SPM Friends and Colleagues:
I hope you are having a wonderful summer. We have had a busy month:
Clinical Information Interoperability Council: On July 13, representing the Society, I attended the Clinical Information Interoperability Council (CIIC) meeting with SPM member Femida Gwadry-Sridhar, founder and CEO of SPM innovator organizational member, Pulse Infoframe, and co-founder of the Global Melanoma Research Network. The meeting was hosted by Health Level Seven International (“HL7”) and the Healthcare Services Platform Consortium and was held at the National Institutes of Health Conference Center. Given the importance of accessing relevant data from multiple sources, this event was timely and worthwhile. You can learn more about the agenda here. Subsequent to the meeting, I was in contact with one of the meeting organizers to explore ways in which the Society might help advance the mission presented at this meeting. I would like to acknowledge the support that Pulse Infoframe provided for me to attend this event on behalf of the Society.
RTI International: With great pleasure, I am announcing that RTI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition globally, has joined the Society as our newest corporate member. I had the opportunity to meet with two RTI leaders in RTI’s Washington DC office recently. They are eager to become more involved in the Society. SPM board member and past president Jon Wald, also an RTI leader, served as executive sponsor and connected the Society with other decision-makers at RTI. We are thrilled to have RTI with us and envision many possibilities to advance our mutual missions.
SPM Newsletter: It is my pleasure to announce that SPM member Danny van Leeuwen has accepted the position as editor-in-chief of our newsletter. Danny is an e-Patient, a caregiver, a clinician, and a noted blogger. Danny has attained national recognition for his published works in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety and the Journal for Healthcare Quality, where he served as an editor and associate editor for nearly 15 years. We are thrilled to have Danny at the helm of our newsletter.
Special Recognition: I encourage you to peruse When “patient centered” is no longer enough: the challenge of collaborative health, an essay by SPM member Michael L Millenson published on July 5, 2017 in The BMJ. This article takes the participatory medicine concept a bit further to include some of the socioeconomic factors and other, non-medical actors (data companies, vendors, health plans, etc.) and has received a very positive reaction.
Note: If you have published an article or spoken at an event this year, please let me know. The newsletter would like to showcase these.
IT Assistance: In moving to Connect, our new communications platform, there was a need for certain IT coding to automate processes and build efficiencies. SPM member Anatoly Postilnik volunteered the services of his development team at First Line Software to build the needed interfaces. We are very grateful for their support and will keep you updated.
August Town Meeting: An online Town Meeting was held on Tuesday, August 8th. The group tentatively agreed to continue with online Town Halls the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm ET, and to add a brief presentation at the beginning of each session to encourage participation, but to leave the bulk of the call open.
Travel Scholarship Fund: The Society established this fund to defray the cost of travel for Society members who are actively representing patients (or the Society) at conferences and need funds. Qualifying patient members who apply could be granted up to $500 to defray conference travel costs. There is a need to develop a written policy and process around this fund, as explained on Connect last week in a post from SPM board Chair Danny Sands. At our board meeting last week, we felt this was an ideal task for a willing group of members to lead and are looking for a leader and any number of committee members. Ideally, this group would develop and propose a policy and, once enacted, would be part of the review process. If of interest to you, please respond on Connect or send an e-mail to danny@drdannysands.com.
Board Changes: Our SPM colleague Tracy Zervakis resigned from the Society’s Board of Directors for personal reasons. In accepting Tracy’s resignation, the SPM board acknowledged Tracy’s faithful service and helpful presence on SPM Board calls and thanked her for her service. While it will be difficult to fill Tracy’s role as a board member representing SPM membership-at-large, the Board felt it was essential to identify a replacement to complete the remainder of Tracy’s term. SPM member Linda Stotsky, who has been very involved with SPM’s marketing team and focusing on social media, was unanimously approved by the Board to fill this important position.
Looking to 2018: In the fall, the Society’s Board will hold a retreat to set goals for 2018 and schedule an election for open positions. We will be in touch on both with additional detail shortly. All Society members will be invited to participate in the retreat. As with prior elections, there will be a slate of candidates for which the general membership votes.
Thank you for being a part of SPM. Be in touch. I want to hear from you. Don’t be a stranger. Enjoy August!
Best regards,
Joe
Joseph Ternullo, JD, MPH
President, Society for Participatory Medicine
617-688-7031
