Policy on Cancellations and Credits

Policy on Cancellations and Credits

What is the policy on cancellations of registration for the National Conferences on Primary Health Care Access?

The Coastal Research Group is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which manages the National Conferences on Primary Health Care Access, an invitational conference limited to persons nominated by the National Conference academic sponsors, the Executive Board of the Coastal Research Group, and the Fellows and Senior Fellows of the National Consortium on Community-Based Medical Education.

The Executive Committee established the following policy on Cancellation and Credits in 1986. Such policy has governed each of the conferences conducted by the Coastal Research Group held in 1986 or thereafter: the National Conferences on Primary Health Access, the National Conferences on Community Health Center - Primary Care Residency Program Linkages, the Western Regional Meetings of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, and the Pirmary Care Case Management Conferences:
No cash refunds of conference registration are made to any person. However, except where very late cancellation has imposed penalties or costs upon the Coastal Research Group, the registrant shall receive full credit of the registration fee (less any general or specific penalties that may be established for the particular conference) for credit towards registration at one of the subsequent three conferences in the conference series.
For the Eleventh National Conference on Primary Health Care Access at the Hyatt Regency Kauai, a $100 penalty is assessed any person who registers for the conference and subsequently cancels. If the cancellation occurs with sufficient warning to prevent an assessment of a penalty for the cancellation by the Hyatt Regency Kauai, then the total amount paid for the registration fee, including any payment for pre-conference or post-conference room nights, shall be available for registration at the Twelfth National Conference in San Diego April 8-10, 2001 (including room accommodations the nights of April 7, 8, 9), at the Thirteenth National Conference in Bethesda, Maryland March 22-24, 2002, including room accommodations the nights of March 21, 22 and 23), or at the Fourteenth National Conference in Kauai April 12-15, 2003 (including room accommodations the nights of April 11, 12, 13 and 14).
A person who was an invitee to one of the National Conferences and holds a credit automatically receives invitations to the next three conferences in the series. The registrant may nominate another person to use his or her credit who will automatically be invited to that conference. In the event that the registration fee was paid by an academic institution or other entity, that institution may nominate a person to receive the automatic invitation. The holder of the credit should inform the Coastal Research Group to nominate another person several months ahead of the event, to assure space is made available for the nominee.
In the case of a credit which exceeds the registration fee for a subsequent conference (which is expected to be the case for holders of credits from the Eleventh National Conference who choose to register for the Twelfth or Thirteenth National Conferences), the holder of the credit may nominate up to two persons to attend the conference and to apportion the credit between them. The holder of the credit alternatively may utilize as much of the credit as is required for the registration fee for one conference and then utilize any remaining portion of credit for registration at a subsequent conference.

Why are cash refunds never made?

The National Conferences are invitational conferences, deliberately planned to include a mix of major figures in primary care policy from academic, research and professional organizations and governmental entities. The conferences are planned for approximately 50 persons. They are residential conferences and thus the hotel rooms are included as part of the registration fee.

Invitees are nominated by the specific individuals referred to above. Only a limited number of invitations are made to each conference, and are sent individually to nominated persons until the 50 or so spaces are taken. Typically, the conferences are closed to additional registrants several weeks in advance.
The policy of credit rather than cash refunds is designed to discourage cancellations. Cancellations of conference positions disrupt the process by which persons are nominated and confirmed for conference positions. In the case of a cancelled registration, there is often no practical way for the conference planners to invite another person to take the place of the cancellee. It is especially difficult for a more remote site like Kauai, where not only cheaper advance purchase air fares are unavailable, but most flights are full.
The sites of the conferences have been chosen deliberately to maximize the productivity and the appeal of the conference. As a result of the prestige and success of previous conferences, we have been able to negotiate contracts which guarantee the National Conferences some of the best rooms in high season at extraordinary values in hotels and resorts that assure the continued success of the conferences.
The greatest risk to the economic viability of these invitational conferences is the threat of multiple cancellations of registrations which would impose penalties on the Coastal Research Group, its directors, or the academic sponsors of the Conferences. Space in high season is at a premium at all destination hotels and resorts. Each of these hotels have stringent policies to prevent no shows, which are incorporated into their contracts and which are enforced.
The conference sponsors recognize that last minute illnesses or unavoidable changes of plans may occur. The institution of the full credit policy that permits carrying over the registration fees paid until the next or subsequent consequences has proven to be the fairest and most effective way to assure the continued economic viability of the conferences, without either the individual or the conference disproportionately absorbing the impact of a cancellation. (However, because every cancellation has proved to have cost consequences, the Coastal Research Group instituted the $100 required cancellation fee beginning with the Eleventh National Conference.)

Are there advantages in holding a Credit for the National Conferences?

Directors and committee members of the Coastal Research Group and Fellows and Senior Fellows of the National Consortium on Community-Based Medical Education receive priority invitations to the National Conferences. Because there is a high proportion of acceptance of invitations among these groups, up to 80% of the spaces may be gone, before any other invitations to nominated persons are sent out.

However, any persons who hold credits eligible for application to a particular conference are invited to the conference at the same time as these priority groups. This has the effect of raising their priority status to a conference above every other nominated person who is not a director, committee member, or consortium fellow or senior fellow.
Each of the future conferences is expected to be of unique interest to persons interested in family and community medicine, primary health care policy and medical school reform. As noted above, a person or institution with such a credit may be able to assure the attendance of up to two persons at the conference, even though they might not otherwise have been nominated to receive an invitation.