Looking to the Year Ahead

Abstract

Already 2023 is looking to be a great year for AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Our Annual Conference, PALTC23, held in Tampa, FL, was a huge success. We welcomed over 1,300 people, including 87 Futures Program participants, to learn and celebrate together, fully in-person for the first time since 2019. Some of the highlights of the conference were enjoying a much-needed laugh with our opening keynote speaker, honoring the Foundation’s award recipients and the giving campaign, and celebrating Chris Laxton’s last meeting as our fearless executive director. We also welcomed our incoming Executive Director Michelle Zinnert, CAE. Michelle officially joined the Society on April 24, 2023, and I am excited to work side by side and to learn from one another’s experiences to move our important strategic plan forward. Our Society has now closely aligned our education and clinical affairs teams. I am confident that this change will elevate the ability of our members to make an even bigger impact in PALTC through more integrated educational experiences and clinical products. We will continue to provide our most popular offerings, such as our various podcasts — which recently boasted over 200,000 downloads! A big thank you goes to Wayne Saltsman, MD, PhD, CMD, for starting the AMDA On-The-Go series, which is now being hosted by the multitalented Diane Sanders-Cepeda, DO, CMD. I also want to thank our other hosts, Karl Steinberg, MD, HMDC, CMD, Christian Bergman, MD, CMD, and Alex Bardakh, MPP, CAE, who work hard to bring important clinical information and news in a timely manner. We will continue to explore other andragogical methods to disseminate content, including interactive web-based education. To give all our members and consumers the best experience with our products, our website is undergoing a much-needed redesign this year, which will make it even easier to find information and engage with the Society. Lastly, if you haven’t yet downloaded our app, I encourage you to do so now. The AMDA App offers instant information right at your fingertips to maximize your work in PALTC. You will find links to clinical tools, our publications, AMDA Social, and the Guide to PALTC Coding, among other offerings. On the advocacy front, we continue to engage with key leaders in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Congress to move key policy initiatives forward. For instance, after the release of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality (National Academies Press, 2022) and the White House Fact Sheet, “Protecting Seniors by Improving Safety and Quality of Care in the Nation’s Nursing Homes” (February 29, 2020, https://bit.ly/40DPAbM), the Moving Forward Coalition was formed to bring diverse stakeholder input to policy and practice. The Society has participated as a key stakeholder since its inception, with Chris Laxton as our representative. With Chris Laxton’s retirement, I have been appointed as the Society’s official representative on the Moving Forward Coalition’s steering committee. I am looking forward to representing the voice of our Society’s clinical leaders to improve the quality of life and care delivery of our patients and residents. This is only one of the many ways we are working together with partner organizations to meet our Society’s vision and mission. People have been asking me what things I personally hope to accomplish this year. First and foremost, I want to ensure that we have a smooth executive director transition. A new face brings renewed energy and excitement about the work we are doing, but the change includes many logistical challenges that take time and energy. Second, I want to ensure that all our committees have clear direction and strong support to formulate and complete their 2023–2024 work plans. Third, I plan to strengthen and enrich our new and long-standing external stakeholder relationships. We do not practice PALTC medicine in a vacuum — engaging with other medical and health care societies, government entities, and newly formed coalitions such as Moving Forward and Be Well in AL (assisted living) is critical to moving us closer toward completing our mission. I want to close with another expression of gratitude for everyone who has and continues to contribute to the Society’s wonderful work. I serve you all as your official representative, and I am proud to be part of this amazing organization. Dr. Little is an associate professor of geriatric medicine at Duke University. Her scholarly interests include interprofessional health education, deprescribing, and nonpharmacologic management of dementia.