Outgoing President Lesa Zimmerman’s Remarks:

This year has been a productive one and the executive team has accomplished the following:

Implemented:

• The Uberconference is a great platform and has reduced our monthly meeting costs by half. It makes the monthly conference calls easy and gives us the ability to share documents.
• Although the online payment system with Reg-on-line was useful for conference and member registration, the fees were too expensive for our needs.
• The new WildApricot website will reduce the amount of redundant work that had previously been duplicated in three different systems with three different executive members. The new site features:
• • New members will get immediate access to our members only portion of the website
  • It will be easier for us to share membership information with MGMAC 
  • All executives will have real-time membership information at their fingertips
  • All members will have immediate access to all membership contacts 
  • An email system of all active members to receive current event notifications
  • Membership renewal reminders
  • Online membership payments with lower or no fees and the ability to pay by debit
  • Conference registration and information
  • A calendar of all the events with our industry partners (PCN, EMR user conferences, vendors tradeshows, forums etc.)
  • Overall it should be easier going forward for the executive team to do the job of managing membership, conferences organization and member communication
  • Immediate access to the Blue Book on the website members only area
  • Our forum – a platform for members to ask questions
  • Templates and information for HR needs, privacy, etc.
  • A Photo album that is easier to use with no additional costs incurred as with DigitalTea

• Executive team job descriptions were created to clearly communicate the expectations and duties of being part of executive team and help with recruiting for the different positions.  It also defines the compensation for the president’s work done in the years of service working their way up from 3^rd VP to presidency. 

Projects:

• With the support of the Edmonton group and Paula McEachnie we were able to have a sit down question session with Dr. Carl Amrhein deputy health minister of Alberta.
• We reconnected with AMA to do our wage survey and began a commitment and process to add members to access the back-end of their site. 
• Started offering webinars to give all members access to learning and information in our industry including vendor programs such as dr2dr, Brightsquid, LEADS, College of Health Leaders, and TOP ASaP.
• Was able to attend 2 tradeshows to build membership (Telus Health & Canada Medical)
• Negotiated for advertising in Alberta Doctors Digest to build membership

Future Projects:

• Continue to build our membership with trade shows, advertising, etc.
• Work with and build our vendor support. Find more ways to increase their return value for supporting AACM
• Continue to build our partnerships with AMA, College, OIPC, and vendors
• Work with MGMAC to streamline our processes so we are not duplicating our efforts
• Work with the city groups to build more continuity in education, information, support and funding

I would like to give big thank you to my executive team for the support they have given me in a very busy year and a half.

Lesa Zimmerman

Your 2015/2016 AACM President