House of Delegates Column for September, 2011

Highlights from the Spring Virtual Meeting of the House of Delegates

·         Mega Issue Identification: 17 issues were identified as strategically important to the profession.  These included:

1.       Education/training of future practitioners

2.       Alternate pathways to practice

3.       Lack of internships

4.       Strengthen Image

5.       Branding the Profession

6.       Reimbursement

7.       Legislation/regulation related to practice opportunities

8.       Inclusion of the RD in health reform

·         Market Place Relevance: Many ideas for how the RD and DTR could create more opportunities for themselves as well as being more nimble and proactive.  Some of these ideas included:

§         Use of skill sets to step into other venues

§         Be involved in local, state and/or federal legislation

§         Markets ourselves as evidence based professions

§         Collect outcomes data and present it at meetings, in journals, etc.

·         Associate Membership Category:  Despite being on the phone and not seeing anyone live, this subject continued to be a very lively discussion.  Originally discussed at the Fall meeting in 2010 before FNCE, the House of Delegates had requested additional information and changes to the requirements.  Additional discussed occurred in February, 2011.  The vote from the HOD was to approve this new category.  “This initiative, which has been a long time coming, presents a tremendous opportunity to allow like minded collaborators to join ADA.  In this age of accessing information electronically the ADA will be in a positive position to be THE provider of reliable quality information by becoming the membership organization that provides these resources.”

An up-date of the implementation plan will be provided in the Fall 2011 House meeting by the Member Value Committee.

This Fall’s 2011 House of Delegates Meeting will discuss the following topics (mega issues):

1.       Licensure with the focus on identifying: the value of licensure; strategies to enhance all members to be supportive/involved in the establishment or maintenance of licensure; promote licensure to ensure the safety of the public.

2.       Interdisciplinary Teams with discussion based on identifying strategic opportunities both inside and outside the profession of dietetics for RDs/DTRs to operate in interdisciplinary teams and to determine the skills dietetic professionals need to strengthen their skill set to initiate, lead and participate in interdisciplinary teams.

3.       The 2011 Future Connections Summit on Dietetic Practice, Credentialing and Education discussion will provide the House with an complete up-date on the brainstorming that occurred at the March Summit, as well as the next steps (so the momentum continues).

On the House of Delegates page of the Members Section of the MDA website (www.eatwellmd.org) you can find the questions for the membership for the Fall meeting.  I can actually take responses up until 5 PM on Wednesday, September 21.  My email address and phone number are included on the page.

Mark your calendars:

April 15-17, 2012 is the Public Policy Workshop in the Washington, DC area, where after two days of training, you go with members of you affiliate and meet your Congresspersons on Capitol Hill.  It is an exciting and wonderful experience, with lots of walking, etc!