Motions for 2006 PAEA Annual Business Meeting

A. 2006-BOD1: PAEA Bylaws Amendments

Rationale: Whereas the PAEA membership has charged the Governance Committee to review the Association’s governance policies and procedures, including the PAEA Bylaws, and

Whereas in fulfilling this charge the PAEA Governance Committee has reviewed the Association’s bylaws and recommended several amendments to the PAEA Board of Directors, and

Whereas the board has reviewed the proposed changes and agreed to forward them to the PAEA membership,

Motion: Be it resolved that the proposed changes to Bylaws of the Physician Assistant Education Association, as outlined in the meeting book for the 2006 PAEA Annual Business Meeting, be approved.

Submitted by: PAEA Board of Directors

B. 2006-BOD2: Member Dues Proposal

Rationale: Whereas the process of increasing dues annually using the Consumer Price Index as a guide has been in place for the preceding five years, and

Whereas this method has allowed both the Association and member programs the opportunity to appropriately anticipate these increases for budgeting purposes, and

Whereas it is important for the financial underpinnings of the Association to include a reliable revenue stream unrelated to external variation,

Motion: Be it resolved that the PAEA Board of Directors, upon recommendation from the Secretary/Treasurer and the Finance Committee, may raise dues annually by an amount not to exceed 4 percent, to be consistent with increases in the Consumer Price Index, and that further, this process will sundown in five years (FY 2011-2012).

Submitted by: PAEA Board of Directors

C. 2006-MP1: Establishment of a Standing Education Committee

Rationale: The committee will develop reports and issue papers regarding educational concerns. The committee would seek active input from the external liaison representatives, develop and review policy as directed by the board. The committee will consist of five members plus a liaison from the board and one liaison representative from the AAPA to seek input on matters of mutual concern.

There is currently no committee that takes on this work in PAEA. There is a council in the AAPA that looks at these issues with a representative from PAEA on the council. As the educational arm of the profession, we should be the body that is looking at trends and assessing the educational needs of our students and potential students. The AAPA council studied accreditation of APPAP programs and has done extensive review of the master’s issue. The PAEA (there were educators on the committee) was not included in the ad hoc panel that looked at foreign-trained PAs immigrating to this country. The PAEA should have been the body that studied these issues, not the AAPA.

In the past we have addressed these sorts of issues by ignoring them, letting AAPA do the work, or forming a task force. A standing committee will be more efficient and will create a corporate memory and paper trail on these issues. It also makes PAEA more proactive rather than reactive and that is a much stronger vantage point.

The cost to PAEA would be to cover travel and lodging for a mid-winter meeting at the central office. It would be nice to cover travel and some lodging to the biannual meetings since those would be working meetings for the committee but only if it would not put stress on the budget.

Motion: Be it resolved that the PAEA establish a standing committee to research educational trends in medical education and to assess the educational needs of the profession so as to support students acquiring and maintaining the necessary knowledge, skills, and attributes to deliver high quality health care.

Submitted by: James R. Fry, MS, PA-C, Marietta College

 D. 2006-MP2: Changing the Name of the Current Education Committee

 Rationale: It is important for committee names to adequately reflect the function of that committee. The name Education Committee seems to imply that they are involved with educational issues outside of the organization. The charge of the current educational committee is “… promote the education, professional development, and networking of PA program faculty during PAEA’s annual meeting session and presentations.” (2006 PAEA Faculty Directory, p. 193). To perform the charge as assigned, they have the task of organizing the biannual conferences. These duties are consistent with the current bylaws of the organization. The name of this committee should be changed to the Conference Planning Committee to more accurately reflect what they are actually doing. The current charge and bylaws should be updated to specifically include conference planning in their duties.

There is no cost involved with the name change.

Motion: Be it resolved that the name of the current Education Committee be changed to Conference Planning Committee to better reflect the function of the committee.

Be it also resolved that the current charges of the committee be changed to include conference planning as part of its duties.

Submitted by: James R. Fry, MS, PA-C, Marietta College

E. 2006-MP3: Establishment of a Standing External Relations Liaison Committee

Rationale: As we increase our representation to external groups, it becomes important for these representatives to discuss issues, many of which will be of common interest. Currently, each representative confers directly with the board. As the number increases, it will become more time consuming for board members to contact the individual representatives. Also the “message” from the board needs to be consistent. Having a single committee allows everyone to hear the message at the same time.

There is no cost for this committee other than a meeting room at each biannual meeting. Travel and lodging for the biannual meetings would not be covered. E-mail can be utilized throughout the rest of the year.

Motion: Be it resolved that the PAEA board investigate the creation of a committee whose members would include all PAEA external organizational liaisons and board representation to assure that consistent and accurate information is disseminated to the public and external groups.

Submitted by: James R. Fry, MS, PA-C, Marietta College

F. 2006-MP4: Establishment of External Liaison Representatives

Rationale: As an independent organization and the educational arm of the profession, it is important that we maintain direct liaison representation to other medical groups, especially their educational components. We are directly affected by trends in physician education and policies passed by their professional organizations. We should actively seek liaison position at least with the AMA, AAMC, AOA, and ACCOMAS and other organizations as deemed appropriate by the board.

We should not rely upon the AAPA to provide the sole representation of the profession. The AAPA does not have the intimate knowledge of our educational process to be able to adequately speak on these issues. Both organizations need to be represented.

Likewise, we should not expect our staff members to be the representatives to any external organization. That is the responsibility of the members of the organization. Our staff is knowledgeable in some aspects of PA education but we are the experts in PA education and need to be the face of the profession. Staff members may certainly accompany the liaison representative to any organizational meeting with prior board approval.

The PAEA will cover travel and lodging for the representative annually to one meeting of their respective organization. Other requests for travel to meetings would require board approval.

Motion: Be it resolved that PAEA actively establish external liaison representative positions with outside organizations as appropriate to current organizational priorities, funding availability, and volunteer and staff support.

All external liaison representative positions of the PAEA will be filled only by teaching faculty from member programs unless the bylaws of the external organization dictate otherwise.

Submitted by: James R. Fry, MS, PA-C, Marietta College

G. Deferred from 2005:

2005 EC-2. APAP Recognition of Special Interest Groups.

The following motion was deferred for one year at the 2005 Annual Business Meeting. Since that time, the PAEA Governance Committee has considered the issue and recommended a process for recognition of special interest groups. This process is included in the newly developed policies and procedures manual that has been put forward for board approval at its October 29 meeting.

The motion was amended by substitution at the 2005 business meeting to read as follows:

We move that APAP develop a mechanism for recognizing special interest groups within the Association.

Submitted by: Luis Ramos, MS, PA-C, Anne Arundel Community College