Reflecting on 2018 with gratitude
From the President
Dr. Olbricht served as Academy president from March 2018 to March 2019.
By Suzanne Olbricht, MD, December 3, 2018
Legendary crooner Andy Williams may have said it best in his song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Holidays aside, for me this time of year is delightful as the pace of work and life tends to slow down a bit. With this pause in my daily routine, I can’t help but reflect on the year with gratitude for how much our Academy and our specialty has accomplished.
When it comes to educational programs and opportunities, the Academy continues to deliver. In the last 12 months, we have developed several updated clinical guidelines as well as several new educational programs and modules. From the new JAAD Journal Club on Facebook, to the continuously updated Online Learning Center, to our flagship Annual and Summer Meetings with more innovative programming than ever before, the AAD has done yeoman’s work fulfilling our educational needs. The Academy is certainly the premier educational home for continuing professional development in dermatology. For that, our specialty — and most importantly, our patients — are grateful.
On the advocacy front, we have achieved several significant wins due to the strength of our team in Washington, D.C. and our grassroots involvement. Within the last week, we received notice that CMS has backed down from compressing payment for E/M services. Additionally, CMS has decided to not move forward with aggressive changes to modifier 25 payments and other changes that would disrupt our practices.
We also recently learned that the AADA successfully advocated for increased funding for CDC Skin Cancer Prevention programs, NIH medical research, and melanoma research. Earlier this year, we successfully lobbied Congress to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) and stop a policy from moving forward that would require CMS to cut the Medicare Fee Schedule by 0.5 percent by correcting misvalued’ codes or through across-the-board cuts. This is just a taste of our advocacy wins — I encourage everyone to flip to DW’s new Advocacy News column that highlights the AADA’s latest advocacy activities at the federal and state legislative and regulatory levels.
In addition to its advocacy efforts, our Academy also ran several successful public education campaigns — such as SPOT Skin Cancer™ and Skin Cancer, Take a Hike™. Of course, we cannot forget about Camp Discovery — which just celebrated its 25th anniversary and the Academy’s Shade Structure program — that provides grants to install permanent shade structures for outdoor locations that need protection from the sun. I am very grateful that the mission of the AAD includes efforts in our communities to educate and protect our friends and neighbors.
Of course, this is only a sample of what the Academy has accomplished this year, and it goes without saying that none of this would have been possible without our members who work long hours on our committees and task forces and our professional partners, the Academy staff. I cannot express enough gratitude to my colleagues who have taken precious time out of their lives to support the Academy’s initiatives, as well as our staff in Rosemont, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., who work skillfully on behalf of the specialty and our patients. When it comes to ensuring the best for our patients, it takes a village. Our community of physicians, staff, and patient advocates is a tireless bunch, and I am proud to be a dermatologist and a member of the Academy.
