Health-e-MedRecord has worked with
VCMA since 2013 to help connect physicians and patients to improve patient outcomes and communication between providers and their clients.
Neutralization antibody titers to SARS-CoV among patients in
VCMA are shown in Table 1.
VCMA members at the annual meeting decided to initiate "merger" talks with AHAM.
Bud Kirkpatrick confirmed his organization's board voted at its annual meeting last month to negotiate for
VCMA "to merge its assets with AHAM." Mike Merriman, Royal's president and chief executive officer and a former
VCMA president, was chosen as liaison for the talks, but most of the work is due diligence between the two associations' attorneys, Kirkpatrick said.
VCMA board members could not be reached immediately for comment.
A few vac makers expressed "sticker shock" at the fees for joining AHAM, but Bissell and Oreck quietly dropped out of
VCMA.
VCMA fired back in February with a long list of its industry services since 1913, a declaration that an unnamed rival "runs the risk of dividing the industry and creating confusion in the marketplace," and the broadened membership requirements.
"We're going to continue to be a member of
VCMA. Probably at the end of the year we'll decide on one or the other."
When AHAM said in January it created a Floor Care Division at the request of some suppliers,
VCMA fired back it was better equipped to serve members' needs.
That's why
VCMA and leading suppliers are pounding away on their Web sites and other media with informative materials.
A two-page statement approved by the
VCMA board said the action "runs the risk of dividing the industry and creating confusion in the marketplace."