Board Update
To: AADE Coordinating Bodies and Members
From: Chuck Macfarlane, CEO
Board Meeting Date: April 28-29, 2017
The American Association of Diabetes Educators Board of Directors met on Saturday, April 29, 2017, and addressed several issues of interest to the members.
The Board discussed science and practice initiatives including an update on the revisions to the National Standard for Diabetes Self-Management Education that were in the field for public comment. In addition, a joint position statement with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) on the use of Language in Diabetes Care and Education was approved. It will be published in an upcoming issue of The Diabetes Educator. The American Diabetes Association will be publishing it as a consensus document.
The Board also discussed and requested revisions to two additional practice documents. One, exploring the educator’s role in the development of formularies, and a second, defining AADE’s role in regulatory decisions.
The Board met with a representative of Baker Donelson, a well-established public policy firm and approved them as AADE’s public affairs representative it in Washington, DC.
The Board approved the establishment of a work group to explore a model for the accreditation of virtual diabetes self-management programs. The intent is to use the existing National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Programs as the framework, but to identify the requirements/attributes for doing so within a virtual platform vs. the traditional in-person model.
The Board discussed a program evaluation of the BC-ADM credential relative to financial and qualitative performance. This discussion lead the Board to request that a more in-depth discussion of the broader credentialing needs of the profession be developed.
Staff was encouraged to move forward with an initiative exploring the connection between diabetes educators and the diabetes online community (DOC). This would include identifying the strengths and weakness of existing online communities, educators’ perceptions of the DOC, opportunities and barriers affecting referral to the DOC for ongoing self-management support.
AADE’s Chief Executive Officer provided the Board with an overview of the staff organization including the framework for its employee opinion survey, as well as the most recent results and progress since the last survey.
Relative to more routine operational issues the Board received the association and Foundation 2016 audits from CliftonLarsonAllen. Both organizations received “clean audits”, the gold standard of the audit world. The Board also selected the association’s 2017 award recipients, gave final approval to the CEO’s annual performance goals and reviewed AADE’s internal benchmarking report, as well as an assessment of the association’s performance compared to like organizations using the American Society of Association Executives Benchmarking Report. The Board also approved minor revisions to several Board policies. Related to the latter, the Board asked that staff review existing organizational committee charges to ensure that they adequately address issues related to technology, which are increasingly driving the field.
AADE Education and Research Foundation
Following the AADE Board of Directors Meeting, the leadership convened the AADE Education and Research Foundation Board of Trustees Meeting. The Board approved a policy for the Foundation’s support of a fellowship program with Children with Diabetes – Friends for Life, and selected two fellowship recipients for 2017. The Board also reviewed the Foundation’s current financials and approved the distribution of funds for AADE17 scholarships and for the Diabetes Educator of the Year award.