CEO Update, December 2024
“The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination.” — Terri Guillemets
There is just something about Winter that brings tranquility. Perhaps it is the quiet stillness of nature, the muffling of snow, or just the crisp, refreshing air. Or maybe Terri Guillemets is on to something with winter that stirs the imagination. Maybe the knowledge that each days gets brighter.
As we celebrate the solstice and year-end holidays, my mind is spinning with opportunities and looking forward. Innovation has been a true driver for the AAOA. Continually asking ourselves what to our members need? What can we do better? We are looking over the horizon toward opportunity. Perhaps that is the growing light of winter.
Our leadership should be commended. While they see opportunities, others may see risk. Change and innovation are inherent with risk. But forward progress is only achieved with perseverance through the challenges or risks. Our biggest opportunities in this past year have both have a very member focused outcome.
Focused on member value, we launched our AAOA Member Affinity program. In response to members comments on the challenges in practice, we created a program working with USENT to offer AAOA members best in class pricing for allergy supplies, as well as group purchase pricing with over 38 other ENT-centric vendors. Early enrollees are achieving savings between 20 and 60%, making a huge impact on their practice costs overall and reducing their time and staff time negotiating with vendors. We are very excited about the early response, and we look forward to helping more of you benefit from these cost savings. For more information, please contact Whitney Maine ([email protected]).
Education content is our other member focused value we have been strategizing over. Asking how we can help deliver more content with practical applications, we have reimagined both the Annual Meeting and Advanced Course.
—The Annual Meeting is an ideal format for networking and learning from peers while getting the latest in allergy and inflammatory disease management. And, we continue to offer this to members as part of the overall dues with no additional registration costs (read: Free!). What a great way to round out annual CME and Continuing Certification needs.
—The Advanced Course has been completely redesigned into our new Explorers Course 2025: Surgical & Medical Management of Airway Disease in Otolaryngology. The new course will offer a broader curriculum over two years to allow for deeper dives into the focused content and more opportunity to learn new skills to take back to your practice. Under the leadership of Jennifer Villwock, MD and Jack Krouse, MD, PhD, MBA, the new course will roll out in 2025 in our hybrid format. Pre-work will open February 27 th . We will host the live component in Vail March 27-29, with a live stream option. Focused content for 2025 will delve into otology — allergy’s impact, eustachian tube dysfunction; asthma, cough, OSA, smell and taste, food allergy, drug allergy, geriatric patient challenges, and practicalities of billing, staffing, and incorporating SLIT/SCIT. Post live, our content will be available for on-line access for 60 days. The overarching goal is to offer your practical skills to implement in your ENT practice. We encourage early registration to save your seat and join us for this new educational experience.
Embracing winter, I will continue to bundle up and spend some time out in nature to gain all the benefits of the tranquil quiet hush and find new levels of my own imagination.
Happy Holidays!
