2 0 1 0 S L AT E O F C A N D I DAT E S
T
he Nominating and Leadership Development Committee met at AORN Headquarters from July 19 to 21 to select the slate of candidates for the 2010 national election and to discuss plans for the 2010 Congress in Denver, Colorado. All AORN members may use the sample ballot on the right to communicate their preferences to their delegates. Only authorized delegates may vote in the election at Congress. Additional nominations can be made from the floor during the first session of the House of Delegates. Before nomination, however, the eligibility of additional nominees must be verified and consent-to-serve forms must be completed. The committee members used the Candidate Application to obtain additional information about the candidates’ leadership experiences and qualifications. The information was used in candidate selection and will be reflected in the candidates’ biographical information published before Congress. The candidates’ election statements, photographs, and biographical information will be published in the January 2010 issue of the AORN Journal. The Candidates’ Forum will be held on March 14, 2010, the Sunday before Congress. It will begin at 10 AM and continue until 2:30 PM. Members will have an opportunity to meet with candidates individually and ask additional questions at the informal Meet the Candidates, which will be held on Monday, March 15, from 6 to 8:15 PM on the Congress Exhibit Floor.
WRITTEN CAMPAIGNING The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee has created a statement about written campaigning so candidates can clearly understand the rules they should follow. To promote fairness and equity among the candidates, AORN prohibits written campaigning in any form. This includes, but is not © AORN, Inc, 2009
2010 AORN NATIONAL BALLOT PRESIDENT-ELECT (one to be elected) ANNE MARIE HERLEHY
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DEBORAH G. SPRATT
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VICE PRESIDENT (one to be elected) BEVERLY KIRCHNER
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ROSEMARIE SCHROEDER
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SECRETARY (one to be elected) JANE A. KUSLER-JENSEN
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MARTHA D. STRATTON
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS (three to be elected) RENAE N. BATTIÉ
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DENISE JACKSON
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M.RENEE KHALAR
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DEBORAH FARINA MULLOY
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ROSE E. SEAVEY
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ANNETTE WASIELEWSKI
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DAVID A. WYATT
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NOMINATING AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (three to be elected) SANDY ALBRIGHT
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CLAIRE R. EVERSON
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JILL A. GEHRMANN
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JUDITH L. GOLDBERG
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TRUDY KENYON
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MARISA (MISSI) MERLINO
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SEPTEMBER 2009, VOL 90, NO 3 • AORN JOURNAL •
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Slate of Candidates
SEPTEMBER 2009, VOL 90, NO 3
The 2009-2010 Nominating and Leadership Development Committee—(from left) Kevin Metzing, RN, BS, CNOR; Callie Craig, RN, BSN, MS, CNOR; Susan Banschbach, RN, MSN, CNOR, advisor; Donna Ford, RN-BC, MSN, CNOR, chair; Karen Moser, RN, BSN, CNOR; Maureen Pennington, CAPT, NC, USN, RN, BSN, MSN, CNOR.
limited to, promoting the candidacy of any individual via letters, cards, e-mail, online discussion forums, or advertisements. Infractions of this policy will be addressed by the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee with recommendations to the AORN Board of Directors and could result in the candidate’s immediate removal from the AORN slate of candidates. For questions or clarification on this policy, contact Donna Ford, RN-BC, MSN, CNOR, chair of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee, at 2170 S Parker Road, Suite 400, Denver, CO 80231-5711 or (800) 755-2676.
Facilities Need Help to Implement Electronic Health Records
H
ealth care organizations will likely have to spend more money than they will get from federal stimulus incentives to purchase and implement interoperable electronic health records (EHRs); however, avoiding future penalties from reduced Medicare reimbursements may be a motivating factor to make the purchases anyway, according to an April 16, 2009, news release from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) Health Research Institute. Rock and a Hard Place: an Analysis of the $36 Billion Impact from Health IT Stimulus Funding, a report from PwC, indicates that health care facilities are struggling to fund EHR purchases, particularly because many have made significant cuts to their information technology (IT) budgets. According to a survey of 100 hospital chief information officers (CIOs), 50% of CIOs in facilities with more than 500 beds say that federal funding is crucial to their ability to implement EHRs Additional findings from the survey show that • 82% of hospital CIOs have cut their 2009 IT budgets by an average of 10%, • one in 10 hospital CIOs have cut their IT budgets by more than 30%, • 66% of CIOs expect to make further cuts in IT
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spending before the end of 2009, and • 64% of CIOs agree that it is impossible to balance demand with the need to cut costs. The federal government has $33 billion in incentives available to promote health care facilities’ adoption of EHRs by 2015. An analysis by PwC indicates that a 500-bed hospital could receive an average of $6.1 million in incentives to purchase, deploy, and maintain a government-certified, interoperable EHR. If a 500-bed facility does not implement such an EHR, however, it could be facing $3.2 million less in Medicare funding, depending on Medicare volume. The IT stimulus funding depends on Medicare, Medicaid, and charity care volumes, not how much a facility spends on IT. The government expects to save $12 billion on health care spending during a 10-year period because of EHR implementation. To see the full PwC report, visit http://www.pwc.com /EHRs. Half of hospital CIOs say stimulus funding is crucial for adopting electronic health records, finds PricewaterhouseCoopers [news release]. New York, NY: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; April 16, 2009.