Minnesota Medication Association Increases Member Engagement, Efficiency With Online Policy Tool Developed by IntelliData

Nonprofit representing physicians sees vast improvement in quality of policy proposals, a dramatic increase in member voting on proposals, and overall time savings for the organization

Background

The Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) is a non-profit professional association representing 11,000 physicians, residents, and medical students. The MMA’s mission is to be the leading voice of medicine to make Minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.

Challenge: Policy Development Process Is Confusing, Lacks Member Engagement

The MMA creates and updates policies that inform its advocacy and lobbying efforts. These policies cover a wide range of issues, many of them high profile, such as COVID-19 vaccinations, firearm safety, and illegal drug use, for example. As a membership organization, the MMA seeks policy positions that are informed by and reflect the interests of its diverse membership.

Unfortunately, the MMA had a confusing and complex process for members who wanted to submit policy proposals. As a result of organizational changes at the MMA, few members knew how to bring policy topics to the attention of MMA’s staff. At the same time, the MMA’s process for gathering member input and expertise on important policy topics was haphazard.

The overall process not only made it difficult for members and affected their engagement, but it was also taxing for the 20-person staff:

• Lack of central repository for gathering submissions: MMA members could submit new policy proposals or proposed updates to current policies in a variety of ways: email, phone calls, or mail. This required the MMA staff to organize submissions manually.
• No required format for policy proposals: MMA members submitted policy proposals that ranged from one sentence to several paragraphs with detailed research and suggested language. MMA staff had to do additional legwork on policy proposals that provided too little information.
• Low engagement on policy development: Most MMA policy development is done by MMA committees that have between 16 and 40 members. Although these committees are critical to MMA’s work, they can’t address every important issue, and MMA leaders wanted opportunities for more members to help set MMA policy direction.

“Our policy work is critical because it informs our advocacy on issues. But our policy proposal process was confusing and did not fully tap our members’ expertise and opinions. We needed a solution that would streamline the process, provide transparency, and engage more members.”  – Jon Stensland, Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Medical Association

Solution: Online Policy Tool Streamlines Submission Process, Enables Effortless Voting and Commenting

In late 2019, MMA hired IntelliData, a technology consulting company specializing in data analytics and AMS support, to create an online policy tool. Within six months, IntelliData had developed a tool, branded as The Pulse by MMA, which made the entire process more efficient.

Easy, online submission

MMA members can now log in to the online policy tool and submit a policy proposal at any time. All submissions are stored in a database that is accessible to MMA staff.

Required fields for each submission

The Pulse requires members to fill out certain fields so that each policy proposal is more complete. For example, members must state why the issue is a problem, what they want the MMA to do about it, what explicit language they suggest, and what the health equity implications of the proposal are.

Status of each policy proposal

The staff uses standardized criteria to review each proposal within 2 weeks of submission and then sends the proposal through an internal review. The Pulse shows the status of each policy proposal and where it is in the process.

Online voting and commenting

MMA now seeks member input throughout the year on any policy proposals that will be considered by its Board of Trustees. MMA members receive personalized links via email that allow them to directly vote and comment on proposals before Board meetings. The tool also allows MMA to alert members to final Board actions and permits members to react to those actions, thus increasing MMA transparency.

Results: More Efficient Process Facilitates Quality Proposals, Gives Greater Voice to Members, and Saves Staff Time

The MMA and its members have greatly benefited from The Pulse since the online policy tool’s launch in July 2020:

• Significant improvement in the quality of policy proposals. Now that members must fill in specific fields for each submission, proposals are well-thought-out, better researched, and more complete.
• Higher member engagement: More than 700 members now vote on policy proposals annually, a dramatic increase from committee-only input. And more than 200 provide comments, ensuring members have a greater voice in the MMA’s decision-making process.
• Time savings for the MMA staff: The new online policy tool streamlined the manual submission process and has created efficiencies for staff review and tracking.

 “The IntelliData team is responsive, they have excellent customer service, and they deliver every time. And I never feel upsold. When I go to IntelliData with a problem, they often have other recommendations that are more cost-effective. They look out for our best interests.” – Jon Stensland, Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Medical Association

MMA Taps IntelliData for Other Critical IT Projects

• AMS Upgrade: The MMA needed to upgrade its AMS and move it to the cloud. After reviewing vendor proposals, the MMA selected IntelliData to complete the project. IntelliData facilitated the upgrade and cloud migration within a month and for half the cost of the other proposals.
• Board of Medical Practice Process: The MMA used to manually update member information, e.g., credentials and employer data, provided by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice. IntelliData created a custom solution to automatically import the data into the MMA’s AMS, saving the MMA 1,000 hours annually and ensuring data is current.

Online Policy Tool Available to Medical Associations

IntelliData has developed an online policy tool, branded as The Pulse by MMA, to improve the policy submission process.

MMA has, since then, granted IntelliData a license to The Pulse, branded by IntelliData as VuePoint.

VuePoint can now be sub-licensed by other medical associations and further customized by IntelliData.