FP Report -- December 1999
Interorganizational efforts
Growing, growing, grown
Over the years, the intensity of AAFP's activities with other medical organizations has steadily increased.
The Academy has high visibility within the AMA -- nine delegates, which is more than any other medical specialty society. Thanks to changes in the delegate selection process, the number of delegates and alternates will almost double next year.
"That gives us more microphone ability," said Daniel Ostergaard, M.D., AAFP vice president for international and interprofessional activities. "We also have more opportunity to place members on various AMA bodies."
AMA candidates from other specialties have discovered the AAFP as a voting bloc. "We now have a moratorium on backing non-FPs, until we sort out criteria and timelines for endorsement," said Ostergaard.
Other specialty groups are increasingly asking to work with the AAFP. "We're cursed and blessed by being the specialty in breadth," said Ostergaard. "We can't accept all the invitations we receive. If we did, we'd 'use up' our volunteer leaders and members."
The Academy does continue to place representatives on interdisciplinary guidelines panels. "We're often asked for nominations, and our candidates are often accepted now, whereas a few years ago, they might not have been," said Ostergaard.
AAFP's interorganizational efforts extend beyond U.S. borders. The World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) is led by its second AAFP member president, Robert Higgins, M.D., of Anacortes, Wash. WONCA, founded in 1972 with 18 member organizations, now has organizational members from 54 countries.
Other countries are developing blueprints for family practice training and national societies. "If they're trying to organize a specialty society or residency, we need to be able to assist," said Ostergaard.
Countries where the Academy is offering input and assistance include Russia, Kyrgystan, China, and various countries in Central and South America.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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