislation yesterday that imposes new spending limits and reporting requirements for all government employees attending meetings and conferences.

Although the event that triggered the congressional scrutiny was a GSA-sponsored employee training conference that took place in Las Vegas in 2010, several of the provisions passed by both chambers yesterday appear to extend to non-government conferences as well, including those held by for-profit companies, trade associations, professional societies, charities, foundations and other private sector organizations.

The bills would limit the number of conferences federal agencies can hold annually and the amount agencies can spend on each event -- no more than $500,000.

More relevant to the private sector, however, the provisions also:

• cap non-military spending to attend conferences at 80 percent of fiscal 2010 levels, 

• limit the number of government employees who can attend international conferences, and

• limit participation by federal agencies to one conference sponsored by an organization per year.

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Introducing AAMSE's New Membership Structure

Benefits that span your career Check out the new membership structure Web page for details!
AAMSE is transitioning to a new membership structure to serve you better. The new structure will make it easier and more cost-effective for organizations to extend member benefits to more of their staff. This will strengthen the professional network AAMSE has already established nationwide, and will allow for the development of new programs and services to improve your member experience.
What you should do The new structure goes into effect for 2013 so you don’t need to take any action until the 2013 dues cycle begins in October Watch for a series of emails, articles and other communications in the coming months with more information about the new structure and how it will enhance your member experience Provide your questions and comments about the new structure through the feedback survey

Why the new structure will serve you better

• Your member experience will be enhanced with new programs, services and resources, as well as a larger and more diverse community of peers with whom you can share ideas and knowledge
• Cost-per-member is lower under the new structure 

How the new structure works The new membership structure is a five-tier, organizational system Dues are based on your organization’s tier Your organization’s tier is determined by number of professional staff it employs

Tier Level Professional Staff Annual Dues Tier 1 1 $195 Tier 2 2-4 $320 Tier 3 5-9 $500 Tier 4 10-24 $1,000 Tier 5 25+ $1,500

For more information on the new structure, visit the new membership structure homepage.

Please note: Emeritus, Retired, Industry Partner and Affiliate member dues will not change under the new structure.  

We want to hear from you

If you have any questions or comments about the new membership structure, please take a moment to leave your thoughts in the feedback section of the website. You can also contact us directly at aamse@aamse.org or (414) 221-9275.  

Resources

New Membership Structure Homepage Member Benefits CEO Resources Professional Staff Resources Frequently Asked Questions Feedback Form

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Randall V. Wong, MD and Amy Wong, Esq., Medical Marketing Enterprises, LLC
2012 Annual Conference Speakers

There are only 3 “types” of websites and your marketing strategy will determine the type of website you will need.

Fortunately, you do not need to choose the type of site you want before getting started.  You can start with a simple resource site and with time, change to a more state-of-the-art blog.  By starting with “software” such as Wordpress, you can add function as required.

Also, you can have a well-functioning, high ranking website without social media.

1.  A Resource Site

This is the most common type of site.  It is a static site (i.e.  the content does not change) and serves as a resource for existing members.  The visitors of this type of site are already familiar with your medical practice or association. 

A good resource site should include the requisite basic pages:

• About (Mission Statement and History of Organization)
• Contact Information
• Services Provided
• Officers
• Calendar of Events

The Good:  The easiest to maintain.  To keep a fresh look, redesign the page every couple of years and make sure your information on the site remains accurate.

The Bad:  This type of site has absolutely no marketing power for your group....none.  As the content of the site is static, this site will never rank on a search engine results page (aka SERP - this is the list of results you get when you “Google” something).

Search engines rank pages with fresh content.

Social Media Worthiness:  Probably not a good idea at this stage of the game.  While you can add social media to bring attention to this site, the time you take to maintain your social media presence might be better spent developing your website into a marketing tool (see below).

2.  A Marketing Tool:  Using Your Website to Build Membership

Developing your site into a marketing tool is easy.  Take advantage of the technique of content marketing.  Content marketing with search engine optimization (SEO) is the only way your organization can gain high SERP rankings and maintain them.

Content marketing requires that new content (articles/newsletters) gets added to your site regularly.  Search engines love to rank websites containing fresh, new content on sites that update regularly (for instance, it is better to publish a new article once a month for 10 months than 10 posts simultaneously).

Adding fresh, new and relevant content to your site will get your site ranked in a short period. 

Advantage: Your website will start to rank highly on SERP and will market your association.  This is the best way to attract new members.

Social Media:  Absolutely.  Once you are proud of your website, you may now consider employing a social media plan. 

Social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) are best used to direct “traffic” to your website.  Remember, use social media platforms only when you are ready to attract attention to your website.

Your social media platforms can easily be integrated with your website.  For instance, my website is linked to my social media accounts.  Once I update my site (i.e. publish a new article), all social media accounts are updated automatically!

3.  Blog for Marketing and Building Relationships

At some point, you may be ready to market and build relationships.  Using the “R” word is the strength of social media.  A true blog simply requires regular content and answering the “comments” to  your articles.

Blog are the simplest form of social media, yet are powerful social media tools.  They allow the reader to contribute their ideas, share information or ask questions via the ability to leave a “comment.”

A good blog is a website that regularly publishes great content.

A great blog is a website that publishes relevant content, stimulates comments/questions and engages its constituents by answering those questions and comments.....it creates a dialogue or “conversation.” 

These “conversations” are at the core of building relationships with your colleagues (from other associations) and physician members. 

Advantages:

• ROI:  best ROI, directly marketing to interested visitors
• Dialogue:  by creating “conversations” you build relationships
• Personality:  responding to comments and questions will allow you to “humanize” your site and give your association more character and personality
• Willingness to engage:  your willingness to engage your visitors openly (via your published responses) becomes the most powerful tool to attract future readers

Social Media:  For the medical community, we recommend Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  At this time, I would recommend using LinkedIn to connect with your colleagues.  Use your “blog” and email to connect with your physician members.

Wrapping it Up

Nothing works overnight.  Slow and steady will win the race.  The concepts of social media and relationship building (there’s that “R” word again!) are not learned by reading one article or going to a single lecture.  Start small.  If you are getting started, build a resource page on Wordpress.org.  When ready, start writing good content.  Then blog.

Using Wordpress.org (more flexible than Wordpress.com) allows you to add functionality at anytime and without additional cost.  Regardless of the type of site you need, costs are basically for hosting....$10/month or less.

To Your Success!

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Steve Levine, Vice President of Communication, Texas Medical Association

It seems ironic— or maybe wrong-generational— or somehow just strange that the most effective social media campaign we've run so far involved an animated video of a grandma. But it was. YouTube's own social sharing system— coupled with multiple Tweets and Facebook and blog posts— catapulted our "Grandma and the Big, Bad SGR" video to mini-stardom.

The keys to Grandma's success:

• A great product
• A lot of helpers
• A simple, memorable message

We launched the video Dec. 1, 2011, frustrated with having to focus member and public attention on Medicare's physician payment formula yet again. Our success in promoting it grew primarily out of having something really cool to promote: A simple and easy-to-follow, two-and-a-half-minute cartoon with paper-doll-like artwork, narrated by a delightful little girl. "My grandma likes her Medicare," she says. "Don't let them take my grandma's Medicare away."

Social media made it easy for others to promote "Grandma and the SGR." The video was heavily tweeted by physicians; TMA Alliance members; state, county and national medical and specialty societies; news media and others. Even national health care blogger “Kevin MD” tweeted it to his nearly 49,000 followers. We posted it frequently to TMA's Facebook page and got Facebook help from AARP Texas, our members, and others who found the piece cute and poignant and worthy of their friends' attention.

Even though "grandma" doesn't say a word in the video, that word was central to all of the social media messages we sent. Combined with the "Little Red Riding Hood" metaphor, grandma's name made the concept of the video memorable and easy to share. We tweeted variations on "You Can Save Grandma from the Big, Bad SGR" numerous times.

Our initial goal was to receive at least 1,000 views on YouTube. We flew past that number within 48 hours. In two weeks, “Grandma” had notched 4,000 views on the site. After 12 weeks online, the little video had tallied more than 5,600 views. Almost 90 percent of the watchers hit our target demographic: US residents age 45 and over.

We retired Grandma after Congress applied yet another patch to the SGR in February. But there's still another Medicare fight ahead for physicians, and Grandma and her Twitter and Facebook friends will be ready to return to the ring.

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Chris Boyer, Director, Digital Marketing & Communications, Inova Health System
2012 Annual Conference Speaker

Put down your iPhone. Or Droid. Step away from Tweetdeck. Stop trying to be the Mayor of Starbucks. Too distracted by tweets, check-ins, updates and videos? Let’s take a breath. Get some perspective.

The true spirit of social media: communication & connection
Remember why we started using social media to begin with? Connecting with colleagues and friends (and making new ones). Building communities around common interests and activities. Sharing information better and faster.

But marketing? Can social media be used effectively to promote (or “position”) our products and services?

It’s easy to mistake social media for a silver bullet to help reach an increasingly fragmented audience. But shifting its emphasis from communicating to marketing is like trying to turn phones and email into sales tools. (That’s already been done. Do we really want social media to go the way of telemarketing and spam?)

So many tools, so little time Every time the “social media flower” appears in a conference presentation, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry as I attempt to fathom (let alone integrate into my marketing strategy) this myriad of tools. Can we really improve our communication if it’s fragmented over hundreds of channels? Yet every week I learn about NEW social media tools. Can we spread ourselves over every possible online medium? And if we could, would we be effective? Communicating poorly is almost as bad as not communicating at all.

Do I really need a tweet from you at 4am?
Trust me — if I’m awake at that time, the last thing I want to do is check Twitter, let alone read a company’s latest press release.

Let’s face it. We’re trying desperately to get our content to the top of the vast information overload heap. My friend Phil Baumann calls Twitter the gateway drug. Does that mean all of social media is as addictive? I follow businesses on social media that send updates every few minutes. Problem is, I’m really not that into your business.

You might argue, “I have to constantly post messages because I never know when someone will see them.”

So?

Stop worrying about quantity and start worrying about quality. Your followers will pay more attention.

Social Media Lemmings
Stop following everyone else’s lead on social media. What’s behind this desire to be first? To post things “real-time” before everyone else does? If someone sends out something interesting, we re-tweet it quickly to show we’re “connected” and up-to-date.

One-upmanship in social media prevents us from presenting ourselves honestly and transparent. It creates a false sense of urgency. I fear we’re becoming pale imitators in an ever-growing pool of marketers crowding social media.

Take a breath
Because we’re so caught up in the excitement of real-time communications (I just tweeted this to more than ten thousand people — I’m awesome!), we haven’t been taking care of ourselves properly.

Unless you’re a doctor on call or leading a revolution, put down your phone at dinner. Re-charge your batteries, not just your phone. Step away from the shiny screen and reassess what we’re doing — and why we are doing it.

Take a walk. Read a book (on a Kindle if you must). Take back your lunch break. Eat with colleagues or friends. Have a real-time, analog conversation. It’s amazing how ideas, creativity and connection can blossom through offline conversations.

Less is more
While on break, rethink how to approach social media. We can’t just use these tools to broadcast our message. Instead, we should use the right social media tools that allow for honest and authentic conversations.

Stop trying to get things posted in “real-time” before everyone else. Let go of the desire to be “first” and start to realize when it’s appropriate to communicate (and when it’s not). Avoid oversharing. Be open, honest and transparent about what we have to offer. And ask the same from our followers.

Give your fingers a rest. The most powerful social media strategy is you.

Chris Boyer will be presenting Practical, Innovative Ideas for Your Social Media Strategy and Learn About the Fundamentals of a Successful Social Media Program at the 2012 AAMSE Annual Conference.

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 Overview

Strategies and approaches to position your society as the central “trusted source” for your members and constituents to learn, share knowledge and manage professional education requirements.

Attendees will:

• Learn how to build a strategy and delivery plan with milestones for rollout of a modern, engaging learning hub 
• Review actual case studies of leading professional societies in various stages of implementation 
• Learn what key functions and organizational units are critical in the planning and implementation
• Discuss common pitfalls in releases
• View examples of how internally developed courses, 3rd party licensed courses and external systems can all co-exist on one portal

Check the EDWeb page for updates!

AAMSE would like to thank the Premier Partner for the 2012 EDWeb series:

If you have any questions about AAMSE’s EDWeb series, or would like to suggest a topic for a future webinar, please contact Tristan Johnson at tjohnson@aamse.org.

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In May 1979, AAMSE began development of the Management Resources Exchange to share information and resources with other medical association professionals!

Today we still offer resource sharing online in the AAMSE Management Library—full of resources whether you're looking for information from an AAMSE meeting, tips on organizing your board or guides such as a Social Media Guide produced by the AAMSE Social Media Task Force!

Have a resource you want to share with the AAMSE membership? Upload it by clicking 'submit materials' in the Management Library.

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Last month in Los Angeles, the X PRIZE Foundation hosted more than 100 influential CEOs, philanthropists, scientists, scholars and government leaders at its annual “Visioneering” event. These “Visioneers” gathered to design prize competitions that will drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.

Teams compete with one another to design and pitch innovative incentive prize concepts in Education, Global Development, Energy & Environment, Exploration and Life Sciences, in hopes that their idea will become the next X PRIZE. Prizes are interdisciplinary, incentivized competitions that motivate individuals, companies and teams to pioneer innovation that pushes the limit of what is currently possible to overcome today’s most challenging global issues.

The most recent Visoneering prize concept to be fully realized was the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE, an idea discussed at the event two years ago. In this competition, named for the Tricorder® of Star Trek® fame, teams will leverage technologies including artificial intelligence and wireless sensing to make medical diagnoses independent of a physician or healthcare provider. Best known for the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private space flight and the $10 million Progressive Automotive X PRIZE for 100 mile-per-gallon equivalent cars, the Foundation also awarded the $2 million Northrop

Grumman Lunar Lander X CHALLENGE for advanced rocket development and the $1.4 million Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE for highly effective, ocean surface oil spill cleanup methods. In addition to the Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE, active prizes include the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE and the $10 million Archon Genomics X PRIZE presented by Express Scripts.

Dr. Peter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation

Dr. Peter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, will be presenting a keynote address at the 2012 AAMSE Annual Conference, Thursday, July 19, 2012. In How to Succeed as Future Technologies Transform the Practice of Medicine, Dr. Diamandis explains how to incentivize breakthroughs and will provide concrete examples and lessons to explain how to create a culture of innovation within your organization. Join AAMSE in Los Angeles as we discover how to incentivize the outside world to help us solve our biggest problems. Dr. Diamandis’ personal motto is: “The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!”

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ADVICE from your fellow medical association professionals The latest news from the healthcare industry COMMUNITY Relationships and CONNECTIONS that will last a lifetime Ability to HELP others with your own experiences
Be part of the AAMSE social network

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The 2012 Trends Identification Report will soon be available exclusively to all AAMSE members.

The release of the 2012 Trends Report is right around the corner! Be sure to watch for an announcement later this month so you don’t miss this leading resource written by your fellow AAMSE members.

The 2012 report covers the following topics: Adjusting to the New Communications Landscape Changing Roles of Non-Physician Providers Delivery Model Changes Medical Society Management and Finance Membership as a Value Proposition Payment Systems Innovation Quality of Care and Patient Safety

Preview from the Executive Summary:

“To say that we live in uncertain times is an understatement. The health care system in the United States is in turmoil, driven by market forces and policy initiatives that are as difficult to predict as they are resistant to easy solutions…

 In the midst of this economic and policy turmoil, doctors must function day-to-day in a way that is consistent with their training, experience, and ethical commitment, while at the same time maintaining the financial viability of their practices and careers. Medical societies are positioned in the middle of this maelstrom as physicians look to them for guidance and support…

 This Trends Identification Report is one tool that can help medical society executives and staff identify where the environment seems to be headed and where they should focus their strategic direction and decision-making. The report is a snapshot of what the environment currently looks like with commentary on the key forces that are at work...”

 -Bruce Balfe, Trends Task Force Chair

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Responses from the April One-Minute Survey on Leadership Development:

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Matthew Santomarco, Product Marketing Specialist, HEALTHeCAREERS

Just as healthcare associations are getting more and more comfortable with current social media staples Facebook and Twitter, there's another player making noise and looking to crash the social media party – Pinterest. Pinterest made internet history by cracking 10 million subscribers in less than two years. Larger organizations have created branded Pinterest accounts and healthcare organizations have already begun to follow suit. It’s simply too popular to ignore.

What is Pinterest and how does it work?

Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share, curate and discover new interests by posting (known as “pinning”), images to their own or others’ boards (collection of pins under a common theme). Users can either upload images from things they find on the web or from their computer. Pinterest’s mission is to connect the world to things they find interesting. And unlike Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest relies heavily on visuals, not text. Think of it as a visual scrapbook.

Will Marketing with Pinterest Connect with my Members?

Any association that relies on driving traffic to their website to increase membership needs to consider joining Pinterest. The goal for your association in using Pinterest is to gain brand recognition, drive traffic to your website and successfully convert new visits into a membership. This can be accomplished by repurposing content and pinning new material on the increasingly popular site. There is potential to connect with members and attract non-members to the happenings of your association, including your career center.

According to Mashable, the majority of Pinterest users share common demographics--they are female (68%) and are between the ages 25-34 (27.4%). It's an important consideration to take these demographics into account while determining if this is a match that reflects your association membership. If these users are outside the profile of the majority of your membership, it may be best to keep Pinterest on the radar for future marketing initiatives. On the other hand, if this represents a substantial portion of your members, start pinning!

Getting Started

Claim your spot before it’s too late. As I’m writing this, there are no healthcare associations on Pinterest.  But that won’t be the case for long. If you are interested in driving more traffic to your site, now is the time to act and claim a profile under your associations’ name.

Since this is a new platform, gauging how many members of your target audience currently using Pinterest is difficult to determine. With budgeting costs in mind, test your Pinterest marketing efforts with a no-cost or low-cost campaign before diving in head first.

Ideas to Make Your Healthcare Association “Pinteresting”

Brainstorm – with a little imagination, you can find ways to work this platform into your marketing efforts. There is no strict formula to follow but there are strategies you can take that will get your profile to “stick” with visitors.

Once you get started, you’ll want to create a few pinboards before you start trying to build a Pinterest following. Just like Facebook and Twitter, building a follower base is key to long term sustainability. Engage members with content that is relevant to your association.

• Pinterest is a visual social network, so you will want to create a pinboard that highlights some of your best visual content. Think about the visual content you already have. Ebooks or book covers, white papers, photos of your members and annual meeting festivities are a good place to start.

• Make the boards on a specific topic. Taking this approach, you increase the chances of your board attracting followers who are passionate about a certain topic. (i.e. books worth reading, awards, we’re hiring, association history, events).

• Host a contest. Hold a contest that asks users to create a pinboard on their own account to demonstrate why they love the association and what it has meant to them. Ask them to send you a link to their pinboard so you can evaluate entrants.

• Highlight your career center. Include a career center marketing flyer as an image to represent your career center that has both job seeker and employer messaging. Make sure the image links back to your career center to drive new visitors.

• Promote through other channels. The fastest way to jumpstart your Pinterest presence is to promote it through other platforms. Add the Pinterest button to your website and promote it through Facebook and Twitter pages. Consider launching a Pinterest contest on your blog.

• Engage with others' pins. Start following users you think would want to follow you back. Like and comment on their pins. With interaction, they may check out your account and choose to follow you back.

• As always, make sure to add links in the description of your pins! Whenever possible, include links back to your website and the landing pages in the pins to drive traffic.

Pinterest is still in its infancy and remains uncharted territory for healthcare associations. Evaluate what it is and how it might align with your overall social media strategy. Ensure your Pinterest efforts are cohesive and reinforce your overall brand strategy. For some ideas on how to use Pinterest, follow HEALTHeCAREERS. We will be happy to follow your boards and repin the great ideas you come up with.

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The following is a compilation of articles that relate to the medical society executive world. The views, comments or opinions expressed by the authors, businesses or organizations linked in this article are not the views of AAMSE. In addition, these articles are not intended to be and should not be interpreted as a recommendation for a specific plan, product, or course of action for any health care or management action.

Association Management

5 Ways to Communicate the Meaning and Value of Your Volunteer's Contribution
VolunteerMatch-April 11, 2012
When discussing volunteer recruitment, management and retention practices, much has been written about the motivations of volunteers and why they become volunteers in the first place. Identifying what drives and inspires volunteers has been recognized as a very important aspect for nonprofit organizations to keep in mind. Many volunteers take up volunteering to add meaning to their live....

Flipped Volunteering: The Better Way to Invite and Engage
Idea Architects-April 18, 2012
We've had it backwards for far too long. We've been telling prospective volunteers about available leadership committees and positions and then asking if they are interested. Instead we should have been learning about their interests and then suggesting possible volunteer opportunities that match...

Trends & Technologies

How to Use Facebook Timeline Without Reworking Your Brand Strategy
Mashable-April 16, 2012
Within days of Facebook's official launch of Timeline for brands, social strategists and brand marketers turned their Facebook strategies upside down and came up with a flurry of ways to attract more fans. Consumer brands like Red Bull, Old Spice and Ford led the charge with innovative campaigns that incorporate everything from intricate scavenger hunts to elaborate milestones that date back over a century...

Blog Content Checklist: 7 Ways to Assure Your Content Doesn't Get Away From You
Clarification- April 20, 2012
Before we hit "publish" — whether it be a blog post, e-newsletter, online appeal or even a tweet or Facebook post — we should have made a list and checked it twice. In other words, we want to make sure we've included everything we intended to include. And we want to make sure we've done everything correctly. Why? Because otherwise our content gets lost. People don't find it. They don't read it. They don't act on it. It's just sad....

Leadership Spotlight

5 Simple Ideas for Supporting Young Nonprofit Professionals at Work
Rosetta Thurman-Date
Even though we know that Millenials want to be supported in the workplace, most non-profits seem to view professional development as a burden on their already limited resources. But what if we began to re-frame the conversation about nonprofit leadership development? Yes, it's an essential part of cultivating a new generation of leaders, but it doesn't have to cost a ton of money...

The Down-Side of Great Ideas
Get Me Jamie Notter- March 30, 2012
I am concerned that we love great ideas, but we don't know how to actually do them. We don't know how to BE great. We have our routine down. We go to conferences, listen to the lectures, take notes, and discuss the issues in the "interactive" sessions. We care about this stuff. It matters...

Current Events

ACOs Must Choose How to Cover Potential Losses
Amednews.com- April 17, 2012
Accountable care organizations going for higher bonuses from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are having to consider various mechanisms to cover losses that may result. ACOs can set aside cash reserves in escrow establish a line of credit, have the amount deducted from future fee-for-service payments or purchase reinsurance to repay the agency if the cost of caring for a patient population grow beyond a certain point..

Doctors Turning to Assistants for Primary Care
Newstimes.com- April 10, 2012
At first glance, Kathleen Allen's visit to Griffin Hospital's care center in Oxford looked like a typical meeting between doctor and patient. Allen, a 55-year-old Ansonia resident, came to the center complaining of arm pain. Her blood pressure was taken. She was asked to move her arm to determine how the pain was affecting her range of motion...

Policy Watch

Health Care Costs Have Multiple Causes
The Marietta Times- April 24, 2012
Projections made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicate that by 2020, national health spending is expected to reach $4.6 trillion and comprise 19.8 percent of the gross domestic product. According to experts, there are many reasons why heath care costs as much as it does...

Massachusetts Payment-Reform Bill Would Overhaul How Health-Care Providers are Paid
Washington Post-April 30, 2012
In 2006, under Gov. Mitt Romney, Massachusetts became the first state to extend insurance coverage to all its residents. Now it's looking to slow the growth of its health-care costs in equally groundbreaking ways. In the next few months, Massachusetts is expected to take up legislation that would overhaul how doctors, hospitals and other provider are paid...

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