President’s Message
As you all know, we transitioned our leadership following the 2017 Annual Meeting and have been working with Helen Burstin, MD, our new CEO, during the last several months. Helen hit the ground running and has taken advantage of the opportunity to interview many of our organizations’ CEOs, listened carefully to the Board, and to many of you in component groups, to learn about our values and to consider where we should go in the future.
Many issues have surfaced, including the ongoing importance of component groups, our relationship with the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), certifying boards, and the issues surrounding Maintenance of Certification, as well as the substantial commitment individual organizations have made to developing registries and using them in quality improvement, payment reform, and practiced-based learning. We will build on these efforts as we continue to define the value of the Council of the Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS).
The Board will be participating in a retreat this summer and will refine the strategy for CMSS going forward under Helen’s leadership. Now more than ever, please articulate your thoughts for the future of CMSS. Do this through communication with Helen and the members of the board so that we can include your thoughts regarding our future.
We’re excited to host the Registry Summit on May 10, one day prior to the Spring Meeting. The registry program, put together by the Registry Planning Committee, which is led by Helen and David Parke, is exceptional and raises many questions important to the future use of registries. I encourage you to attend and be a part of the discussion.
Finally, at press time Helen announced that she has been received a Patient-Centered Outcome Research Institute (PCORI) award to engage patients in clinical registries through CMSS. Way to go, Helen!
The opportunity for CMSS to increasingly represent the collective intelligence of our specialty societies is real and will define how we go forward. Please take the opportunity to communicate with leadership regarding your thoughts on the future so that we can make CMSS everything it can be.