FP Report -- June 1999
AAFP membership does have its privileges
Soon, gaining and maintaining AAFP membership may be more resident- and student-friendly than getting a credit card.
The AAFP Commission on Membership and Member Services has been working for more than a year on a plan to attract members earlier in their careers and help them stay involved.
One way the AAFP hopes to achieve this goal is by making membership more attractive and easier for medical students and residents.
"Our new plan addresses this need to recruit members earlier," said Robert Graham, M.D., AAFP executive vice president. "And this plan shows how easy it is to become a member of the AAFP as a student and stay a member through your entire career and into retirement."
The following recommendations were approved by the AAFP Board of Directors in March. Unless otherwise noted, these recommendations will go to the AAFP Congress of Delegates in September before being implemented.
Changes for students
Medical students would need to pay only a one-time fee to join the AAFP. This $15 fee would grant students AAFP membership for their entire medical school career, no matter how far along they were in their education when they signed up.
Changes for residents
Resident members of the AAFP would be automatically upgraded to active membership status and transferred to their new chapter of membership if they changed states.
"New ideas and innovations are vital to the continued success of the AAFP," said Graham. "One way of getting to the new ideas is through identifying the differing experiences of all our members. If residents are automatically upgraded to active status, they can more quickly become part of the vital active membership of our organization."
In another proposal, physicians new to practice would be offered a reduction in dues via a graduated dues payment structure for the first three years after residency.
"The AAFP wants to provide even more support to new physicians in this most critical -- and potentially unstable -- time of their careers," Graham said. "Our newest members are telling us that this graduated payment could be one of the biggest advantages of membership."
Recent residency graduates will also receive a $25 "graduation gift" certificate good for AAFP products and services in the Academy catalog. This gift certificate program will begin this summer.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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