I hope that all of you are enjoying this very hot summer! I actually started my first message to you during the blizzard in February but due to the demands of life, I have put this off until now.

As we all know, this has been a very busy time for all of us in the Healthcare Risk Management arena. Besides our day to day responsibilities we must also now deal with the fall of out the recent Health Care Reform Law and with issues related to CMS Section 111.

In order for all of us to prepare for the future, MDDCSHRM has refocused on the need to provide you, our members with as much assistance as possible. This year we have and will be sponsoring several educational events. In January, our annual meeting was a presentation by Deb Trautman on Health Care Reform. In addition, we sponsored the keynote speaker at the Maryland Patient Safety Conference and financially supported last month's all day session on CMS Section 111. Later this year there will be sponsoring an educational meeting in August and a CPHRM course to be offered in September. The annual ASHRM conference in October will be held in Tampa, Florida this year. And in early December we will be sponsoring our annual meeting and dinner. The details of these educational sessions will be posted on the website shortly.

Your Board has also been very busy this year. Since our inauguration in January, we have met monthly to discuss issues affecting Risk Managers in Maryland and in D.C.  Our Committees have been working diligently to keep our organization moving forward and with the goal of helping you improve and grow. 

The Bylaws Committee has been actively working on making changes related to our merging the MD chapter with the DC Chapter to form the MDDCSHRM. With this year speeding by it is almost time for the Nominating Committee to start working on next year's ballot. The Program and Education Committee is prospering under Barbara Seltzer's leadership. The Membership Committee has been actively pursuing new members; we currently have over 120 members, but there is always room for more. The Committee requests members who have not renewed their membership to do so as soon as possible. The Legislative Committee was active during the Maryland Session. During the last session several important bills were passed, including one which focuses on the scope of practice for nurse practitioners and physicians assistants. As we move forward we would invite some of our DC members to join this committee. Chip Hatchell has accepted the Chairmanship of the Communications Committee . Betty Norman, the former chair, resigned from this Committee as a result of work responsibilities. The Board thanks Betty for her many years of leadership. The Sponsorship Committee was formed after the March Board Meeting and Lauree Barreca has agreed to chair this Committee. With a new focus we hope to attract many more sponsors in the future. We would also like to thank all of our current sponsors for their generous support.

While the Board is working hard on your behalf, we hope that some of you will also be willing to help out. If you are interested in joining one of the Committees, please let us know.

I want to thank everyone for all the hard work you do for this organization. As members of MDDCSHRM we are recognized as leaders in our fields. We take pride in our strength but recognize we must continue to grow; therefore we have placed a focus on the continuing education of our membership so that we are all prepared for what the future holds.

If anyone has questions or suggestions-please feel free to e-mail me at mgarret@jhmi.edu .

Enjoy the summer. MEG