CAMA approves “Centers of Aeromedical Excellence” proposal and sends to  FAA aeromedical leadership

Leadership of CAMA approved the final draft of a formal proposal for creation of “Centers of Aeromedical Excellence” and presented it to FAA aeromedical leadership during its recent annual educational and scientific meeting held September 8-10 in Rochester, Minnesota. This proposal comes in the face of federal legislation covered in the Pilot’s Bill of Rights II act that includes language mandating that the FAA Administrator must come before Congress within 180 days of passage with specific plans of how it will speed up the Special Issuance Authorization process. A CAMA working group met with the Federal Air Surgeon James Fraser and his leadership team last April at the Aerospace Medical Association annual meeting in Atlantic City to begin talks on this proposal. CAMA will now await further input from the FAA in hopes of seeking approval for this concept within the coming year.

“This concept requires no taxpayer dollars and only works to add quality and speed to review of complex aeromedical cases,” said Dr. Clayton Cowl, CAMA President. “We urge the FAA to approve this proposal. By creating institutions or clinics with experienced AMEs comfortable with navigating the Special Issuance process on a regular basis, it will develop an environment for trainees to work up cases and gain experience in the most difficult cases with oversight of Senior AMEs.”

Designated centers would have to meet pre-determined criteria, and be approved by the FAA in order to create the equivalent of what the Aeromedical Certification Division of the FAA calls “Tiger Teams” in which a volume of cases are evaluated as a large batch in rapid succession by a team of Regional Flight Surgeons who fly in to Oklahoma City to make dispositions on cases that are backlogged. Other regularly scheduled committees such as expert panels for cardiovascular and neurologic diseases are already utilized by the FAA but require that the FAA pay travel and consultant expenses. The “Centers” concept would eliminate those fees.

CAMA’s emphasis has been on creating environments to speed the aeromedical certification process through more delegated authority to Aviation Medical Examiners and by allowing development of partnerships with institutions that encourage assessment of airmen with multiple or complex medical issues.

CAMA meeting at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota concludes

The annual scientific and educational meeting of CAMA was held at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota on September 8-10, 2016. CAMA Vice-President for Education Dr. Robert Haddon led a highly successful course covering a wide spectrum of clinical topics.

Course lecture slide decks will be posted on the CAMA website shortly.

 

Click Here to see the last archived CAMA Newsletter (CAMA Flight Physician – March 2016). The most recent version is sent directly to CAMA members and archived thereafter.

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