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President's May 2006 Message
Dear fellow FDA members,
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
I've just returned from two weeks in Belize with
Judy Rodriguez, PhD, RD and twelve of our dietetic
interns. We stayed in a monastery with no air
conditioning, no drinkable water, and scorpions
and tarantulas for roommates. Did I mention that
it was 100 degrees? We studied the Belizean diet
by taking 24 hour recalls of the different ethnic
populations. And we had two wonderful Belizean
cooks preparing all our meals. After analyzing
the recalls, we found several deficiencies such
as calcium, folate, vitamins A and C and iron
which we also noted from our own experience. We
had chicken, rice and beans or beans and rice
every night for supper and usually some kind of
fry cake or Johnny cake for breakfast. Although
there is plentiful tropical fruit, the general
population doesn't eat it routinely. And, they
use a lot of salt. We and the students learned
to appreciate our life here in the states however
many of us want to go back to Belize next year.
It was wonderful to study a population that has
different nutritional issues than what we routinely
see here. Next week, I leave for two weeks in
Spain where I'll be presenting a paper at the
Academy of Eating Disorders meeting. Special thanks
go to Molly Gladding who is acting as president
in my absence. She is a wonderful example of the
"power of team". Now, some FDA news
from closer to home.
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Sandy
Woodruff, MS RD and Chris Stapell, MS RD had
a conference call with Craig Anderson, Project
Manager, for LifeMasters, a disease management
company, Tuesday, May 23rd. Medicare has awarded
them a three year disease management demonstration
project in Florida for individuals who simultaneously
receive Medicare and Medicaid coverage and have
CHF, CHD or diabetes. The project is designed
to evaluate the effectiveness of disease management.
Sandy and Chris stressed the importance of nutrition
counseling provided by a qualified nutrition
professional in such a project. LifeMasters
will be exhibiting at our annual symposium to
learn more about our services
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Sandy
Woodruff, MS RD and Chris Stapell, MS RD attended
the Medical Quality Assurance Association Long-Range
Planning Meeting Wednesday, May 24th. A legislative
update was provided, as well as information
presented on the Impaired Practitioner Program,
budget, unlicensed activity and online services.
-
Gayle
Dietz, MS, RD sent out congratulatory letters
to seven non ADA and 19 ADA members who have
passed the RD exam the first quarter of 2006.
She plans to do this on a monthly basis to foster
membership recruitment for FDA and ADA.
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Rep
Gayle Harrell attended the Palm Beach Dietetic
Association meeting this month. She spoke for
about 15 minutes and stayed for the entire meeting.
She was very interested in finding out more
about dietitians and what we do. Molly Gladding,
RD, President-Elect presented her with a campaign
donation for $250.00 from FDA’s PAC fund.
-
Jo
Ann Donnelly, RD and the scholarship committee
are currently selecting the FDA scholarship
winners. Scholarships will be awarded at our
annual symposium July 9-12.
-
Stephanie
Norris, MS, RD and the PR committee met this
month to select the NNM winners who will also
be recognized at our annual symposium July 9-12.
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FDA
is working on scheduling an "idea raiser"
at our FDA annual meeting in Orlando. 100ideas.org
was created by Rep. Marco Rubio (R-Miami) to
collect ideas for the future agenda of the House
of Representatives. Our idea raiser will focus
on the obesity epidemic we hope that many of
you attending our meeting will come and bring
your innovative ideas. The guidelines for submitting
ideas include:
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They
should be relevant to everyday life. Every
idea should speak to the hopes and anxieties
of real Floridians.
-
Every
idea should be about the future. They should
not just make Florida a better place to
live and work today, but also a better place
to live and work for our children 20 years
from now and their children as well.
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No
idea should unnecessarily expand the role
of government.
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The
May FOCUS is on the FDA website and you should
have received your copy in the mail. Thanks
again to Joan Williams, RD, Focus Editor for
her excellent compiling, formatting, and editing
skills.
-
Malpractice
Insurance Update from ADA: We have recently
been advised that the insurance community that
provides health and medical malpractice coverage
has noted a substantial increase in the number
of claims against health care professionals
(including dietitians) who practice in such
settings as nursing homes, assisted living and
long term care facilities. This is especially
true in certain states, including Florida. Where
this is occurring, the increase causes a corresponding
increase in the insurer's loss ratio (the amount
of claim dollars paid in relation to the amount
of premiums collected), which adversely affects
the profitability of offering coverage at advantageous
rates.
In response to these events, Chicago Insurance
Company (CIC), the insurer that offers coverage
to ADA's members, is considering various modifications
to its coverage. In an effort to avoid the application
of coverage restrictions to all dietitians, ADA,
with the assistance of Marsh Affinity, the ADA
Insurance Administrator, is working with CIC to
try to minimize the effect of such modifications.
In the meantime, dietitians applying for coverage
may be asked questions by the insurer to determine
how much of the applicant's practice is devoted
to such services.
We are hopeful that these issues may be addressed
in a way that will cause minimal changes in the
insurance coverage and premiums offered to dietitians,
and CIC will continue to monitor the claims history.
In the meantime, one way to address this issue
is for dietitians at such facilities to require
that the facilities maintain their own liability
insurance to cover the services of its health
care providers.
We will attempt to keep you posted as this matter
progresses.
-
Mark
your calendars for July 9th-12th for the FDA
annual meeting at the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes
in Orlando. You should have received your FDA
annual meeting program in the mail. Hotel rooms
are almost full. It will be a great time so
plan to join us in Orlando at the Ritz!
-
FDA
Annual Meeting in Orlando will again include
a Poster session on Tuesday July 11 from 12:30-2:30.
Florida members and researchers will showcase
their research projects, community programs,
or outcomes research. Thanks to Gail Kauwell,
PhD, RD for coordinating the Poster Session.
It looks like a record turn out!
-
Also
at the annual meeting on Monday July 10, from
12:20-2:30 you can meet and greet FDA authors.
This is the first time we have highlighted FDA
authors and we hope you will enjoy meeting them
and purchasing their books.
As always, let me know if you have issues, questions,
comments, or concerns. I love hearing from you.
Enjoy your holiday weekend and I’ll be in touch
next month with a report on the food in Spain!
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