CALTCM Leads Again with AMDA House of Delegates Resolution

by Patricia Bach, PsyD, RN

As one of the most innovative state chapters in the country, CALTCM has once again taken the lead to support the next step in AMDA—The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine's membership expansion efforts.

Many will recall 2013 as a banner year for AMDA, with expansion of full general membership offered for the first time in the history of the organization to nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), in what was previously a physician-only category. In addition to voting rights and membership in the House of Delegates, a seat on the AMDA Board of Directors was made available to NP/PA member candidates elected to this position, thus affording an opportunity for collaboration in governance at the highest levels of AMDA leadership. Given its role as a supporting state chapter and House of Delegates Resolution co-sponsor, CALTCM played a critical role in facilitating what was clearly a major paradigm shift and culture change in our national organization.

With its dynamic and visionary leadership, CALTCM is again moving forward to support the incremental steps necessary for membership development and expansion at both state and national levels in 2018. Through a collaborative team effort, CALTCM has drafted a Resolution that will be presented at the House of Delegates meeting on March 24th at the annual conference in Grapevine, Texas.

Created in light of the increased interdisciplinary PA/LTC team focus, and in keeping with AMDA's mission, the Resolution is a "Proposal to Include Doctoral Level Non-Physician Allied Health Practitioners (NPAHPs) as Full Members of AMDA". This would provide the same rights and responsibilities as are currently available to physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistant members of AMDA. Member categories impacted would include, but would not be limited to consulting pharmacists (PharmD), geriatric dentists (DDS), physical therapists (DPT), registered dieticians (RD) and clinical psychologists (PhD/PsyD), as well as others yet to be named.

If accepted by the House of Delegates and approved by the Board of Directors with bylaws changes in 2019, this would represent a major step in AMDA's development and a variety of new opportunities for NPAHP AMDA members.

Obviously, change of this nature requires systemic support, which has been generously offered by five co-sponsoring state chapters, including Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania. CALTCM is very appreciative of the time, energy and effort expended by members of these chapters in bringing this Resolution to fruition and looks forward to the future of increased collaboration on other salient issues.

The countdown to AMDA's annual meeting has begun... stay tuned for an update regarding the House of Delegates vote on this Resolution from our CALTCM delegation!