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Issues Management Committee (IMC) Spring 2006 Report

The role of the Issues Management Committee is to provide education, direction and oversight to the Issues Management Process adopted by the House of Delegates in Spring 2001. The Committee is composed of the Speaker-elect and four other ADA members. The following is an update of Committee activities. The Issues Management Tracking Summary for December 2005 to February 2006 is available at www.eatright.org/ada/ada/files/Q3_Dec-Feb_2006_IMC_Summary.pdf.

The Committee has met six times via conference call during the 2005 to 2006 Program Year: June 21, 2005; July 19, 2005; August 23, 2005; September 20, 2005; December 6, 2006; January 17, 2006; March 14, 2006. The Committee met face-to-face on October 24, 2005 at FNCE.

Utilization and Satisfaction

• Since June 1, 2005, the Committee has received 171 issues. One-hundred sixty-two (162) of these issues have been addressed. The remaining nine are being discussed by the Committee or by other ADA organizational units. The median response time is five days.
• Number of issues per category:

• The response rate to the Satisfaction Survey for issues submitted during the 2005 to 2006 program year is 43 percent. This is the general trend for the response rate to the Satisfaction Survey regardless of positioning of survey in the response to members. It was hypothesized that with increasing email protection, members may not be receiving the Committee’s response. Therefore, the Committee conducted an informal survey of non-responders. In this survey, all members who did not respond to the Satisfaction Survey reported receiving an e-mail response to their issue. The main reasons reported for not responding to the Satisfaction Survey were: Members did not feel responding was a priority (50 percent) and members were not satisfied with the response (50 percent). The Committee decided to continue with the current method of Satisfaction Survey dissemination.
• For issues submitted in 2005 to 2006 year, the overall satisfaction for the process of those responding to the Satisfaction Survey are as follows: Very Satisfied (48 percent), Satisfied (50 percent), Not Satisfied (3 percent).
• If a “Not Satisfied” response was received, the issue is generally sent back to the Committee for further discussion or the issue is referred back to area/group responsible for the issue topic. The Committee acknowledges that not all issues can be addressed to the satisfaction of each member.
• The ADA Web site, delegates and prior use are the top means that members become aware of the Issues Management Process.
• Members continue to submit issues via the on-line Web form; to date, 110 issues were submitted using the form.
• Fifteen issues were submitted at FNCE 2005. “Tell Us Your Issues” forms were available at: the HOD meeting, the Affiliate Informational Meeting, the Practice DPG Chair/Chair-elect/PID Session and the Member Service Center booth.

Process Enhancement

• The Issues Management Committee has brought forth one issue to the House Leadership Team for Mega Issue consideration.
• Upon the Issues Management Committee recommendation, the House Leadership Team approved the discontinuation of the Resolution Process.
• The Issues Management Committee conducted a pilot of an internal response audit to determine if issues not discussed by the Committee are responded to appropriately. The pilot was successful and the Committee will quarterly audit 10 issues. The Committee will provide audit results in future reports to the House of Delegates.
• Via electronic survey, the Committee is in the process of evaluating the use and effectiveness of the “Member Issues Delegate Toolkit.” Results of the evaluation are pending.

Publications and Promotion

• The Committee sent an article highlighting the Issues Management Process, along with an IMC advertisement, to affiliate and DPG newsletter editors for use in their publications.
• The article “Respond and Resolve: Members Applaud ADA’s Issues management Process” was published in the May/June 2005 issue of ADA Times.

For more information regarding the Issues Management Committee and the Issues Management Process, visit www.eatright.org/issues or contact Heidi Schwartz at hschwartz@eatright.org or 800/877-1600 ext 4893.

Issues Management Committee
Moya B Peters, MA, RD, LMNT – Chair and Nebraska Delegate
Joyce A Price, MS, RD, LDN - Professional Issues Delegate: Food and Nutrition Management
Jessie M Pavlinac, MS, RD, CSR, LD - Speaker-elect
Carolyn K. Manning, MAg, RD - Delaware Delegate
Donald Milton Stokes, MPH, RD
Harold J Holler, RD, LD - Staff Partner
Heidi C Schwartz, MS, RD, CSP, LD - Staff Partner

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