Committee Procedures

Meeting Procedures

The goal is group consensus and the input and endorsement of imaging community stakeholders on major decisions.

• When participation at a given meeting is not open to all committee members, (e.g. it takes place at an “invitation-only” face-to-face event and remote access is not provided for the committee meeting), that meeting will not be considered an official meeting of that committee. No official decisions will be made and attendance will not count toward or against voting privileges.
  • Typically, RSNA staff are present at meetings and capturing attendance. If staff is not present, the chair will need to ensure that attendance records are captured and submitted to RSNA staff.
  • If possible, it is still desirable for minutes to be recorded, but the unofficial status will be noted

A record of committee decisions and rationale is necessary to be effective and learn.

• RSNA Staff records minutes (call summaries) for meetings of Committees (but not Task Forces)
• Chairs are strongly encouraged to support RSNA Staff by reviewing/correcting the draft minutes circulated by RSNA Staff
• RSNA Staff maintains rosters of the members of each committee and their participation. Those details are used to determine which members currently have Voting Privileges
  • Members who believe their attendance record is in error should contact RSNA Staff

Voting

Most committee work doesn't need a vote. At the discretion of committee chairs and members, however, decisions can be put to a vote during meetings. This also facilitates recording key decisions in the minutes.

• Chairs accept motions, seconds, discussion, and then call for a vote
  • At its simplest, the Chair asks for objections, then asks for abstentions, and "RSNA Staff notes those names. The rest of those present with voting privileges can safely be assumed to have voted in favor
• Members who have Voting Privileges count towards quorum and may vote
• Chairs resolve negative votes and large numbers of abstentions per the consensus process
  • details of the resolution discussion in the minutes is desirable
• RSNA Staff records the motion, the tally of those against/abstaining/in-favor, and the details of negative votes in the minutes
  • If attendance, eligibility and quorum cannot be determined during the meeting, vote results will be ratified after the call and entered into the minutes by RSNA Staff

Email Ballot

Substantive decisions, such as whether a Profile is advanced to the next stage, are put to ballot. This allows more deliberation on the subject material than a vote in committee.

A committee may initiate an email ballot on a document by approving a motion to do so (i.e. officially deciding the document is ready for ballot). Alternatively, Chairs may initiate email ballots at their own discretion after assuring appropriate discussion and review by the committee, and if there are multiple chairs then a simple majority of the chairs must approve the action.

• Chairs submit the ballot question and length of the ballot period to RSNA Staff
  • The ballot period may be specified by the particular procedure that calls for a ballot
  • The ballot period is generally not less than 14 days to allow adequate time to review the material and vote
  • If reviewing lengthy documents or collecting feedback within member organizations is involved 30 days is suggested for the ballot period
• RSNA Staff emails the ballot to all members with Voting Privileges on the committee making the decision
• RSNA Staff emails a notification of ineligibility to the rest of the members of the committee making the decision
  • Members who do not have Voting Privileges will thus be aware of the ballot and are still permitted to submit comments
  • Members who believe their attendance record is in error can review of their attendance with the secretariat and if they are found to be eligible will be sent a ballot
• RSNA Staff compiles the ballot responses and comments for the Chairs
  • o At the discretion of the Chairs, comments submitted by non-voting members may be stricken
• Chairs ratify the resulting tally and comments within a reasonable period of time (preferably in the next committee meeting) per the consensus process
• RSNA Staff records resolution results/rationale in the minutes

Quorum

For a vote or ballot to be valid, at least 50% of those with voting privileges must have participated (by either voting in favor, objecting, or abstaining).

Consensus Process

As a group setting standards on behalf of a community, QIBA Committees actively seek to pursue Consensus.

• a vote/ballot passes with a quorum of votes and a majority of votes in favor, but
  • a negative vote or votes should result in subsequent discussion to
    • understand the reason for such (a) negative vote(s) and attempt to find a compromise or resolution; associated edits to the document under ballot do not typically require re-balloting
  • a large number of abstentions may also warrant discussion; it may indicate many people have:
    • misgivings
    • not been able to adequately evaluate the question

Committee Leadership

• Coordinating Committees, Biomarker Committees and Task Forces are encouraged to have 2 or 3 leaders who are preferably drawn from diverse backgrounds (Researchers, Clinicians, Physicists, Vendors, Regulators, etc.)
  • If not possible, committees are permitted to have some concentration but should discuss plans to expand the breadth of stakeholder representation at least annually

See Also

• QIBA Committees