Policy Committee Meeting 9_28_2023

Further, we are currently pursuing a multi-organization standard of care publication – there was no need for the comprehensive care position statement to move into the realm of standard of care. This statement should not have been up to the authors – it should have been up to the BOT. I feel the current process does not allow for full consideration and discussion by the board for position statements which can now live in perpetuity with no sunset date. To make sure that the entire board has a full opportunity to participate in the development of position statements prior to publication, I suggest the following process be implemented: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Process: 1) A motion is passed calling on our OMA BOT to develop a position statement. a. Part of that motion will designate where this position is to be published – Obesity Pillars, on the OMA web site, sent in an e-newsletter, etc. 2) All members of the OMA that wish to participate may write an initial draft of the statement. a. Alternatively, it can be referred to a committee of the OMA – historically the policy committee was asked to write and review position statements. 3) The initial draft is circulated to the entirety of the OMA BOT for full comments and edits. The board is given a minimum of 2 weeks to reply. 4) A second draft is sent to the entire OMA board. 5) Unless the matter is urgent, the position statement is discussed at a live meeting of the BOT so all board members can participate. 6) If the statement is intended for the Pillars journal, then at this point it will be sent to the Pillars editorial board. a. At this point, the article proceeds via the standard editorial process. 7) Because these statements represent the position of the full BOT, all OMA trustees are included as authors, unless they do not wish to be listed, with the main author(s) prioritized per standard journal procedures. 8) Because positions of the organization can change from time to time, even if published in journals, position statements should include a sunset date (5 years). At that time, they should be reconsidered, and either retired, amended, republished, etc. They should become part of the policy that policy committee reviews on an annual basis.

Respectfully submitted by Ethan Lazarus, MD