Holiday Season 2012

The end of the year is almost upon us. This gives us time for reflection and thanks. This past two months has seen several events: finalization of our 2013 budget with a focus on our strategic plan, opening of registration for our Forum 2013 in Chicago, our new LNCC Review webinar series beginning in a few weeks, our ongoing webinar offerings, representation at the recent Alliance Nursing meeting in Tennessee and the Nomination committee interviewing and discussing the men and women who may be future leaders for your organization. Think of all the events in your life over the last year and reflect on where you are personally and professionally. I have been someone who was raised on the thought of volunteerism. Whether it was in Girl Scouts, candy striping or my high school alma mater where our motto is "Serviam", service to others-I volunteer. It has brought me a richness of professional and personal friends, contacts I use in my work on frequent basis and a sense that I contributed. At this time I wish to thank the staff the BOD works with daily: Kevin our executive director, Kristin our operations manager, the remainder of our staff and the BOD themselves- Karen, Beth, Julie, Kathy, Moniaree and Marianne. Some of these ladies have been serving you for several years working their commitments in with work and family obligations. We need to thank them. I want to also extend a thanks to David Schmahl the EVP + Chief Executive, Healthcare & Scientific Industry Practices. David has worked with us and has a vested interest in our organization. Through a cohesive approach our organization has done well this year and has an exciting future ahead. So how about you the reader out there?? Do you have an interest in learning, viewing a more global picture and networking on an even greater level? Then consider giving of your time and talent. In closing, for the holiday you choose to celebrate, I hope it is blessed. Sharon

FALL POTPOURRI 2012

Greetings! The BOD (Board of Directors) have been working hard and I wanted to share an update. We have completed our strategic plan looking three years out. This included a vision for the future, based on your feedback and the ever present financial review. The finance committee meets over several calls taking each cost center line by line for AALNC's annual budget. This is followed by a day long finalization meeting in person and ends in a presentation to the entire board. It is hard work and I thank all members of the finance committees for their efforts! We are focused on education for our members and anyone desiring knowledge about AALNC and Legal Nurse Consulting. The LNC Locator has been refreshed and is up. You can now upload your CV for prospective clients to review. We have a 12 part presentation webinar series geared towards the LNCC exam for those needing a review, beginning in January 2013. It is also a great chance to find an area of interest and learn more. Once a quarter in your member updates a high level financial overview is now included from our Treasurer, Julie Dickinson. Our webinar series will be strong for 2013 including additional topics besides the LNCC review course. We have continued to exhibit, most recently our past BOD member Beth Diehl-Svrjcek attended the Med Surg conference in Utah. We had tremendous interest and Beth was kept busy each day. This brings more potential individuals to our website, perhaps to our educational products in our bookstore as well as possible membership in our organization. We were excited to have AALNC represented to this group. Our annual Forum will be in Chicago April 4-6, 2013. Make sure you register as we have sold out the last two years! Our location at the Palmer will be an enjoyable one in the city. The Forum committee chaired by Jeannie Autry, has done a great job of procuring interesting and timely speakers and we thank them for the efforts. Our efforts are also being felt as we update our Scope & Standards and Core Competencies. These are two vital documents for our practice. We build on the prior versions and the talent many of you lended to that process for AALNC in the past. Our accreditation with the ANCC as a provider of quality education is exciting and our press release on our website reflects the significance of this honor. Nominations are under way for next years BOD and the committee is preparing to review the applicants. Membership renewal time is approaching so look for your info on line or by mail. We hope to continue to offer ongoing advantages to your membership. More to come, thanks for reading- Sharon

Summer Success 2012

Thank you for reading and here are the summer updates. Our Research proposal is still in the mix at the RWJF. We have not received funding at this time and it is a waiting game. You have been heard! The LNC Locator is being refreshed and made more user friendly. We hope to have the new look out by September-more to come. Check the website, we have webinars booked and awaiting your attendance. I will be exhibiting at AAJ in Chicago this weekend representing AALNC. AAJ is the American Association for Justice-the national organization for the plaintiffs attorneys. Why exhibit you may ask? The contacts made at exhibiting help our organization further it's strategic plan and perhaps you individually. I will be discussing the updated Locator site, the distinctions b/w certificate and certification and AALNC in general. On another front we have issued a press release regarding our relationship with the ABA- American Bar Association. I have been asked as a representative of AALNC to be Vice Chair of the Nursing Alliance and Allied Healthcare Professionals task force. This is a part of the ABA's Health Law Section's Member Services Division. This is a very recent exciting development that begins on September 1 and lasts one year. As the work begins I will keep you posted. Enjoy the remainder of the summer ...it was a cool 107 degrees in Dallas yesterday! Sharon

AALNC Visit to White House Meeting

From Beth Zorn, RN, BSN, LNCC


I appreciate Sharon's offer to post on her President's Blog about my recent trip to Washington, DC. On 6/13/12, The White House and Department of Health and Human Services officials hosted a two hour “conversation with nurses” to discuss delivery system transformation, and how the Affordable Care Act can support their efforts to provide high quality care to patients.  Their stated goal was to “bring local nurse leaders from around the country to the White House to discuss the challenges and opportunities they are facing in their clinics, hospitals and communities, and facilitate an open dialogue that can enable shared learning from one-another.”

                  

In attendance from the White House were Cecilia Munoz (Director, White House Domestic Policy Council), Carole Johnson (Senior Policy Advisor, White House Domestic Policy Council), Mandy Cohen, MD MPH (Director, Stakeholder Engagement Group, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation) and Liz Fowler (Special Assistant to the President for Heathcare & Economic Policy, White House National Economic Policy). Also in attendance were nursing leaders, including those representing more than 80 professional nursing organizations. I attended as AALNC’s representative.

Short panel presentations were made by three doctoral prepared nurses:

·         Margaret Flinter, APRN, FNP-c, PhD, FAANP  - Senior VP & Clinical Director, Community Health Center, Inc; Director, Community Health Center’s Weitzman Center for Innovation in Community Health & Primary Care

·         Kristi Henderson, DNP, NP-BC, FAEN – Chief Advanced Practice Officer, Director of Telehealth, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, Univ. of Mississippi

·         Mary D. Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN – Professor in Gerontology; Director, New Courtland Center for Transitions and Health University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

The major themes addressed by the three panelists included:

·         The Transitional Care Model (TCM) which provides comprehensive in-hospital planning and home follow-up for chronically ill high-risk older adults hospitalized for common medical and surgical conditions. The heart of the model is the Transitional Care Nurse (TCN), who follows patients from the hospital into their homes and provides services designed to streamline plans of care, interrupt patterns of frequent acute hospital and emergency department use, and prevent health status decline.

·         Use of Advanced Practice Nurses to provide primary care, especially in underserved populations. Dr. Henderson runs a program encompassing 100 telemedicine sites staffed by advanced practice nurses all of whom participate in “mini-residency” programs in which they work with ED doctors during their training.  This type of health care model reduces over health care costs by 25% as compared to the traditional health care model.

·         The impact of the ACA on increasing access to health care among the underserved – 20 million Americans get their health care via community health centers staffed by NPs. There are also numerous school based health centers staffed by NPs.

·         The ACA’s Innovation Center (http://innovations.cms.gov/) which is looking at innovative programs to improve quality health care while reducing costs. The nursing profession is critical to many of these initiatives, which include a Million Hearts (http://millionhearts.hhs.gov/index.html), the Strong Start Program (http://innovations.cms.gov/initiatives/strong-start/index.html) and the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative. They are also looking at Accountable Care Organizations, groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high quality care to their Medicare patients. The goal of coordinated care is to ensure that patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors. One of the panelists talked about bundled payments (and getting away from the fee for service model) and a team approach to care.

Following the panel presentations, the moderator opened up the floor to the attendees to share their concerns about the current state of health care delivery and how it might be improved. There was time for about 22 nurse leaders in the clinical arena to share their thoughts. All comments were captured with note-taking by several aides to the senior White House officials present.

Those who spoke represented diverse nursing organizations, including:

American Psychiatric Nurses Association

National Nursing Centers Consortium

American Academy of Nurse Practitioners

ANA

American College of Nurse Midwives

American Association of Nurse Anesthetists

National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health

National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists

AORN

American Nephrology Nurses Association

Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association

Oncology Nursing Society

National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association

AWHONN

The most common complaint mentioned was barriers to reimbursement for NP care, especially in the mental health arena and with medicaid reimbursement. Also mentioned was the importance of cultural issues in providing effective health care to the ethnically diverse population in our country. I have to say that after listening to the panel presentations and feedback provided by some of the attendees, I couldn’t be more proud of my clinical nursing colleagues who are making such important contributions to the delivery of high quality care!

Following are some patient education resources provided to us, for anyone interested in more information about health care or the ACA:

http://www.hhs.gov/iea/acaresources/

http://www.healthcare.gov/stay-connected.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/mycare

June 2012

As the days of summer have begun, hopefully some time off will be in your near future. Your Board of Director's are on the job adding value to your organization. As SmithBucklin our management partner continues to assist us with ongoing business developement, we have several projects in the works. We hope to be able in the coming months to announce some exciting developements. Have you heard AALNC was represented at the White House this week? Your President-Elect Beth Zorn was involved in meetings. She will be updating you about her trip, here on our blog with in the week. We were honored to be asked and pleased we could send Beth to participate. Webinars-we have a great schedule coming up and you need to check our website for updates. The continually popular "So You Want to be an LNC" will be presented on June 28, 2pm CST. See our website for details. The Forum committee is in full swing here and our event in Chicago next year will be worth the trip. We are currently vetting speakers and Chicago is a great city! Plan now. We are three months in to our new Board term and I would like to thank Karen, Beth, Julie, Marianne, Kathy and Moniaree for their hard work and dedication to your organization. More soon, Sharon

NTI-American Association of Critical Care Nurses Exhibiting

Another update from the exhibiting front! AALNC is currently exhibiting in Orlando, Florida-thanks to the Orlando chapter of AALNC. As I said last time we look for every opportunity to exhibit as cost effectively as possible. When a conference is located in the same area as willing volunteers, it is a win-win for all! In case you have never had the chance to participate in exhibiting it is not all glamour. We are talking non stop to all that come to our booth. It is tiring but, exhilarating to meet others and share information. NTI (AACN's conference name) is huge with an attendance that is 7,000+. This is an excellent group to interact with and we have the added benefit of seeing who else is exhibiting and if their is another partnership for AALNC around the corner. I just want to say thanks to Orlando for their time and efforts! Sharon

American Association for Justice Annual Conference-Exhibiting Details

AAJ will have their annual conference in Chicago July 28-31 of this year. AAJ is the national organization that supports and educates Plaintiff's lawyers. We are very excited to be exhibiting this year. Since the conference is in Chicago (as is our SmithBucklin HQ) we are able to exhibit at a decreased cost. Our goal is to exhibit and further the education of attorneys to our field of expertise. At these national conferences we also try to meet with key leaders and arrange contacts that might lead to further exposure for our organization. This has been very successful in the past few years with DRI (national defense organization) and TAANA (national nurse attorney organization). I will be attending AAJ and be present in the booth on a daily basis. You may ask how do we decide where we are going and how much we spend for each endeavor? In the past under Marianne Hallas's leadership and now with Julie Dickinson in the role as  treasurer we examine our yearly budget and the finance committee determines the amount available to us for exhibiting. Then we look at other factors such as location, dates, cost to fly, booth costs, hotel costs etc. When we have the ability to have HQ in the same city as the conference that definitely saves us money for travel, lodging and shipping our booth and products. We also look at new avenues to explore for business development. The SB staff and I will be showcasing AALNC and our products and services. We hope if any of you will be attending to please stop by Booth # 1009 and introduce yourself. Thank you for the continued opportunity to represent our organization. Sharon

May 2012 Updates

April and May have been busy for your Board. Our Willingness to Serve form streamlined our volunteer assignments-thanks to those who filled them out. Committees are meeting or are about to meet. Forum 2013 Committee is already reviewing feedback and planning. Thanks to Jeannie Autry for serving as Chair. Educational products and Webinar committees are going to be very busy this year with new offerings..... to be announced. We are still waiting to hear on our research proposal submitted a few months ago-it is a long process. We have already been discussing the 2013 budget and how we can inform and educate more people about legal nurse consulting. We have several exhibiting opportunities for AALNC forthcoming including: NNBA, AACN and AAJ just in the next few months. Our new Business development manager Kristen has been working hard with our executive director Kevin for several opportunities in local areas and nationwide. More information as the details are developed. Thank you to my Board for allowing me some time off for vacation and continuing on our strategic plans in my absence. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks Sharon

Sold Out Forum-Our Second Year!!

Thank you to all that attended the Forum in San Antonio. It was very well attended with excellent speakers present. We opened the President's reception to all attendees and will continue this as a new tradition. This allows an opportunity for networking prior to the Forum's formal opening. It also allows access to all of our Board of Directors for conversation and interaction for members interested in volunteering. First hand info is the best mechanism to investigate where your talents are best suited. We have Beth Zorn in our President-Elect position and look forward to an exciting year ahead with her orientation to the job. On behalf of Karen Huff, our current Past President and myself, we thank you for the positive comments we received on site regarding our offer to remain on the Board for an additional year.  We appreciate the positive feedback about explaining our team approach with Smith Bucklin-which I elaborated on during my State of the Union speech. All LNCC's and Past National Presidents were recognized at our opening meeting. The guidance provided by our past presidents has led us to the path we are currently on. The Forum Committee did an outstanding job: Debbie Pritts, Jeannie Autry, Beth Diehl Svrjcek and Mary Kay DeGeorge with BOD liaison Barb Boschert. We appreciate your efforts. We have many exciting partnerships and liaisons in the works with more info to follow as we progress along. Forum 2013 will be in Chicago with info posted to our website as it is available. We will continue to work hard for you our members and the 2013 Forum efforts are already underway. Thank you for the opportunity to serve a second year as your President. As always I will do my best as we honor the stewardship bestowed on us.
More to come!

UPDATES March 2012

I wanted to follow up on some previously posted information. We are still waiting to hear about our research proposal to the RWJF. I will keep you posted. The attendance numbers for the Forum have exceeded our goals-which is excellent news. There is still time to join us in San Antonio-as Board members we would enjoy meeting you and obtaining your feedback! The Willingness to Serve application has provided a great source of volunteers. We hope to assign volunteers who have submitted applications, by the time of the Forum. So please let us know what area you are interested in, to serve your organization. Chapter Leader Webinar is right around the corner with Julie Dickinson guiding the way. Anyone who is a Chapter leader needs to take advantage of this opportunity. We will have some exciting news at our business meeting on site at the Forum and I do hope you can attend. Let me know if you have questions. Hope to see you soon  Sharon

Education and Volunteering

This month is the big push before our annual Forum being held in San Antonio, Texas. I do hope you are able to come and see the educational and networking offerings this year. We have had a tremendous reponse and I look forward to meeting with you at the end of this month!  An email blast has been sent to the membership with a "Willingness to Serve" form. There are many dynamic individuals in our midst that have so much to offer to all of our membership. Please consider helping YOUR organization. This is an excellent opportunity to broaden your network of legal nurse consultants. We are very excited to offer our first webinar (this month) providing an orientation to our Chapter Leaders. Our National Board member Julie Dickinson, will be leading this informative session. We recognize that with the right tools leaders can excel and we hope this offering is one you find beneficial. I leave you today with one of my favorite quotes from Sir Winston Churchill " We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give".  Sharon

Membership Voting has Begun

As you opened your ballot you can see the Board of Directors is keeping current with trending in regards to board size. You will also notice one of our most valued board members, Beth Diehl-Svrjcek resigned. It is a loss for AALNC but, at the same time we are excited with Beth's new position. She was selected to become the lead Nurse Practitioner at Johns Hopkins. Since Beth recently completed her DNP in this area, this was a goal she reached-sooner than we expected! It was a very difficult decision for her to make and we wish her all the best as she reaches continued levels of success. All of our best to you Beth.

Starting the Year Off Right!

As I told you a few weeks ago our Research Committee submitted a proposal The Relationships Among Documented Care Errors, Never Events, and Malpractice Claims and Type of State APRN Practice Environments to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of The Future of Nursing:Campaign for Action program. The research committee has been informed this proposal is a first round finalist! We are now being reviewed By the Funders' Community to await determination if we are selected to proceed forward with a full proposal. Again thanks to the entire committee and we will await hopefully continued exciting developments. Sharon

New Happenings

Hopefully you have all seen the Salary Survey results published on our website. This is information hot off the presses. We had a 24% response rate-which is excellent. The Board knew we needed updated data and this should be a member benefit! Your Board is meeting to determine this year's activity going forward. We will need volunteers in several areas including Education, the Journal and others. If you are interested in actively working on the National level in a committee format please email me at smcquown@flbranson.com. The Forum being held in San Antonio this year has already had an almost 40% registration rate so, do not forget to register and join us in March 2012. I hope all of you can attend for the networking, education and State of the Association address. On the Research front we have applied for a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More to come on this exciting opportunity and a thanks to our entire research committee, chaired by Kathleen Ashton. We are also finalizing the results from our Education survey to share with you as well. In short a busy month of activities to further YOUR organization. Thanks for the opportunity to serve you, the members. Sharon