MGMA Launches Groundbreaking Social Networking Platform for Members
Brenda M. Dorman, MBA
President, Medical Group Management Association-Anesthesia Administration Assembly (MGMA AAA) and Administrator, Medical University of South Carolina
Members of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Anesthesia Administration Assembly are now part of an online social-networking community—a benefit of our membership. The MGMA Member Community is the first of its kind—created for medical practice administrators. Because our members consistently rank networking with other members as their primary reason for belonging to MGMA, the Association looked for ways to enhance and centralize networking technology.
MGMA, headquartered in Englewood, Colo., is the premier membership association for professional administrators and leaders of medical group practices. It provides networking, professional education, resources and political advocacy for 21,500 members nationwide. Members have the opportunity to identify themselves with a particular medical specialty for networking purposes. There are 15 different such assemblies. In addition, there are already more than 35 MGMA created member communities to choose from and currently over 1500 members have identified anesthesia (AAA) as their primary networking community! Members also have the opportunity to create their own eGroups such as the Pain Management and newly created Academic Anesthesia communities.
Members reach the MGMA Member Community via the MGMA Web site (www.mgma.com). Working with the association social-networking firm Higher Logic, MGMA created features and navigation for the professional needs of medical practice administrators.
“Our members have already found each other on public social-networking sites, but can get lost amid the clutter—and millions of other users,” said William F. Jessee, MD, FACMPE, president and CEO of MGMA. “We know our members best and understand what features will be most valuable to them in their jobs. This is truly the next generation of professional interaction and we’re proud to be among the first adopters.”
Discussion groups, blogs, libraries and more
Features of the new MGMA Member Community social networking platform include:
- Discussion groups—Members can create ad hoc, event-based or issue-related groups;
- Blogs—Members can create their own blogs for other members to read, respond to and score;
- File repository/resource library—Members can upload, download and search documents to share with their peers;
- Expanded subscription options—Members can participate online, via e-mail or both; and
- Enhanced member directory and member profiles—Members can search for one another by name, location, certification level, membership participation, organization type, practice type, practice setting, specialty, physician count, interest areas, education and more.
Enhancements planned to make Member Community even more robust
MGMA plans to enhance the Member Community over the next several months, adding:
- RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds—Members can opt for notification when information on topics of their choosing is posted on the MGMA Community;
- Study groups—Driven by members for professional certification exams;
- Wikis—Member-generated encyclopedias of practice management or specialty-specific information; and
- Polling—Member-generated questionnaires for all members or subsets of the MGMA membership.
By taking the lead in online networking, MGMA hopes to increase members’ satisfaction and the value of their dues.
MGMA members can go online now and begin a new and enhanced interaction with colleagues. Non-members can find out how to join by visiting www.mgma.com.
For more information contact Nancy Cross at MGMA 303.799.1111, ext 1250 or ncc@mgma.com
