Executive Director's Report: 1st quarter 2024
Greetings from all of us here at UHMS!
As UHMS President Dr. Pete Witucki explains in his Pressure article, the CMS payment error was corrected for G0277 in the HOPD environment (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-02-09/pdf/2024-02631.pdf), and with that crisis behind us, we are focused on the road ahead.
I continue to stress that it is critically important that, as the specialty society for the undersea and hyperbaric medicine field, the UHMS continue to engage with all stakeholders, especially industry, to proactively address the many challenges we face, including what I believe are the most serious threats to our field, a declining emergent/urgent provider base, lagging certification amongst our physicians, advanced providers, nurses, respiratory therapists, and technicians, and a lack of hyperbaric facility accreditation.
However, it’s also very important to note that it’s not a one-way street. The UHMS cannot change this paradigm alone, and we need your help. The physician, advanced provider, nurse, therapist, and technician must take responsibility for seeking and maintaining certification and completing 12 hours of continuing education annually. Hospitals, management providers, and chamber manufacturers are accountable for supporting and promoting hyperbaric facility accreditation and providing urgent and emergent hyperbaric medicine care for all patients.
This is a call to action for everyone involved in the specialty: to get engaged, get educated, get certified, get your facility accredited, and show that you’re doing what you claim to do, particularly around delivering optimal outcomes and treating patients of all acuities regardless of payor source.
The UHMS tent is wide open, so please come in and join us to make our specialty more vibrant and viable for generations to come!
UHMS Elections
As I mentioned in my last note, this year’s election cycle is underway, and we have numerous officer and director positions coming open, including the President-Elect, Vice President, Treasurer, 2 Members-at-Large (MAL), including our MAL military active-duty, and Associate Nurse Representative-elect.
I believe it’s every member’s duty to participate in our election process by voting for their candidates of choice, so please be alert to the announcement on March 15th that voting has started.
UHMS Finances
I am pleased to report that UHMS’s Financial Review was completed in early February. Once again, we have demonstrated to an external accounting body that our financials are clean, and we have sufficient cash to manage unforeseen downturns. You can view our 990 and financial brochure here - About the UHMS - Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society.
Here are the end-of-year validated financials.
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Jan-Dec 2023 PL |
||||
|
Actual |
|
Budget |
||
|
Income |
1,502,085 |
1,417,938 |
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Expense |
1,484,758 |
1,417,621 |
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Net |
17,327 |
317 |
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Our balance sheet remains healthy, with operating, savings, and investment accounts continuing to hover at near-all-time highs.
Additionally, we are very pleased to announce the UHMS has achieved a 100% score and a Four-Star rating on Charity Navigator -Charity Navigator - Rating for Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society for Accountability & Finance.
Certification Matters
We continue to receive questions about technician and nursing certification. The UHMS’s position is unchanged in that we believe that all team members involved in providing care to patients in hyperbaric medicine should be certified, and our position statement - The Importance & Recognition of Hyperbaric Certification for Technicians & Nurses can be found here - UHMS POSITION STATEMENT.
Congratulations to the Q1 Associate Scholarship Award winner, Benjamin Argo. Ben has been awarded tuition-free attendance to a UHMS-approved Introductory Course in Hyperbaric Medicine. Of course, this program is required to sit for UHMS-recognized hyperbaric certification exams.
Member Benefits
As a reminder, UHMS members receive three free CE/CME credits upon joining or renewing. This benefit represents an immediate $40 savings for Associate members and $60 for Regular members annually.
Associate Member Town Hall
Members are invited to attend the UHMS Associate Council town hall meeting on the second Thursday of every quarter, where invited speakers present on relevant topics that apply to our specialty.
Corporate Partners
If you are a UHMS Corporate Partner, please attend our monthly Corporate Partner Town Hall meeting series. These are held on the 1st Wednesday of every month at 12 PM and are intended to be an open forum for discussing the challenges and successes your businesses and practices are experiencing and to create momentum and collaboration where appropriate.
If your organization wants to educate the UHMS membership about the care provided or the goods and services offered, consider joining our Corporate Partnership Program. See https://www.uhms.org/corporate-memberships.html.
MEDFAQs
The UHMS offers its version of “ask the experts.” MEDFAQs can be found at the following URL – https://www.uhms.org/resources/medfaqs-frequently-asked-questions-faq.html, and is a valuable tool for our membership.
If you are familiar with MEDFAQs, check back, as new Q&As are posted regularly.
Research
The UHMS Research Committee continues to be very active. We hope to announce some good news in the new year on the IRB front, where members of our community can come to the UHMS for the Institutional Review Board's needs.
We are soliciting donations from our members for two research initiatives. One is the Continuous Glucose Monitor study (https://www.uhms.org/cgm-hyperbaric-oxygen-study), and the Multicenter Registry for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at Dartmouth (MRHBO2) continues seeking funds for free hospital membership. The MRHBO2 is funded entirely via grants, not by the registry's participating hospitals - https://www.uhms.org/donate-to-the-multicenter-registry-for-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy.html.
Remember that donations to the UHMS Funds for Research and Policy Advancement are tax-deductible. For more information, check out the UHMS website – https://www.uhms.org/funding.html.
QUARC
To better understand the field’s challenges, log in and visit the QUARC page – https://www.uhms.org/resources/quarc.html. Here, you will find impending legislation and other relevant policies on the provision and limitations of HBO2 coverage and the UHMS’s responses and guidance.
The chairs of QUARC are requesting that any unusual denials or challenges with physicians gaining access to insurance panels for HBO2 services, let us know as soon as possible, please – jpeters@uhms.org.
UHM
If you are a UHMS member, we are happy to announce a new search feature for previous issues and articles from UHM/UBR - https://www.uhms.org/publications/uhm-journal/download-uhm-journal-pdfs.html. Currently, the feature works with keywords.
If you have a suggestion or comment on how we can serve you better, please email me directly at jpeters@uhms.org or call me at 561-776-6110 extension 100.
It is my pleasure to serve you and our membership, and I continue to look forward to hearing from you.
John Peters