New AOGME Board; Thank You for Making Educating Leaders 2024 a Success!

By Sandra Snyder, DO
AOGME Chair

April 30, 2024

As my two-year term as Chair of AOGME comes to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on our journey together and express my deepest gratitude for the engagement and support you have shown to AOGME and osteopathic GME throughout the past two years.

Over the past two years, AOGME developed a variety of educational forums and initiatives, each success has been a testament to our collective effort and dedication. Highlighted below are some of our key activities during this time:

• Hosted the fourth AACOM/AOGME Virtual Residency Fair in August 2022 to connect prospective residents with residency programs
• Increased the AOGME membership by nearly 1,000 percent through a pilot membership campaign that we introduced in April 2023 and increased engagement of both existing and new members
• Launched the AOGME/CORP Transitions in Medical Education series, educational forums on the transitions from OMSI-OMSIV, into and post-residency
• Developed the first-ever AACOM/AOGME GME Development Institute, to share best practices to grow GME in underserved and community-based settings 
• Partnered with the ACGME to co-host two Osteopathic Recognition full-day courses at the ACGME Annual Educational Conference in 2023 and 2024
• Hosted the first AOGME and UME-GME Task Force GME Growth Action Group's pre-conference workshop on GME development strategies in underserved and community-based settings at Educating Leaders 2024
• Offered 30 educational programs with a reach of over of 5,300 registrants
• Strengthened our partnership with organizations in medical edcuation to better serve our GME and UME communities

I am pleased to welcome Juan Acosta, DO, MS, as the new Chair of AOGME. He brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective that I am confident will lead AOGME to achieve new milestones and accomplishments. Though my term as Chair is ending, I will remain on the AOGME Board as Immediate Past Chair for the next two years, and I will continue to contribute to shaping the future of AOGME and osteopathic GME.

Lorenzo Pence, DO, Receives ACOFP Award for Advocacy

Long-time AOGME member and 2023 AOGME Special Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Lorenzo Pence, DO, was recognized for a career of service by the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) with its Excellence in Advocacy Award at the organization’s annual convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. The award recognizes family medicine physicians who have significantly contributed their time and talents to health care policy issues at the local or federal levels on behalf of his or her profession and patients. Congratulations to Dr. Pence! Learn more about this recognition.

Feedback Requested: CMS FY2025 IPPS Proposed Rule Comments Due June 10

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued the FY2025 Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long-term care hospital (LTCH) prospective payment system proposed rule. The proposed rule would update Medicare fee-for-service payment rates and policies for inpatient hospitals and LTCHs for FY2025. CMS is publishing this proposed rule to meet the legal requirements to update Medicare payment policies for IPPS hospitals and LTCHs on an annual basis. View the CMS Fact Sheet. Because it contains GME-related provisions, AACOM’s Government Relations department is requesting feedback on this proposed rule from GME experts. Please email aogme@aacom.org to submit feedback on this proposed rule.

Welcome New AOGME Board Members

Congratulations to the newly elected AOGME Board members, who were confirmed during the AOGME Membership Business Meeting on April 9, 2024. Sherry Turner, DO, MPH, was elected to a two-year term as Secretary/Treasurer, and Theotonius Gomes, DO, was re-elected to another two-year term as At-large Member. In addition, the other officers will be seated as follows: Juan Acosta, DO, MS (Chair), Kenneth Heiles, DO (Chair-Elect), and Sandra Snyder, DO (Immediate Past Chair).

2024 AOGME Award Recipients

AOGME is pleased to honor a record ten recipients for this year's AOGME Awards.

• Ms. Becky Martin, Dr. Christos Paras, Dr. Deborah Virant-Young, Dr. Diana Topolnycky and Dr. Matthias Franzen are recipients of the AOGME Special Award of Appreciation.
• Dr. Emmanuel Dimitri Tito, Dr. Mark Thai, Dr. Sherry Turner and Dr. Theotonius Gomes are recipients of the AOGME Leadership Award.
• Dr. Lisa Nash is the recipient of the AOGME Special Lifetime Achievement Award.
  

This year’s ten award recipients were recognized at Educating Leaders 2024. Congratulations to the 2024 AOGME Award recipients!

2024 AOGME Collegium of Fellows Inductees

AOGME is pleased to announce five 2024 Collegium of Fellows inductees. Fellowship in AOGME is a distinguished honor recognizing long and meritorious service to AOGME and the osteopathic profession. This year’s five inductees are: Dr. Sandra Snyder, Dr. Kenneth Heiles, Dr. Brian Kessler, Dr. Kerrie Jordan and Dr. Jeffrey LeBoeuf. Congratulations to all five of these long-time AOGME members for their induction into the AOGME Collegium of Fellows!

AOGME Activities at Educating Leaders 2024

Thank you to all AOGME members who were involved in making Educating Leaders 2024, AACOM’s annual conference, a success! This year’s AOGME activities at Educating Leaders in Kansas City, Missouri, included an AOGME-hosted full-day pre-conference workshop on GME development strategies in underserved and community-based settings in partnership with the AACOM UME-GME Task Force’s GME Growth Action Group. AOGME held the annual AOGME Awards & Collegium of Fellows induction reception. Additionally, several AOGME members served as speakers and participants for sessions in the main conference, as well as for the UME-GME Task Force’s train-the-trainer hands-on workshop for osteopathic preceptors half-day pre-conference workshop and Council on Residency Placement full-day pre-conference workshop on advising and career development strategies to maximize residency match success. We are grateful to those who were involved in the planning of the AOGME, CORP and UME-GME Task Force pre-conference workshops.

AOGME Membership Meeting, May 15 at 4:00 PM ET

Join us on May 15 at 4:00 PM ET for the monthly AOGME membership discussion. This is an open discussion for all members to connect and discuss topics of interest or concern in GME. We encourage all new and existing members to attend and suggest discussion topics either in advance or during the meeting. Please contact us at aogme@aacom.org if you have agenda items, questions or have not received a meeting invitation.

Please feel free to reach out to us at any time with direct inquiries by emailing aogme@aacom.org or calling us at 301-657-7881.

Thank you for your continued engagement and dedication to AOGME!

Thank you,

Sandra Snyder, DO
Chair, AOGME