Last month, Robert D. Jensen, a longtime executive in the healthcare industry, became AAMI’s third president and CEO. Jensen officially began his tenure on Nov. 14.
“Most of my professional life has been dedicated to the service of others, and this will be a capstone in my career,” said Jensen. “It’s clear to me that AAMI is a high-quality organization with a culture of teamwork and collaboration, and a community of members that cares a lot about the organization and its mission.”
Jensen, a former U.S. Marine, has been with the MITRE Corporation since 2003. He currently serves as vice president and director of the CMS Alliance to Modernize Healthcare (CAMH), which is the nation’s first federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) broadly focused on healthcare. He conceived of and established the MITRE Center for Transforming Health, dedicated to improving healthcare nationwide through systems thinking, advancing technology, and providing transformative services for government health-related organizations.
The transition to a new leader comes just ahead of AAMI’s 50th anniversary in 2017 and at a pivotal moment in AAMI’s history. Healthcare technology is changing fast, placing new training and education demands on those who work within that realm, and challenging standards development organizations to keep up. There are more general trends that all nonprofit and professional associations face. Industry mergers impact membership, while new modes of communication and the growth of the Internet – which has opened up a raft of networking and resource-gathering opportunities – have forced all associations to redefine and demonstrate their value to members in new ways.
Amid these challenges, AAMI enjoys robust financial health and has succeeded in launching new initiatives, such as a series of high-profile summits with the Food and Drug Administration and the launch of AAMI University, and in setting new records, such as the attendance for its annual conference.
“AAMI is a unique and unrivaled organization in that we bring a number of different voices to everything we do, including manufacturers, regulators, healthcare technology management professionals, academics, and clinicians,” said AAMI Board Chair Phil Cogdill, who also led the Executive Search Committee. “I’m confident that we’ve chosen the right person to build on our recent success and take us to new heights.”
A native Nebraskan, Jensen holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Doane College in Crete, NE, and a master’s degree in information systems from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. He also is a fellow with HIMSS (Health Information Management and Systems Society) and certified in healthcare information and management systems.
AAMI Certification Programs Receive ANSI Accreditation
In a major acknowledgment of the quality of AAMI’s certification programs, three of them have been accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The association’s certifications for biomedical equipment technicians (CBET), laboratory equipment specialists (CLES), and radiology equipment specialists (CRES) were recognized by this widely respected standards body.
There are more than 3,000 people who hold CBET, CLES, and CRES credentials, demonstrating their commitment to the profession, mastery of skills, and experience in core competencies. These certifications also help highlight a professional’s ability to provide quality and trustworthy service, which ultimately leads to a safer, more reliable healthcare environment.
“Earning ANSI accreditation is a major milestone for the AAMI Credentials Institute (ACI),” said ACI Board Member George Mills, director of engineering at The Joint Commission and member of the AAMI Board of Directors. “The value of being recognized as a CBET, CLES, or CRES is enhanced with this recognition and shows the significant benefits these professionals bring to their organizations.”
ANSI accreditation is based on an international standard that ensures the use of best practices and involves an application process and onsite assessment. Only 57 organizations have received this recognition.
“I am delighted by the ANSI accreditation of the AAMI Credentials Institute’s certifications. Adding the credibility and capability of the ANSI organization to AAMI’s reputation serves to further solidify how meaningful the CBET, CRES, and CLES certifications are to the industry,” said ACI Board Chair Larry Hertzler, vice president of technical operations at Aramark in Charlotte, N.C.
“We are so proud of this achievement,” said Sherrie Schulte, senior director of certification and the annual conference at AAMI. “It is a testament to the contributions of our volunteers who work to ensure that ACI-certified professionals represent the best in their field.”
AAMI Publication Probes Coexistence of Healthcare and Wireless
The availability of wireless technology in the healthcare environment is expanding rapidly, but its implementation can be complicated. Navigating the challenges of wireless technology in healthcare is the focus of the newly released issue of AAMI’s award-winning journal supplement Horizons. The articles and commentaries featured in the fall 2016 edition include:
- A roundtable discussion in which leading experts weigh in on questions such as: What lessons have the wireless community taken away from recent high-profile cybersecurity incidents? What are the opportunities and challenges associated with wireless medical devices moving healthcare in people’s homes? What will changes in the FCC spectrum open up for patients and industry, and what new risks do they introduce?
- Advice for healthcare delivery organizations and medical device manufacturers for improving the state of wireless.
- An experimental method for evaluating wireless coexistence of Wi-Fi medical devices.
- A case study on deploying real-time location services in a hospital system.
- Evidence to dispel common wireless technology myths and steps for success.
- An approach to assessing the operational reliability of a wireless device and/or system.
- An evaluation of the potential impact of changes in the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service bandwidth.
- A perspective on combining unique device identifiers with link-layer discovery protocol to secure networked medical devices.
Horizons is a peer-reviewed supplement to AAMI’s journal BI&T (Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology).