The AADE Board of Directors met on April 27-28, 2019 and discussed several items of interest to the membership. A summary of those items is provided below.
Strategic Planning and Discussions
The Board conducted three major discussions related to the future of the specialty.
Strategic Plan Approval
The Board approved the association’s next strategic plan. While the plan focuses on the next three years, it captures the needs of the field over the next ten years. Outlined within the plan are the steps required to better serve people with diabetes by positioning educators within a more central role within the diabetes care team. The Board has established short and long-term measures of success for that endeavor. Staff will work to develop a concise document that outlines the major tenets and measures of the plan to share with the membership at AADE19 in Houston.
In addition to the plan itself, the Board approved funding for 2019 to support the advancement of the plan. This includes funding for a Technology Summit to explore and develop practice papers on both the role of the diabetes educator and the broad care team in defining a process for effective integration of technology into practice.
Retitling the Specialty
As part of the roll out of Project Vision – Shaping the Future of our Specialty, the Board raised the issue of the value and challenges associated with the specialty’s moniker “diabetes educator”. As such, this spring the Board engaged The Brand Consultancy to initiate a process of stakeholder outreach and research in order to fully vet this issue. The Board engaged in a thoughtful exploration of the issues and reviewed the research plan in place. The Board will meet in May to review that research and discuss the future title and branding for the specialty. It is the Board’s intent to share its findings with members at AADE19.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Board reflected on its conversations and work to understand the current state of the diabetes education workforce and communities served through diabetes education. Much of this baseline work was done within the 2017-18 National Practice Survey which found that diabetes educators are predominantly Caucasian 85% and female 95%. It was determined that a disproportionate number of programs and attendees with access
to DSMES programs are Caucasian, even though research has repeatedly demonstrated that the most effective interventions/conversations take place when the workforce reflects the communities served.1
The Board laid the groundwork for defining its goals for the association’s membership makeup, communities served, and our ability to serve an increasingly diverse population.
Board Actions
The Board approved the establishment of a Peer Support Community Work Group to engage both educators and members of these diverse communities. Our goals for this effort center on building a trusted relationship between educators, people with diabetes, and the communities’ leadership in order to jointly develop tangible tools and guidelines for effective referral and follow-up to support the people who participate in these communities.
The Board also approved a Practice Management, Coding, and Payment Committee to work to improve the payment system and to explore new models of diabetes care.
The Board reviewed its statement on Insulin Pricing and revised it to reflect the broad principles that it believes should be in place for expanding access.
Finally, the Board met with AADE’s audit firm and received the 2018 Financial Statement Audit for both the association and the Foundation. Both received “clean audits” with no management letters or adjustments.
Routine Business
The Board also conducted several pieces of more routine business. This included a review of the organization’s balanced scorecard, DANA metrics, program evaluations, and February Financial Statements. The Board met with the association’s financial advisor to review the performance of our reserves and to discuss the outlook for financial markets.
As a reminder, each Coordinating Body has a Board member appointed to serve as its liaison to the Board. These individuals are happy to talk with you about any issues that are concerning to your state. Find out who your Board liaison is HERE.
1 Rinker, J., Dickinson, J., Litchman, M., Williams, A., Kolb, L., Cox, C., and Lipman, R. (2018). The 2017 Diabetes Educator and the Diabetes Self-Management Education National Practice Survey. The Diabetes Educator 44(3) 260-268 doi.org/10.1177/0145721718765446