AAFP President Shares Family Medicine Vision With Magazine Editor

The AAFP sent a small contingent to the Washington office of U.S. News & World Report Feb. 23 for a face-to-face meeting with Josh Fischman, deputy editor.

What prompted the encounter? A U.S. News & World Report special health section, “Who Needs Doctors? Your future physician might not be an M.D. -- and you might be better off,” that made up the bulk of the Jan. 31 - Feb. 7 issue.

AAFP President Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., said the magazine asserted that physicians are spending less time with their patients and nonphysician providers are filling in the gap.

“While much of the content was accurate, it was incomplete,” said Frank in an e-mail sent to AAFP members March 15. “The article discussed what other providers are doing to address this concern -- but nothing was said about what family physicians are doing.”

According to the e-mail, Frank; Academy EVP Douglas Henley, M.D.; and Cynthia Stapp, public relations director, had a 90-minute meeting with Fischman during which Frank said, “Our current health care system is broken and external forces continue to create barriers between patients and their physicians.” The trio also shared the vision of the Future of Family Medicine’s new model of care and the Academy’s hope that it will increase patient safety and quality of care and will reduce the cost of health care.

“The take-way from this highly productive meeting is that Mr. Fischman has a greater understanding that today’s family physicians are leading the transformation of our nation’s health care system by addressing the issues very eloquently brought to the fore in the special section,” said Frank. “I hope our conversation will shape future health coverage at U.S. News & World Report.”