EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT: 3rd Quater 2024

Greetings from all of us here at UHMS!

Post-UHMS ASM is always a surreal time for me because we spend so much time and effort planning our Annual Scientific Meeting, and then, in the blink of an eye, it’s over. This year’s meeting in New Orleans was remarkable in many ways. Besides enjoying seeing and spending time with many friends and colleagues, we experienced exceptional attendance, including setting records for the wound care and diving medicine pre-courses. Of the more than 400 in attendance, we were excited to have nearly 150 new attendees to this year’s meeting and almost 100 attendees from 28 countries.

In addition, we appreciate the robust support we received from our exhibitors and sponsors.

I hope you enjoy some of the memories we captured from our experience this year.

Click thumbnails to see all photos larger.

Site of the 2024 UHMS Annual Scientific Meeting at the
Astor Crowne Hotel, New Orleans.

President Pete Witucki and President-Elect Owen O’Neill.

Dr. Caroline Fife was lecturing during the Advances in Wound Management pre-course.

Dr. Marc Robins with Advances in Wound Management pre-course planners: Drs, Scott Robins, and Caroline Fife.

Advances in Wound Management pre-course attendees were learning about contact casting.

Advances in Wound Management pre-course attendees.

Dr. Dick Sadler lecturing at the Thoracic and Pulmonary Issues in Diving pre-course.

Dr. Richard Moon lecturing at the Thoracic and Pulmonary Issues in Diving pre-course.

Dr. Joy Dierks lecturing at the Thoracic and Pulmonary Issues in Diving pre-course

Invited Kindwall Keynote speaker Dr. Jay Buckey on
New and Developing Indications for HBO2.

Invited Davis Keynote speaker Francois Burman on
Non-compliant Chambers: Individual Liability, and a
Threat to Our Industry.

Invited Lambersen Keynote speaker Dr. Sean Hardy
on (Mis)Adventures in The Gulf of Mexico.

Plenary speaker Dr. Sandra Chapman provided an
Executive Summary of the proceedings from the
National Academies Workshop on Undersea Medicine
Research sponsored by ONR.

Dr. Tino Balestra, Vice-President UHMS, is leading the
International Panel of Diving decompression and an
actual view with Dr. Jacek Kot, Jean-Pierre Imbert
and Armin Sidali

Plenary speaker Dr. Nick Bird on Surviving a Medicare Audit: Lessons Learned.

Plenary speaker Dr. Helen Gelly on Surviving a Medicare Audit: Lessons Learned.

UHMS poster session under way.

Drs. Richard Moon, Ian Millar, and Ian Grover
discussing one of UCSD’s posters.

Dr. Marc Robins presented his poster on text alert
notifications and care process monitoring for
CO poisoning.

Catie Costello, UHMS STEM awardee, presented a
poster on the impact of vision change during HBO2.

Dr. Shannon Wheeler presents her work from
UNMC on invasive fungal sinusitis.

Dr. Jacek Kot and Dr. Jay Buckey discuss Dr. Buckey’s
poster on long-term follow-up from the International
Registry for HBO2.

UHMS STEM awardees Luke Brenner and Blake Peters
pose with STEM co-chair Virginie Papadopoulou.

UHMS STEM welcome breakfast sponsored by
Divers Alert Network, Office of Naval Research,
Shearwater, and Wound Care Education Partners

STEM awardees were interviewed throughout the week on their experiences.

Dr. Pete Witucki, UHMS President, and UHMS STEM
Committee co-chairs Drs. Virginie Papadopoulou and
Frauke Tillmans are providing orientation to the STEM awardees.

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Cherished friends exhibiting make the UHMS ASM possible. 
Thanks to all our exhibitors!

The exhibit hall was ground zero for engaging with industry leaders and fueling up for days of learning.

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Thank you, outgoing President Dr. Pete Witucki,
for your years of leadership

Welcome to our incoming President,
Dr. Owen O’Neill.

Outgoing President Dr. Pete Witucki shared his
experiences at the helm before passing the
gavel to incoming President Dr. O’Neill

Incoming President Dr. Owen O’Neill is accepting
the gavel and sharing his vision for the future
of the UHMS for the next two years.

UCSD team members posing before
shaking up the town.

Welcome to the UHMS family: the newly formed
Philippino Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.

UHMS team members L to R: Lisa Tidd (Meetings and
Membership), Stacy Harmon (CME and Education),
John Peters (Executive Director), Sherrill White-Wolfe
(perennial volunteer), Lora Garret (Derall’s spouse),
Derall Garrett (Hyperbaric Facility Accreditation).

UHMS team members L to R: Stacy Harmon,
Sherrill White-Wolfe, Lisa Tidd, and Lorrie Coté.

Photo bomb: Dr. Tom Neuman crashing in on a
lovely picture of Derall and Lora Garrett.

Motley Crew: L to R Dr. Owen O’Neill, Liz Smykowski,
Dr. Michael Gernhart, Dr. Dave Dayya

Dr. Owen O’Neill posing with Lisa Tidd, Liz Smykowski
and Dr. Heather Murphy-Lavoie.

Dr. Owen O’Neill posing with Sherrill White-Wolfe
and Stacy Harmon.

Dr. Owen O’Neill with his beautiful wife Kim.

Dr. O’Neill posing with Drs. Tracy LeGros and
Heather Murphy-Lavoie.

UHMS team members and JPUHMS
friends enjoying our traditional annual dinner.

Drs. Mahito Kawashima and Takuya Oyaizu with
Executive Director John Peters and his son Blake Peters.

UHMS ED John Peters with the ever-gracious
Dr. Keith Van Meter.

Dr. Norman McCullough, ED John Peters, and
Blake Peters are sharing goodbyes after the ASM.

Old friends: Dr. Michael White, UHMS AMA
RUC Co-Chair, and John and Blake Peters.

UHMS ED John Peters with rock stars
Gus Gustavson, Stacy Harmon, and Derall Garrett.

During the UHMS banquet at the ASM, we asked members to consider giving to the UHMS Research Fund and helping the UHMS secure additional funding to support the International Registry for HBO2, which is currently free to all institutions that participate.

We are happy to share the following individuals who donated to the UHMS during the meeting.

Thank you for your support, and of course, if you raised your hand during the call, we are still accepting contributions.

I also had the pleasure of returning to Nakatsu, Japan, along with Dr. Michael Strauss and Aleksey Sobakin, PhD, to lecture at the 58^th meeting of the Japanese UHMS.

Dr. Masayuki Kawashima did a magnificent job planning and executing a successful and well-attended meeting.

Opening day of the 58^th JUHMS Annual
Meeting in Nakatsu, Japan.

UHMS ED John Peters with good friend
Dr. Takuya Oyaizu.

UHMS ED John Peters, Drs. Mahito Kawashima, Michael Strauss, researcher Aleksey Sobakin,
Sasha, and Elizabeth Sobakin.

Aleksey, Sasha, and Elizabeth Sobakin,
UHMS ED John Peters, Drs. Michael Strauss and Mahito Kawashima and hyperbaric engineer Takashi Yamaguci.

Dr. Michael Strauss and UHMS ED John Peters.

Drs. Michael Strauss and Masayuki Kawashima.

Drs. Masayuki Kawashima and Kazuyushi Yagashita and UHMS ED John Peters.

Drs. Masayuki Kawashima and Shinomiya and
researcher Dr. Aleksey Sobakin.

Group picture at the conference banquet.

Faculty and guests of the 58^th ASM of JUHMS. 

We need your help. The physician, advanced provider, nurse, therapist, and technician should take responsibility for seeking and maintaining certification and completing 12 hours of continuing education annually. Hospitals, management providers, and chamber manufacturers are accountable for supporting and promoting hyperbaric facility accreditation and providing urgent and emergent hyperbaric medicine care for all patients.

This is a call to action for everyone involved in hyperbaric medicine: to get engaged, get educated, get certified, get your facility accredited, and show that you're doing what you claim to do, particularly around delivering optimal outcomes and treating patients of all acuities regardless of payor source.

Please review our position statement on Certification Matters: UHMS POSITION STATEMENT.

The UHMS tent is wide open, so please come in and join us to make our specialty vibrant and viable for generations to come!

UHMS Finances

I am pleased to report that UHMS's Financial position remains strong.

Our balance sheet remains healthy, with operating, savings, and investment accounts continuing to hover at near-all-time highs.

Member Benefits

As a reminder, UHMS members receive three free CE/CME credits upon joining or renewing. This benefit represents an immediate $40 savings for Associate members and $60 for Regular members annually. 

Associate Member Town Hall

Members are invited to attend the UHMS Associate Council town hall meeting on the second Thursday of every quarter, where invited speakers present on relevant topics that apply to our specialty.

Corporate Partners

If you are a UHMS Corporate Partner, please attend our monthly Corporate Partner Town Hall meeting series. These are held on the 1^st Wednesday of every month at 12 PM and are intended to be an open forum for discussing the challenges and successes your businesses and practices are experiencing and to create momentum and collaboration where appropriate.    

If your organization wants to educate the UHMS membership about the care provided or the goods and services offered, consider joining our Corporate Partnership Program. See https://www.uhms.org/corporate-memberships.html.  

MEDFAQs

The UHMS offers its version of "ask the experts." MEDFAQs can be found at the following URL – https://www.uhms.org/resources/medfaqs-frequently-asked-questions-faq.html, and is a valuable tool for our membership.

If you are familiar with MEDFAQs, check back, as new Q&As are posted regularly.

Research

The UHMS Research Committee continues to be very active. We hope to announce some good news in the new year on the IRB front, where members of our community can come to the UHMS for the Institutional Review Board's needs.

We are soliciting donations from our members for two research initiatives. One is the Continuous Glucose Monitor study (https://www.uhms.org/cgm-hyperbaric-oxygen-study), and the Multicenter Registry for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at Dartmouth (MRHBO₂) continues seeking funds for free hospital membership. The MRHBO2 is funded entirely via grants, not by the registry's participating hospitals - https://www.uhms.org/donate-to-the-multicenter-registry-for-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy.html.

Remember that donations to the UHMS Funds for Research and Policy Advancement are tax-deductible. For more information, check out the UHMS website –  https://www.uhms.org/funding.html.   

QUARC

To better understand the field's challenges, log in and visit the QUARC page – https://www.uhms.org/resources/quarc.html. Here, you will find impending legislation and other relevant policies on the provision and limitations of HBO₂ coverage and the UHMS's responses and guidance.

The chairs of QUARC are requesting that any unusual denials or challenges with physicians gaining access to insurance panels for HBO2 services, let us know as soon as possible, please – jpeters@uhms.org.

UHM

If you are a UHMS member, we are happy to announce a new search feature for previous issues and articles from UHM/UBR - https://www.uhms.org/publications/uhm-journal/download-uhm-journal-pdfs.html. Currently, the feature works with keywords.

If you have a suggestion or comment on how we can better serve you, please email me at jpeters@uhms.org or call at 561-776-6110 extension 100.

It is my pleasure to serve you and our membership, and I continue to look forward to hearing from you.

John Peters