2020-10-29 OMA Agenda - Board of Trustees

October 29, 2020 - OMA Board of Trustees Meeting Action Item Request by Craig Primack, MD, FOMA, FAAP, FACP, OMA President, and Katrina Crist, MBA, CAE, OMA Executive Director Reconsideration of OMA Advocacy Committee Revised Manuscript, Perspectives on Phentermine Prescribing for Obesity Treatment via Telemedicine Rationale for Reconsideration Request: The Advocacy Committee met on October 27 to discuss the response from the journal Obesity regarding submission of an article on how to safely prescribe phentermine via telehealth. Several members of the committee expressed their disappointment in the board’s decision to not approve the paper to be published on behalf of the OMA Advocacy Committee. More importantly, the committee seemed to lack a clear understanding on the rational for the decision. There was a request made for the board to reconsider the paper after revision based on the journal reviewer comments. Katrina recommended reconsideration to generate good will and to be able to provide clarity on the board’s decision if the revised paper still does not meet with the board’s approval. As it stands, the committee is disenfranchised and even if the outcome remains the same, this gesture of reconsideration and clarity on rationale for the decision can go a long way to move forward with a more positive disposition. Message from Carolynn Francavilla, MD, FOMA, Chair of OMA Advocacy Committee Dear OMA Board, Thank you again for time to review this article. We had the article reviewed by Obesity with the following "We find your data to be of interest, but the reviewers have raised substantive questions that must be addressed. Therefore, we are unable to accept the manuscript for publication in its current form. However, if you feel that you can satisfactorily respond to each of the issues raised, we would be willing to review a revised manuscript." I am including their comments and our draft responses here should it be of interest to any of you. We are hopeful with the edits we have made (many of which echo some of your concerns) that this article may indeed be published. I think the main thing we are struggling to address in the article is who we are. I believe being able to list ourselves as the OMA advocacy committee would improve the chances of being published. I also want to apologize for anyone who felt that the Board's expert opinion was not desired. Certainly, I can think of no better group to offer advice. However, given our group of 16 working on this and having creating a previous final draft before submitting to you, our timeline simply did not allow for further editing. Please note the body of this is up to date but we still are formatting the references but wanted to get this to you as soon as possible. Thank you again for your consideration. Carolynn Francavilla Brown, MD, FOMA For Your Information - Comments to the Author from Reviewers: The authors present a consensus statement regarding the use of phentermine during telehealth visits. This topic and guidance have clinical importance for clinicians.