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AAFP National Network for Family Practice and Primary Care Research Receives Federal Grant for Infrastructure and Patient Safety

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Contact:
Adam Lee
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237 Ext. 5221
alee@aafp.org

LEAWOOD, Kan. — The American Academy of Family Physicians’ National Network for Family Practice and Primary Care Research has received a two-year grant to improve the Network’s infrastructure and to fund a pilot study of testing process errors reported by family physicians and their office staffs. The grant, from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, totals $300,000.

The Network will use the Infrastructure monies to recruit more minority physicians, develop a Web-based survey system, and develop and implement a research-training program for family physicians’ office staff who assist with research projects.

The study of testing process errors will involve eight family practice offices (including urban, rural and suburban practices) and family practice residencies. The research team will study the errors identified, and work with the practices to develop interventions to eliminate these errors.

“This grant will help us improve the way we operate and collect data, which will improve the way patient care is delivered,” said John Hickner, M.D., M.S.P.H., the Network director.

The National Research Network currently has 200 family physicians in 42 states. These physicians conduct a variety of research of importance to family physicians and their patients, including bioterrorism preparedness, predictors of outcome of type 2 diabetes, problem drinking screening strategies, and pneumococcal immunization rates in adults.

In August 1999, the AAFP Board of Directors approved the business plan to establish an Academy-sponsored National Network for Family Practice and Primary Care Research. The network started operations in November 1999. The mission of the network is to “conduct, support, promote and advocate for primary-care research in practice-based settings that address questions of importance to the discipline of family medicine and also improves health-care delivery to and the health status of patients, their families and communities.”

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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 215 million office visits each year – nearly 48 million more than the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America’s underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the American Academy of Family Physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit www.aafp.org.

For more information about the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care and downloadable multi-media on family medicine and health care, visit the AAFP Media Center.

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