Acronym

I’m attending the first ASAE Healthcare Association Conference today and tomorrow in Baltimore. I have to admit that, at first, while intrigued by the idea, I wondered why such a meeting was necessary… other than the continuing education issues that we face, is much else really different from other associations in other industries? Then I heard today that 25% of ASAE members are employed in healthcare associations – that is a large membership segment. And, it is a segment with, I think, a very general common goal – the sustained, improved health of the general public – a BHAG when you have such a diverse and varied group of interests with very strong opinions.

Having worked for a variety of health-related associations, and even some providers, I think that the commonality extends beyond issues of CME to the structure of the healthcare system and healthcare reform. After just one education session, it is painfully obvious what a tangled web we face in terms of healthcare reform. Those of us here already “get it”; the question is now, what can we do about it? How are we going to fix it? There is something very interesting about having this conference right now in the midst of what could be the biggest reform agenda ever.

I sat in a discussion group this morning of people who represented nurses, physical therapists, hospitals and physicians. Even there, a colleague looked at me and suggested that one of the problems we were discussing wouldn’t be such a problem if the hospital administrators weren’t pushing their members to do more with less. Which I understood, but I can also hear administrators complaining about reduced insurance payments. It is really a sick cycle.

This morning’s keynote came from Dr. Ben Carson, a pediatric neurologist at Johns Hopkins (more on him later). On one hand, this problem of healthcare reform seems so big, so unwieldy that I simply can’t comprehend a fix that is going to meet every associations’ constituents’ needs. On the other hand, Dr. Carson reminded us that our brains are capable of handling and processing an infinite amount of knowledge.

Reform is going to happen. We can do this.