Just returning from the 2016 ACG Governors/ASGE “GI Best Practices” course and winter Board of Trustees meeting. Once again, the course was outstanding. Thank you to Dr. Manny Ho, Dr. Costas Kefalas and Dr. Jennifer Christie for leading an outstanding education program with over 250 attendees, hands-on learning opportunities, and tremendous faculty.
The College leadership are working on several important initiatives including:
- Undertaking a thorough review of ACG’s legislative and public policy priorities at the national level and taking a strategic look at how we engage our members in advocacy before the federal health agencies and the United States Congress. We will continue to leverage our many outstanding members of the ACG Board of Governors and other College leaders in our consistent advocacy on the federal level. Their engagement is essential in fighting further reimbursement cuts to GI procedures under Medicare and representing the interests and concerns of all our members — particularly those attempting to continue to offer high-value, integrated care to their patients in ambulatory surgery centers and in all other environments.
- Moving forward in planning for an exciting Annual Scientific meeting this fall in Las Vegas. Please plan to join me in what is shaping up to be one of ACG’s most impactful, high quality educational programs ever!
- Engaging globally as ACG works closely with the World Gastroenterology Organisation to plan a joint meeting in 2017 in Orlando, Florida: The World Congress of Gastroenterology at ACG 2017!
- Advancing the interests of practicing gastroenterologists through advocacy at ABIM to improve the Board certification process for all of us. ACG’s fundamental principles remain:
- MOC needs to be simpler, less intrusive and less expensive
- We support ending the high-stakes, every 10-year exam
- We do not support closed book assessments as they do not represent the current realities of medicine in the digital age
- We support the principles of lifelong learning as evidenced by ongoing CME activities, rather than lifelong testing
- We support the concept that, for the many diplomates who specialize within certain areas of gastroenterology and hepatology, MOC should not need to include high-stakes assessments of areas where the diplomate may not practice
The College will push for ABIM’s recent positive MOC changes to be made permanent, while we continue to push for even more relief.
As always, thank you for allowing me the honor of leading your College.
Ken