Dear Fellow IMDA members,

This year promises to be a very exciting one for our organization. For the first time, there will be a Bi-State Conference, which will be held in St. Louis at the Ballpark Hilton on the weekend of 4/16-4/17/2016. There will be a reception on the evening of 4/15 with time afterwards for the option of going to the Cardinals/Reds ballgame, opening week at home. This conference will have nationally recognized speakers on the topics of most relevance to post-acute rehabilitation and long term care, with 9 hours of educational credit. This will be a wonderful opportunity to meet and collaborate with your colleagues, and to exchange ideas with others who do the same work that you do.

Our 5th Annual Meeting, held in Bloomingdale, Illinois last September, received outstanding reviews, with 95% of attendees saying that the activities met their current needs, enhanced their professional practice and competence, and matched the scope of their professional practice. 95% of attendees also said that the selected faculty members met with their professional expectations. Selected strengths were the panel discussion and interactive sessions, quality of the speakers and content, with special emphasis on anti-psychotic reduction and reducing hospital re-admissions. The depth of content and clarity provided by speakers, as well as concrete suggestions and strategies for improvement were also mentioned.

We are very grateful to the Illinois Health Care Association for their generous support, and look forward to continued collaboration with them, as well as with the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, and the Great Lakes Chapter of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurse Association.

Thirty-three years ago, when I was starting my career as a Medical Director, I felt as though I was alone and practicing in a “silo”. Today, we have the great strength and advantage of being able to see what others are doing. IMDA is for all of Illinois—it is time for us all to get together and learn from each other.

Please be sure to renew your membership, and I hope to see you in St. Louis!

Sincerely,

Noel

Noel A. DeBacker, M.D., FACP, CMD

President

Illinois Medical Directors Association