Reflecting on a Successful ASM

Greetings from all of us here at UHMS!

In my prior note, we were in the final preparations for hosting the UHMS ASM in San Diego. We were cautiously optimistic about attendance with the pandemic in our rearview mirror and hoped that a combination of stellar content and faculty, the ASM being in San Diego, and the hotel and conference center’s location on the water would bring out our members once again.

Now we’re 60 days post-meeting, and what’s the verdict, you ask? From purely objective measures, the meeting was a success.

Attendee evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive. Below is an interim analysis of 178 respondents’ scores across all categories.

Financially, from a direct cost perspective, we experienced a surplus, which is also positive.

Other reasons, I believe the meeting was a resounding success.

Attendance for our pre-courses was at peak levels, while the general session attendance was on par with prior non-COVID years. An interesting and exciting statistic was that approximately 1/3 of the registrants were first-time attendees to a UHMS ASM.

We had an amazing lineup of speakers. Our Keynotes delivered moving presentations and received an outpouring of gratitude from the audience afterward. Also, the plenary speakers did not disappoint.

Great work was accomplished by the many UHMS committees who met during the meeting. The creative juices were really flowing. Several new initiatives were launched in key committees while other projects were reinvigorated.

We gave two STEM scholarships to attend the ASM tuition-free. Both awardees were students, including one, a medical student and the other, a senior in high school. Congratulations, Denise Nemeth, and Madison Gesell! On a side note, we’re excited to continue this program and hope to award up to ten scholarships next year for students interested in physiology and medicine with the support of a grant to UHMS.

I enjoyed seeing and speaking with all of you at the meeting, and if we missed connecting, please do not hesitate to reach out if I can be of assistance.

While on the topic of ASMs, we are already planning for next year in New Orleans, and the call for abstracts will be going out before September 1st.

Additionally, next year will be a big year for UHMS elections with officer and director positions coming open, including the President-Elect, Vice President, Treasurer, 2 Members-at-Large (MAL), including our MAL military active-duty, and Associate Nurse Representative-elect. Look for the call for nominations in mid-December.

Hope to see you all in New Orleans next year!

UHMS Finances
Through July, UHMS’s financial position year-to-date is stable. Income is higher than budget, but we’re also experiencing higher non-salary expenses. On a PL basis, we are seeing a modest surplus.

Our balance sheet remains healthy, with operating, savings, and investment accounts continuing to hover at near-all-time highs.

Certification Matters
We continue to receive questions about technician and nursing certification. The UHMS’s position is unchanged in that we believe that all team members involved in providing care to patients in hyperbaric medicine should be certified, and our position statement - The Importance & Recognition of Hyperbaric Certification for Technicians & Nurses can be found here - UHMS POSITION STATEMENT.

Congratulations to the Q3 Associate Scholarship Award winner Norbet Rodriguez Milan. He will be able to attend a UHMS-approved Introductory Course in Hyperbaric Medicine at no cost, which is required to sit for UHMS-recognized hyperbaric certification exams.

Member Benefits
As a reminder, UHMS members receive three free CE/ CME credits upon joining or renewing. This benefit represents an immediate $40 savings for Associate members and $60 for Regular members annually.

Associate Member Town Hall
Members are invited to attend the UHMS Associate Council town hall meeting on the second Thursday of every quarter, where invited speakers present on relevant topics that apply to our specialty.

Corporate Partners
If you are a UHMS Corporate Partner, please attend our monthly Corporate Partner Town Hall meeting series. These are held on the 1st Wednesday of every month at 12 PM and are intended to be an open forum for discussing the challenges and successes your businesses and practices are experiencing and to create momentum and collaboration where appropriate.

If your organization wants to educate the UHMS membership about the care provided or the goods and services offered, consider joining our Corporate Partnership Program. See https://www.uhms.org/corporate-memberships.html.

MEDFAQs
The UHMS offers its version of “ask the experts.” MEDFAQs can be found at the following URL – https://www.uhms.org/resources/medfaqs-frequently-askedquestions-faq.html and is a valuable tool for our membership.

If you are familiar with MEDFAQs, check back, as new Q&As are posted regularly.

Research
The Multicenter Registry for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at Dartmouth (MRHBO2) continues seeking funds for free hospital membership. The MRHBO2 is funded entirely via grants, not by the registry’s participating hospitals. Please consider supporting this critical need to help keep the barrier to joining low - https://www.uhms.org/donate-to-themulticenter-registry-for-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy.html.

Remember that donations made to the UHMS Funds for Research and Policy Advancement are tax-deductible. For more information, check out the UHMS website – https://www.uhms.org/funding.html.

QUARC
To better understand the field’s challenges, log in and visit the QUARC page – https://www.uhms.org/resources/quarc.html. Here, you will find impending legislation, LCD, and other relevant policies on the provision and limitations of HBO2 coverage and the UHMS’s responses and guidance.

The chairs of QUARC are requesting that any unusual denials or challenges with physicians gaining access to insurance panels for HBO2 services, let us know as soon as possible, please – jpeters@uhms.org.

UHM
If you are a UHMS member, we are happy to announce a new search feature for previous issues and articles from UHM/UBR - https://www.uhms.org/publications/uhm-journal/download-uhm-journalpdfs.html. Currently, the feature works with keywords.

If you have a suggestion or comment on how we can serve you better, please email me directly at jpeters@uhms.org or call me at 561-776-6110 extension 100. It is my pleasure to serve you, our membership, and I continue to look forward to hearing from you.

- John Peters