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Results of American Academy of Family Physicians Research to be Presented at National Asthma Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 10, 2003

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

LEAWOOD, Kan. — The results of a yearlong initiative of the American Academy of Family Physicians to improve the care of asthmatic patients will be presented at the National Conference on Asthma June 19-21 in Washington, D.C. The findings of the Asthma Learning Collaborative will be presented by Kurtis Elward, M.D., a family physician and AAFP member from Charlottesville, Va.

Asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the world and is especially common among children. The Asthma Collaborative, a quality improvement project organized by the AAFP and the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality, was designed to improve care of patients with asthma.

The Asthma Collaborative focused on improving the systems that support quality asthma care in a variety of family practice settings. Participants from 13 family practices across the country used a variety of tools, including a registry of patients who have asthma and a process for ensuring that the severity of asthma was assessed for every patient at every visit.

The collaborative was a part of the AAFP’s Quality Initiative, which has as its mission to improve the health status, outcomes and satisfaction of patients while enhancing the viability and vitality of family physicians’ practices.

The program of the National Conference on Asthma will encourage health professionals to implement practices and community strategies to significantly reduce asthma-related mortality and morbidity by the year 2010.

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Founded in 1947, the American Academy of Family Physicians represents more than 94,300 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical specialty society devoted solely to primary care. Please visit www.aafp.org for more information about the AAFP.
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.

For more information about health care, health conditions, and wellness, please visit familydoctor.org.