AED Member News Bulletins

AED Seeks Volunteers for New Social Media Subcommittee

The Academy for Eating Disorders seeks enthusiastic, committed members to join the new social media subcommittee. This committee will be responsible for developing content and strategies for AED's social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Volunteers should be Web-savvy and have significant familiarity with social networking, specifically with the three platforms listed above. The subcommittee's responsibilities will include: developing AED's long- and short-term strategy for social media; writing content for Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin; and leveraging AED's social media platforms to benefit the Academy and its members. Interested members should contact Stephanie Bauer, AED director for public education & advocacy, at Stephanie.Bauer@med.uni-heidelberg.de.

Electronic Media Portfolio Seeking New Members

The Electronic Media Portfolio is seeking volunteers to join our committee.  The goals of our portfolio include collaboration with each AED committee to update and maintain information on the AED webpage, assistance in the management of the listserv, supervision of other technological issues related to AED’s webpage, and provision of online training opportunities.  Individuals with experience or interest in information technology and website design/ navigation are encouraged to join, although we welcome applicants who represent all aspects of the AED membership.  We meet monthly by teleconference for approximately one hour, and we correspond regularly via e-mails.  To apply, e-mail a current CV to the committee co-chairs, David Tobin, Ph.D., dvto2@aol.com or Guido Frank, M.D., Guido.Frank@ucdenver.edu.  In keeping with the global perspective of the AED, we welcome applications from individuals living outside of North America.

MRRC Seeks Volunteers

AED's Membership Recruitment and Retention Committee (MRRC) is seeking volunteers to join our active committee. We invite applicants who represent all aspects of AED's membership, live across the globe, and come from various professions. We hold monthly teleconference calls and work throughout the year on various recruitment- and retention-related tasks, mainly via e-mail. The time commitment ranges from 5-10 hours per month, on average. The suggested duration of tenure on the committee is 3 years. Creativity and a willingness to become involved are critical qualities sought in a new MRRC member. To apply, please submit your vita or resume and a letter explaining your interest to Jennifer Lundgren (lundgrenj@umkc.edu) and Dana Rofey (rofeydl@upmc.edu) by Friday, June 25. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

For more information, please contact the co-chairs, Jennifer Lundgren, PhD (lundgrenj@umkc.edu) and Dana Rofey, PhD (rofeydl@upmc.edu). Thank you.

AED Credentialing Standards for Eating Disorders Inpatient/Residential Treatment

The Academy for Eating Disorders has now posted the AED Credentialing Standards for Eating Disorders Inpatient/Residential Treatment.

For those of you unfamiliar with the AED Credentialing Task Force, it was formed in response to family member concerns generated at a NEDA annual meeting and a desire to promote basic standards to ensure high quality inpatient and residential treatment for eating disorders. It is a multidisciplinary group of expert clinicians, researchers, and patient/family advocates from AED, IAEDP and NEDA.

These three main organizations, along with many other stakeholders, including national and international leaders in the eating disorders field and related professions, residential/inpatient treatment program directors, insurers, as well as recovered individuals and family members, have jointly worked to develop standards for inpatient/residential treatment over the past six years. The ECRI Institute (www.ecri.org), a designated Evidence-Based Practice Center by the USA Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, has played a pivotal role as consultant throughout the process of standards development. Various organizations (i.e., The Elisa Project, Eating Disorder Coalition of Tennessee, Massachusetts Eating Disorders Association, AED, IAEDP, and NEDA, and the Hilda Davis Foundation) have helped fund this effort. The standards were initially developed for USA-based programs with the intent to adapt them for use in other countries.

The AED Credentialing Task Force developed the residential/inpatient treatment standards to: (a) safeguard patients and families who seek eating disorders inpatient and residential treatment; (b) review and improve the quality of care offered by inpatient and residential treatment programs, and (c) provide a quality of care benchmark for third party payers to consider as they collaborate with providers in the development of comprehensive models of care and its reimbursement. The standards are the product of a 2006 stakeholders' meeting, six work groups that met from 2005 and 2007, and feedback obtained from vetting the document between 2007 and 2009 with additional stakeholders (e.g., insurers across the USA [ including the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, National Behavioral Consortium, and National Blue Cross Blue Shield Behavioral Health Work Group], inpatient/residential program directors, the membership of AED, NEDA, and IAEDP, and the AED Patient/Carer Task Force).

The standards of care relate to program a) assessment and treatment planning, b) treatment delivery, c) quality improvement and d) outcome measurement. From 2009 to the present, the task force has continued to work with ECRI and others consultants (e.g., URAC [www.urac.org] and the American Burn Association [www.ameriburn.org]), and has met with The Joint Commission (www.jointcommission.org) to further discuss the standards and begin fashioning a work plan to create an accreditation body that would utilize the standards during inpatient/residential program review. At present the task force is presenting a proposal to the AED Board to have the accreditation body housed within the AED.

We have posted the standards so you can examine them in their most up-to-date form. We are now exploring ways to create an accreditation program and voluntary accreditation process that will ensure quality of care and safeguard patients and families in their pursuit and receipt of this care. If you have any further questions or comments regarding the standards, feel free to contact me at tantillo@rochester.rr.com

Mary Tantillo, PhD, PMHCNS-BC FAED
Chair, AED Credentialing Task Force
Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing
University of Rochester School of Nursing
PO SON
601 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, NY 14542
e-mail: tantillo@rochester.rr.com

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