President’s Message: End of Chapter Year

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So, as the chapter year is coming to a close, and the weather is turning nicer, even in Duluth, I want to take an opportunity to thank everyone for a great year.  We recently were notified by HFMA national that the chapter hit all of its balanced scorecard targets for the 2015-2016 chapter year.  While that is great and should be celebrated, what is more important is the meaning that has for our membership. We’ve grown our membership, improved satisfaction, and increased the number of education hours for this year by diversifying our format and content.  We have a lot of work to do still in working to keep our chapter relevant, but it is a milestone and should be celebrated.

I want to thank all of the volunteers who made that possible.  We have an excellent slate of officers and board, and there are dozens of people who have volunteered their time to make the chapter work the way it does.  Thanks for all that you do, I know it takes time away from other things, but it does pay off for our members when we can offer excellent education, networking opportunities, and health care insights that can provide value for our employers.  I’ve also been reminded this year that we have a fun and energetic chapter, and it has been genuinely pleasure working with them over the past year.

The board held our annual board retreat in Madison on March 10-11th and you will be hearing more about our strategic plan for 2016-2017.  We have a great slate of leaders preparing for the next year and I’m really excited about what they will do under Shawn Gretz’s leadership.

We have a few excellent educational events to look forward to as the year winds down.  First, for any who live in the northland or are interested in travelling to visit the beautiful scenery of Duluth, we are pleased to be co-sponsoring with the Minnesota chapter a panel discussion on ACO’s in Duluth on May 5th.   We will be back at the Osthoff for our annual meeting on May 26-27.  For those of you who were there last time, it is a beautiful location and not too far to drive from most of the state.  Finally, we are excited to co-host an HFMA region 7 conference in Lake Geneva from July 17-19.  We will be pretty spoiled in conference locations as I think these are some of the prettiest regions of the state.  We also hope to keep delivering on our promise to have more provider speakers, shorter talks, and speakers who bring unique insights.  It will be an exciting time!

​Thanks for your support and a great year so far.  We look forward to seeing you at a future event or hearing from you soon. 
 
 

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