AAWC News

Visit the AAWC (Booth 1605) at SAWC Fall

  AAWC members who attend SAWC Fall have several advantages:
    • Members choose from more than 40 clinical sessions and earn up to 16 credits at a discounted rate of 20%;
    • AAWC membership dues are currently 25% off, so the overall savings are abundant if you join/renew before you register;
    • AAWC Speaker Training, a new pre-conference session on Day 1, can help you brush up your speaking skills. This session complements AAWC’s Speakers Bureau Program for AAWC Members;
    • The AAWC Membership Meeting on Day 2 is an opportunity to network with colleagues and learn about AAWC benefits, board members, volunteer opportunities, and more;
    • All exhibitors are invited to the AAWC Exhibitor Seminar, “How do clinicians interpret clinical studies and make decisions about wound care products?” with AAWC Past President Terry Treadwell, MD, FACS;
    • Research Poster Grand Rounds on Day 2 can help you develop an effective poster;
    • The AAWC Global Volunteers session on Day 3 presents information on global volunteerism, AAWC members’ unique experiences and advice, and how you can get involved in this members-only program.

  Have to miss SAWC Fall? Join us in May 2013 in Denver. Visit www.sawc.net for more information.

AAWC Annual Report Released

  The AAWC Annual Report was emailed to all members in the beginning of September. Here are a few excerpts:

  AAWC President Robert Snyder, DPM, MSc, CWS, explained a few of the Association’s newest goals. The first podiatrist President of AAWC, Dr. Snyder, along with the Association, is creating a platform to address the escalating epidemic of diabetic foot complications and amputation prevention. The Association also intends to further the AAWC Global Volunteers program by creating educational training programs and resources in areas of the United States where these needs are unmet. A third goal, the “One Voice” initiative, facilitates collaboration among like-mined organizations involved in the wound care community.

  Tina Thomas, Executive Director of AAWC, was enthusiastic about recent and unprecedented membership growth, up nearly 40% in the past 15 months and growing. New benefits are in development, along with money-saving offers on membership dues — eg, patients and lay-caregiver members can now join dues-free for life.

  AAWC Treasurer’s Teresa Conner-Kerr, PhD, PT, CWS, CLT, noted the financial standing of the Association is strong. The AAWC Board of Directors decided to transfer money from general fund reserves to the AAWC Scholarship Fund in order to better sustain the program and eventually increase the number and monetary value of awards.

  Among the many association projects are educational initiatives, the creation of clinical guidelines for wound infection and diabetic foot ulcers, and fostering partnerships such as with Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association of America (DebRA). Also highlighted were the development of the AAWC Speakers Bureau for members only and continued free access to members to the Virtual Wound™ online educational modules.

  The AAWC Regulatory Committee has been working on new issues through alerts on the AAWC website and responding to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) on policy issues and regulations. Recent actions include 1) providing feedback to Noridian MAC on its draft Local Coverage Decision (LCD) on skin substitutes, 2) submitting recommendations to the CMS for wound care Quality Measures for the Physician PPS reporting, 3) providing comments to National Health Information Center (NHIC) MAC concerning their draft LCD for pneumatic compression, and 4) providing input to the CMS on their initiative to conduct research on venous ulcer comparative effectiveness of treatments through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

  Volunteer opportunities overseas through the AAWC Global Volunteers program include the development of a new site in India, two new sites visits in Haiti, and active sites in Cambodia and Peru.

  An exclusive report was provided to members: “Developing Wound Care Quality Measures” by Caroline E. Fife, MD, AAWC Liaison to the National Quality Forum (NQF). Health reform legislation will dramatically change the way providers are paid, shifting from paying for volume to paying for value. In the future, physicians and hospitals are going to be paid at least in part on the basis of patient outcomes. New approaches to payment hopefully will help achieve the six aims of quality set forth by the Institute of Medicine — ie, care that is safe, effective, efficient, patient-centered, equitable, and timely. Where measures of value do not exist, they will be developed. The purpose of the NQF, pay for performance, the difference between clinical practice guidelines and quality measures, and the dire need for wound care expert input into the development of quality measures specific to wound care also are considered.

About the AAWC
  The AAWC is the leader in interdisciplinary wound healing and tissue preservation and provides a whole year of valuable benefits! Be sure to join us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

  Questions about AAWC News? Email info@aawconline.org.

This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.