April 2001 • Volume 7 • Number 4
Changes in the pipeline?
Board Chair Bruce Bagley, M.D., and EVP Douglas Henley, M.D., say the following factors might fast-track the specialty's evolution.
- The residency curriculum might become more adaptable, so future FPs could intensify their training in skills they are most likely to tap -- acknowledging that the demands on rural family physicians may outdistance those on urban/suburban FPs.
- Some family practices may choose not to offer certain services but to link with FPs or other health care professionals who do offer the services.
- An assortment of business changes may streamline FPs' workload and improve patients' satisfaction: electronic medical records, online prescribing, Web-based medical decision-making support tools, same-day appointments, 24/7 availability (using nonphysician providers in the office to expand patients' access to care), and a seamless interface with other health care providers, whether they're physical therapists or nutritionists or physicians.
About that interface: "Too often, we just give patients a name and a number for a referral," says Bagley. "Only for a complex patient do I write a letter, and I bet I'm not the only one remiss. The process would be much more valuable if the other professional could look at the patient's medical record online."
Once the specialty's leaders plan the reassessment schedule later this month (see story on page 1), get ready to toss your ideas into the mix.
Don't expect a once-over-lightly exercise. The process will probably take from 18 to 24 months, says Henley.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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