Dear Fellow Society Members,

In recent years, we have seen unexpected natural disasters and costly cyberattacks affect our friends and colleagues, if not ourselves. Nobody expects a disaster or thinks it will happen to them….but it will happen to someone and it may well be you. We cannot prevent these things from happening but we can prepare in order to minimize their devastating effects that some of our fellow AAOMS members have experienced in the last few years alone.

I am reaching out on behalf of the Committee on Practice Management and Professional Staff Development at AAOMS. As a volunteer member, I encourage you and/or your staff to attend the highly impactful Practice Priorities course being offered at the AAOMS Educational Weekend in Orlando on April 11-12, 2026.

This year’s Practice Priorities theme is “Safeguarding Your Practice.” Designed for OMSs and practice administrators, this 1½-day course will provide focused presentations on preparing OMS practices for the unexpected. From staffing disruptions and needlestick injuries to cyberattacks, natural disasters and more, attendees will gain actionable strategies to address common and modern-day obstacles when they arise and keep practice goals and operations on track.

This course is intended to help you and your teams be proactive and not reactive to these common challenges in OMS practices. If you are interested in more information, I am happy to connect you with our AAOMS team members for timely follow-up. Please don’t hesitate to share my message with anyone who may like to learn more. Registration is available here.

On behalf of our AAOMS committee, thank you for your time and consideration of attending.

Sincerely,

Tom McDonald, DMD, MD