From the Chairperson of the OSRT Board, Judith Miller--the following serves as the OSRT Board of Directors Report for the term years of 2022-2023.
During the past year the Directors have been active conducting the business of the Society and Committee Chairs, Vice Chairs and their members have been working hard completing the charges assigned to them by President Warino.
New relationships will be developed, and previous ones renewed when representatives of the OSRT once again visit the State House in May. The Advocacy Committee, chaired by Tiffany Roman, and its members continue to be involved in providing testimony when our Legislative Consultant, Paul Kudlak, brings potential issues to their attention. The Advocacy committee was involved in writing letters in favor of House Bill 371, which was passed by the Ohio General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine in September 2022. HB 371 requires insurance companies to cover additional screenings for individuals who are at high risk for breast cancer or have dense breast tissue. Paul continues to monitor the “chatter” concerning Ohio Revised Code Section 4773.06: Supervising Radiologic Procedures. This section deals with those who are permitted to provide direct supervision of GXMO licensed technicians. Currently, their supervision is limited to a physician, podiatrist, mechanotherapist, or chiropractor who must provide direct supervision. APRN legislative consultants have been trying to introduce statute changes that would allow the APRN to supervise a GXMO, particularly in the Urgent Care setting. The OSRT’s Advocacy committee continues to be a strong voice for Ohio imaging professionals in opposition to these potential changes. The one thing every RT in Ohio can do to support these efforts, is to join OSRT. Joining for a mere $35/year helps us, help you! Help us advocate for your career and at the same time, help us protect quality patient care.
A big thank you to a task force comprised of Gary Greathouse, Deb O’Mellan, and Shellie Warino whose collective works created the guidelines, criteria, and point system necessary to elevate a qualified OSRT member to “Fellow” status. It will be exciting to see who the first recipients will be.
Annual Meeting Chairs, Allison, Allison and Dana Eskins, and committee members have once again planned an exciting conference where technologists, educators, and students network, socialize, and earn continuing education credits. The attendance at this year’s meeting has exceeded everyone’s expectations.
The Education Committee delivered two, 3 credit hour, virtual CE events. Both were well-received and proudly attracted had out-of-state attendees. I want to thank Chair Jan Gibson and her committee for their time commitment and for finding high caliber speakers that presented interesting topics.
The Leadership Academy was held as a “hybrid” event this year. The Academy met virtually on Friday and in person on Saturday. This new format was well-received. It will be exciting to see where the attendees will begin their professional service in the OSRT.
After two years of planning, the Strategic Plan for 2023-2028 was approved at the May 2022 Board meeting and unveiled to the membership in October. Based off a survey completed by members of the Society, Tri-chairs Julie Gill, Tiffany Roman, Tricia Leggett, and their task force created a plan that addresses the needs of the membership. The main desire of the members was to have a face-to-face CE meeting that focused on the technologists, providing topics that would allow them to meet regular CE and CQR requirements. Starting in 2024, the OSRT will hold 2 meetings. The April meeting will be named the “Student and Educator Symposium” (SES) and the Annual Meeting (AM) will now take place in the fall. Stay tuned, as further details are being worked out throughout this year.
In August 2022, the redesigned website was launched. Denise Moore and her task force worked diligently over the past year to develop a more modern website and I have to say, it looks great! A shout-out to Alisha Guerrero for reformatting the OSRT logo so that it appears “crisper” on the website. There will be adjustments needed and more information to update, so I ask that when Denise makes requests for corrections or content information, please respond to her in a timely manner. We want anyone who visits the website to have the most up-to-date information, especially with the new meeting format on the horizon.
The social media committee chairs, Kris Seitz and Quest Folk continue to make us chuckle every week with their comical and whimsical posting on Friday. Your “likes” and “shares” are so vital to increasing the awareness of the OSRT page. Followers have increased to a little over 1,800. In the upcoming year, social media will play an integral part in getting the word out to technologists across Ohio of the new meeting format coming in 2024.
We welcomed Alisha Guerrero as our new Financial Manager. Jay Ball, Financial Manager for the past 12 plus years, announced his retirement earlier last year.
It has been an honor to serve the Society in this capacity. Thank you to everyone for your cooperation, guidance, and support.