Executive Director’s Message

Looking Back to Move Forward

As I reflect on my first year serving as the Executive Director of your Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association, I am reminded of a favorite quote.

“Around here, we don’t look backward for very long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” - Walt Disney

Josephine Zammuto AOMA Executive Director

One of the greatest things about being the new executive director of an organization is the carte blanche ability to continually ask the multitude of Why, Who, Where, What, and How questions. The staff will attest to enduring my countless questions, and all with a gracious smile.

Specifically, why do we do this?; how do we do it?; who does it benefit?; how can we do it more efficiently?; how can we make it better for our members?; and what else can we be doing to serve our members and advance the profession? All great questions to challenge ourselves and the work product we produce for you, our members.

It has been 13 months since I joined the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association and during that time my primary focus has been on the business operations of the Association. I learned very quickly that our staff could efficiently work from home and still maintain a collegial and collaborative work culture. In a perfect world we would never have thought it would be a good idea, but it confirms this is an amazing team serving you, our members.

I’m delighted to say, we didn’t look backward for very long.

After 25 years in the same location, we opened the doors at our new office space at 19th Avenue and Camelback Road; established an employee benefits package; updated AOMA Bylaws and Procedures; converted to a business calendar year; launched a new AOMA logo, website, and URL; and bolstered our social media presence. We achieved two-year provisional ACCME accreditation to greatly enhance our CME events, just in time to convert the 2020 Fall Seminar, 2020 Flagstaff Osteopathic Medical Conference, and the 2021 Annual Convention from fully planned in person CME events to successful virtual and livestreamed events.

On the advocacy front, COVID restrictions meant we had to reimagine the cancelled DO Day at the Arizona Legislature. We kept moving forward and hosted a virtual advocacy workshop to teach medical students and physicians the importance of participating in and supporting AOMA advocacy efforts to protect the profession and fight for patient safety. We partnered nationally with the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) on state and federal policy issues; locally we strengthened collaborations with the Arizona Medical Association, the Arizona Hospital Association, and the Arizona Healthcare Advocacy Coalition to unify health care voices across the house of medicine to oppose dangerous bills and protect scope of practice rights.

Looking Back to Move Forward continued on page 6

Looking Back to Move Forward continued from page 5

My predecessor did a great job of bringing the voice of AOMA to the Arizona Legislature. My focus has been to continue that presence under the guidance of our lobbyist Steve Barclay and in partnership with the other Arizona health care leaders.

Arizona’s First Regular Session of the 55th Legislature was, in a word, interesting. It was my first experience with the governing body, and I’m told it certainly was one for the books. Lasting 171 days, it tied for the third longest session on record! Although you might expect that the extended session was due to the challenges of conducting the business of the legislature amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, in reality, it was simply due to difficult and highly partisan negotiations on the fiscal year 2022 budget.

The dynamics of a hybrid format, with the majority of work being done virtually, presented its own technology challenges. As everyone adjusted to the “new normal” of lobbying and testifying via Zoom, AOMA’s presence for and against bills was made more valuable through the expertise of our lobbyist. I’m proud to report that three DOs were appointed by the Governor to serve on the Telehealth Advisory Committee after the passage of HB2454.

Now that I have gone through one full year’s business cycle, albeit under unusual pandemic circumstances, I am amazed at the depth of programs and initiatives the AOMA manages on behalf of our membership. Lest we not focus on the past too much. While we are not yet out of clinches of the pandemic, we certainly are cautiously optimistic about the future -- it’s time to focus forward.

In the weeks and months ahead AOMA has several exciting events and programs that honor the traditions of old and celebrate new ideas and initiatives to serve you and introduce the value of state association membership to medical students and physicians alike.

I’m looking forward to opening new doors with our newfound expertise in delivering virtual CME events. The 7th Annual Flagstaff Osteopathic Medical Conference on August 14 & 15, 2021 is offered as an expanded two-day virtual event in collaboration with Flagstaff Medical Center.

I will finally get the opportunity to visit the two Arizona osteopathic medical schools and meet with the deans, some faculty, staff, and students. I was disappointed that I had to postpone those campus visits to A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona and Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine due to COVID protocols. Alliances with the schools, interacting with the students, and recognizing and acknowledging them at key milestones during their medical training are important relationships - for me and for AOMA as we continue to promote the value of state association membership and involvement.

We’re building a bridge to the future with AOMA President, Danielle Barnett-Trapp, DO, as we work together to develop and kickoff a residency engagement program. Imagine a speakers bureau for Arizona residency programs designed to share insightful “business of medicine” information for students and even new physicians in practice – the kind of important information they won’t get in didactic or clinical sessions. Medical schools teach them to be highly-skilled physicians, but we want to introduce success topics like budgeting to pay off student loans; reviewing an employment contract – what to look for before signing on the dotted line; and the importance of the right malpractice insurance; just to name a few. If you have a suggestion or topic that would be important to residents, please share your ideas at info@azosteo.org.

Looking forward to October, AOMA and the City of Phoenix will welcome the AOA’s largest medical education event of the year -- OMED 2021 – Coming Home; and the American Osteopathic Foundation’s (AOF) 2021 Honors Gala – Building on our Future. Both themes, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, celebrate the return to in person events for AOA and all of us. OMED and the Honors Gala will follow the appropriate CDC guidance for in person gatherings.

We are crossing our fingers that we will have more to celebrate than just being back together at the 2021 AOF Honors Gala. As the recipient of the 2021 AOMA Emerging Leader Award, we submitted Kendra Gray, DO as the Arizona nominee for the AOF National Emerging Leader Award. Previous AOMA nominees since the national award was introduced in 2019, include Danielle Barnett-Trapp, DO and Brandon Abbott, DO.

In addition, we are working with AOA and AOF on a variety of ideas to feature AOMA in welcoming attendees for these two big events. We hope you will join in welcoming your fellow DOs to the Grand Canyon State and the City of Phoenix!

Next up is the 41st Annual AOMA Fall Seminar – Here We Grow at the El Conquistador Resort in Tucson, Arizona. We will gather all day on Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6, and then a half day on Sunday, November 7, 2021. The AOMA Professional Education Committee and staff are working hard to make this a memorable weekend of CME at our favorite Tucson resort.

Before we launch into the holidays, we have a once in a lifetime celebration of our own. AOMA is 100 this year!! As of this printing we will be a little more than 100 days out from the AOMA’s Centennial Celebration Gala!!! We have been teasing you with 100th Anniversary Moments in all our publications since January. Now it is time to tie it all together with a celebration of all those who came before you in AOMA to organize, support, and step-by-step advance the osteopathic medical profession in Arizona. We hope you’ll join us for the celebration on November 19, 2021 at the Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch. Come for the ambiance, food, and dancing – stay for the laughs, camaraderie, and treasured conversations with colleagues and friends old and new.

We will definitely take a pause to look back during what promises to be an awesome party to celebrate 100 years of AOMA!

AOMA staff will continue to be curious and strive for new and improved paths to deliver service for our members. We ask you to keep looking forward and be proud of the osteopathic distinctiveness and of being doctors of osteopathic medicine. Everything we do is anchored on our mission to promote the osteopathic medical profession, serve our members, provide osteopathic continuing medical education, and advocate for high quality, cost-effective health care. You can help us to deliver on the AOMA mission by enriching our membership. Join us in building a bridge to the future of AOMA. Ask your colleagues if they are AOMA members and encourage them to join. Be available to student doctors and new physicians in practice to answer questions and help them open new doors on their journey to being the very best osteopathic physicians.

Join us as we keep asking the questions, moving forward, opening new doors, and exploring new paths to evolve and together let’s proudly steer AOMA into the future for the generations of osteopathic physicians to come.

Let’s stay #DOProudInAZ!

The mission of the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association is to promote the osteopathic medical profession, serve our members, provide osteopathic continuing medical education, and advocate for access to high quality, cost-effective healthcare.

azosteo.org