• The specialty declared victory Feb. 13 when Congress appropriated about $92 million for 2003 funding of the Public Health Service Act, Title VII, Section 747 -- funds crucial to training in family medicine and other areas. However, during the year, the administration and Congress hacked away at the Title VII funds proposed for 2004, and family physicians peppered Congress with requests to maintain the funding level. At press time, the specialty's best hope was for Congress to pass an omnibus appropriations act that would go with the status quo -- sustain the 2003 funding level for next year.
• Swayed by heavy lobbying, including contacts by FPs, Congress averted a 4.4 percent cut in Medicare physician fees Feb. 13 and allowed the fees to rise 1.6 percent. This fall, AAFP launched an unprecedented drive to enlist patients in contacting Congress, accenting the connection between Medicare reimbursement and access to care. On Oct. 30, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a 4.5 percent drop in fees for 2004 if Congress did not prevent the cut. At press time, however, Congress' work on Medicare legislation (including a possible call to revise the fee formula) bogged down in battles among congressional leaders.
• The AAFP had a place at the table at the Department of Veterans
Affairs Chiropractic Advisory Committee meeting in March in Washington. (Then)
Board Chair Warren Jones, M.D., one of 11 committee members, reiterated AAFP's
position that chiropractors should not be viewed as primary care providers in
the VA.
• AAFP members rallied to the cause during 2003 as
the medical liability crisis reached a crescendo. Constituent chapter members
testified before state and federal legislative committees. FPs also contacted
federal lawmakers in support of the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost,
Timely Healthcare Act, H.R. 5, through AAFP's online service, "Speak Out:
Legislative Action Center." Some FPs took to the airwaves and marched in the
streets to educate the public (see "Liability crisis: Family
physicians take their case to the people").
• AAFP's Colonoscopy Pilot Project, begun in 2002, posted new data online this fall that could help members improve their ability to obtain colonoscopy privileges.
• The AAFP Congress of Delegates, meeting in October in New Orleans, called on the Academy to form a "SWAT" team to help members fight privileging battles. The Academy is to develop a list of FPs willing to travel and testify in privileging disputes.
• AAFP's National Network for Family Practice and
Primary Care Research continued a study this year on pneumococcal immunizations
among older adults and conducted a survey on FPs' clinical practices concerning
hepatitis C.
• Wonca, the World Organization of Family Doctors, organized a March meeting in Kingston, Ontario, where representatives from more than 30 countries reached consensus that family medicine research was important to the health of nations and that Wonca had a critical role in promoting that research.
• Annals of Family Medicine, full of peer-reviewed family medicine research, premiered May 30. Rave reviews erupted from the public press, including this from Newsweek: "There are 30,000 scientific journals in the world and most of them are unreadable. Do we really need another? Yes, yes, yes, at least in the case of Annals of Family Medicine."
• The Future of Family Medicine project, launched in 2001, began to bear fruit. Preliminary data released in March "indicated the American people still want a personal relationship with a listening, caring physician," said (then) President James Martin, M.D.
• The National Resident Matching Program results in March showed family medicine continued to struggle to position itself as the specialty of choice among medical students. This year's overall fill rate for family medicine residencies through the match was 76.2 percent.
• The Congress of Delegates in October directed the Academy to replace the term family practice with family medicine when referring to the specialty. Also, those who specialize in family medicine are family physicians, not practitioners, delegates affirmed.
• Delegates confirmed that women had "arrived" in the Academy and in the specialty when they elected Mary Frank, M.D., the Academy's first woman president-elect.
• Delegates voted to establish six delegate seats and six alternate seats in the Congress for international medical graduates; women physicians; minority physicians; and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender constituency.
• AAFP collaborated with the CDC Office on Smoking and Health in sending stop-smoking patient education materials to selected FPs in February. "Got a minute? Give it to your kid," say the materials, urging parents to be active in the stop-smoking effort.
• In March, the CDC reported on a mysterious disease, SARS, or
severe acute respiratory syndrome, and AAFP posted the CDC health alert on
aafp.org. AAFP added patient information -- "SARS: What Parents Need to Know"
-- to the KidsHealth section at familydoctor.org.
• In May, the Asthma Collaborative, organized by the AAFP and the National Initiative for Children's Health Care Quality, finished its work -- finding ways to improve asthma care in 13 family practice settings. Participants are sharing their results through presentations at medical meetings and via documents on AAFP's Web site.
• The budget prioritization process in 2002 gave Tar Wars® a mid-2003 deadline to secure full external funding. AAFP's anti-tobacco education program has received support from Schering, AAFP Foundation and Janssen Pharmaceutica and is seeking more funding.
• In September, the CDC announced a three-year, $390,805 agreement to work with AAFP on an immunization project, focusing on increasing family physicians' awareness of the need to immunize.
• The Congress of Delegates in October called for Academy support of a proposal -- under FDA consideration -- to make progesterone-only emergency contraception available over the counter. The measure also urged the FDA to approve product labeling that would encourage patients to seek guidance from their primary care physicians on use of all OTC contraceptives.
• Throughout 2003, the AAFP helped members gain
compliance with multiple rules for the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act. AAFP initiatives included a Web site dedicated to HIPAA
resources for members, a "President's Letter" urging active members to test
claims transactions before the Oct. 16 deadline to comply with transactions and
code sets standards, and constant AAFP pressure on the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services to develop a contingency plan before the deadline. A
reprieve came in September when CMS said it would give physicians more time to
come into compliance with the transactions standards.
• The Academy established a Center for Health
Information Technology at AAFP's Leawood, Kan., headquarters in September.
• The Academy hosted a press event at the National Press Club in Washington in November to announce strategic business alliances with nine companies that will provide electronic health record technology to medical practices at an affordable price (see " Academy forges alliances, clears path for EHR implementation").
• In 2002, AAFP spearheaded development of a
health care coalition that, by this summer, asked the U.S. Congress to endorse
"health care coverage for all persons in the United States by Jan. 1,
2009."
• During the March Patient Safety Awareness Week, AAFP leaders briefed congressional aides about the need for a medical error reporting system that would be voluntary and confidential. (Then) AAFP President James Martin, M.D., said much information was available on medical errors in hospitals. "But the majority of health care in this country takes place in an outpatient setting," he said, calling for improving patient safety in primary care.
• National, regional, local and medical news media turned to the Academy during 2003. A leading indicator: In August, ABC's Good Morning America solicited an interview with (then) President-elect Michael Fleming, M.D., about whether healthy people need annual check-ups.
• A September conference on patient safety assembled more than
100 participants. It was organized by the AAFP Developmental Center for
Research and Evaluation in Patient Safety in Primary Care with a $50,000 grant
from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
• In September, FP Jonathan Temte, M.D., Ph.D., took AAFP's message on bioterrorism to Congress by testifying before the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness and Response of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. Throughout the year, AAFP continued to post information on bioterrorism and public health threats on aafp.org.
• In September, AAFP and CDC launched "Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work," a national education campaign about appropriate use of antibiotics.
• The 2003 Annual Clinical Focus on prevention
enjoyed unprecedented media coverage; results of a nationwide health behaviors
poll drew national news attention this summer.
• Washington-based political commentator Morton Kondracke delivered the keynote address during the Scientific Assembly Oct. 1 - 5 in New Orleans, exhorting family physicians, "Lobby like crazy." In all, 12,529 people registered for the Scientific Assembly, including 4,377 physicians. The event featured hundreds of educational sessions, allowing FPs to rack up as many as 45.5 Prescribed CME credits.
• The American Board of Family Practice's Maintenance of Certification for Family Physicians program has generated much controversy since it was announced in the summer. AAFP members critiqued the plan at a town hall meeting during the Annual Assembly, and the Congress of Delegates referred resolutions on the matter to the AAFP Board of Directors for further scrutiny.
• The AAFP Congress voted to change the terminology used to refer to members' CME activities. The change from CME hours to CME credits allows AAFP to recognize educational activities -- such as quality improvement, performance measurement and point-of-care activities -- for which a simple accounting of "time spent" may not reflect the true value of the learning experience.
• The Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics program expanded its international efforts in 2003, traveling for the first time to the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan and to Baghdad, Iraq, this fall (see "AAFP program boosts Iraqi maternity care"). Several dozen ALSO® instructors and hundreds of ALSO providers were trained during the program's visits overseas to these and other destinations.
FP Report is published by the
AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2003 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.