News From 2008 Annual Assembly

(09/26/2008)  --  Members of the Reference Committee on Health of the Public and Science heard impassioned testimony during the 2008 Congress of Delegates about a public health issue that's near and dear to AAFP members: tobacco cessation. The testimony came in response to a recommendation in a report from the AAFP Board of Directors to the Congress on the Board's work with the AAFP Foundation Board of Trustees to secure long-term financial support for the Academy's Tar Wars program, as well as its efforts in the areas of tobacco cessation, education and research. More

(09/24/2008)  --  This year's AAFP Congress of Delegates made women's contraceptive options a focus of discussion, adopting a number of resolutions aimed at safeguarding payment for those options. The delegates also adopted measures supporting ongoing representation by members of the Academy's special constituencies. More

(09/24/2008)  --  One of us is a Republican, the other a Democrat. But we both agree that history was made during this year's political conventions -- and not just by the Democratic and Republican parties. Family medicine broke new ground as well. For the first time, the specialty had access to the conventions and was able to co-sponsor and participate in convention-related events, all because of FamMedPAC, the political action committee AAFP wisely established in 2005. More (Members Only)

(09/24/2008)  --  The Republican and Democratic health care plans offered up by the presidential candidates differ sharply in their approach to health care reform, revealing a deep philosophical divide that has made health care one of the most contentious issues in this year's presidential campaign. More

(09/24/2008)  --  Each year at the AAFP Assembly, the Academy recognizes members and others for their outstanding contributions to family medicine. Several people were honored during this year's Assembly. More

(09/24/2008)  --  Although the respective health care plans proposed by presidential candidates Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., each provide a different direction and focus for health care reform, both plans recognize the importance of primary care in any major reform effort. More

(09/24/2008)  --  Tiny Rhode Island played a big role at the 2008 AAFP Congress of Delegates in San Diego, when the testimony of one of that constituent chapter's delegates gave his colleagues an inside look at a state-based system that's working to ensure adults get needed immunizations and physicians avoid the hassles that can snarl the vaccine acquisition and administration process. More