FP Report -- June 1999
ASPN office to shut down; Academy may open new research network
The Ambulatory Sentinel Practice Network, the backbone of the specialty's practice-based research, will close by the end of the year, and the AAFP will explore the feasibility of starting a new network.
The ASPN Board of Directors, grappling with a financial shortfall, decided May 4 to accept AAFP funding this year and then close the ASPN office.
The Academy will cover ASPN's $400,000 in past-due debts and provide between $80,000 and $100,000 to help support ASPN's Denver office this year.
"As the ASPN board examined our current financial condition, we didn't feel there was any way to keep the organization viable for the long run," said ASPN President John Hickner, M.D., of Escanaba, Mich. "We believe having a firm institutional association is the only way for the ASPN endeavor to survive."
Hickner made clear it was the central administrative office that would close, not the practice-based research efforts. "The heart of ASPN is the 125 practices that participate in ASPN, and they're not vanishing," he said.
"We think this is an inevitable step in the evolution of practice-based research for family medicine," added Hickner. "We anticipate a vigorous discussion over the next two or three months with ASPN practitioners and the Academy about rekindling the research network."
In August, the AAFP Board of Directors will consider a plan for launching a new network.
"The Academy is very willing to look at taking on the responsibility of sponsoring a practice-based research network," said AAFP EVP Robert Graham, M.D. "We recognize that will require the enthusiastic participation of a large number of practices currently affiliated with ASPN. That's a decision only they can make."
ASPN has 750 members, including some 700 FPs in the United States and Canada. The members will meet Dec. 2-5 in Colorado Springs, Colo., and may consider an AAFP proposal to form a new network.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
FP Report | Headlines |AAFP Home | Search