Health care coverage for all and emergency medicine -- these topics loom so large for the specialty that the Academy has formed task forces to address them.
Task Forces to Tackle Health Care Coverage, Emergency Medicine
By Jane Stoever
1/4/2006
The 2005 Congress of Delegates considered reports from the Board of Directors and resolutions on these topics and requested further work. AAFP Board Chair Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., recently appointed the task forces.
Coverage for All
The AAFP Congress first called for health care coverage for all in 1989. Since then, the Academy has developed and promoted several plans for coverage for all, the most recent being the 2001 plan, an appendix to Board Report K, which was considered by the 2005 Congress during its Sept. 26-28 meeting in San Francisco.
In her address as AAFP president to the 2005 Congress, Frank said, "We know we must have health system reform. A country that spends $1.6 trillion dollars on health care and ranks 29th in health care outcomes does not have the best system in the world and is far from living up to its responsibility to its citizens." She recommended the AAFP move away from a focus on networking and discussion and toward a proactive approach that would solve the problem of the uninsured and "address the dysfunction and inequities of the U.S. health care system." The 2005 Congress approved her recommendation.
Similarly, Resolution 504, submitted to the 2005 Congress, asked the Academy to develop "a comprehensive health care plan for the administration, financing and organization of a new U.S. health care system that provides coverage for all." The Congress referred the resolution to the Board and asked for a report to the 2006 Congress.
Congress' work on health care coverage is recorded as actions of the 2005 Congress of Delegates (under "Reference Committee Reports With Congress Actions," open "Reference Committee on Public Policy" [Members Only]).
Frank will chair the new Task Force on Health Care Coverage for All, which will hold its first meeting Feb. 24 to begin following up on the AAFP Congress' actions.
In her address as AAFP president to the 2005 Congress, Frank said, "We know we must have health system reform. A country that spends $1.6 trillion dollars on health care and ranks 29th in health care outcomes does not have the best system in the world and is far from living up to its responsibility to its citizens." She recommended the AAFP move away from a focus on networking and discussion and toward a proactive approach that would solve the problem of the uninsured and "address the dysfunction and inequities of the U.S. health care system." The 2005 Congress approved her recommendation.
Similarly, Resolution 504, submitted to the 2005 Congress, asked the Academy to develop "a comprehensive health care plan for the administration, financing and organization of a new U.S. health care system that provides coverage for all." The Congress referred the resolution to the Board and asked for a report to the 2006 Congress.
Congress' work on health care coverage is recorded as actions of the 2005 Congress of Delegates (under "Reference Committee Reports With Congress Actions," open "Reference Committee on Public Policy" [Members Only]).
Frank will chair the new Task Force on Health Care Coverage for All, which will hold its first meeting Feb. 24 to begin following up on the AAFP Congress' actions.
Emergency Medicine
For about 1,500 to 2,000 family physicians, emergency room work is their only practice or a major part of their practice, AAFP President Larry Fields, M.D., of Ashland, Ky., chair of the new Task Force on Family Physicians in Emergency Medicine, said in a recent interview.
But emergency room doors may soon be closing on some family physicians, said Fields. He cited the plan of Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow, N.Y., to fire about 15 of 20 full-time emergency room physicians this fall because they were not certified in emergency medicine. "That plan was almost immediately rescinded due to public protest. But it points up the danger of not having agreed-upon policy for protection of our members who work in emergency departments either full time or part time," said Fields.
He headed an earlier AAFP task force that included members of the American College of Emergency Physicians' Board of Directors. That task force drafted a joint statement last spring saying the two organizations envisioned a future in which physicians could take a combined residency in emergency medicine and family medicine. The joint statement was submitted to the 2005 Congress of Delegates as an appendix to Board Report O.
The 2005 Congress of Delegates decided not to adopt the joint statement (under "Reference Committee Reports With Congress Actions," open "Reference Committee on Education" [Members Only]). The new task force, with members all from family medicine, will "try to determine exactly the objections of the Congress and craft some policy that would be acceptable to the delegates and that ACEP could endorse," said Fields.
But emergency room doors may soon be closing on some family physicians, said Fields. He cited the plan of Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow, N.Y., to fire about 15 of 20 full-time emergency room physicians this fall because they were not certified in emergency medicine. "That plan was almost immediately rescinded due to public protest. But it points up the danger of not having agreed-upon policy for protection of our members who work in emergency departments either full time or part time," said Fields.
He headed an earlier AAFP task force that included members of the American College of Emergency Physicians' Board of Directors. That task force drafted a joint statement last spring saying the two organizations envisioned a future in which physicians could take a combined residency in emergency medicine and family medicine. The joint statement was submitted to the 2005 Congress of Delegates as an appendix to Board Report O.
The 2005 Congress of Delegates decided not to adopt the joint statement (under "Reference Committee Reports With Congress Actions," open "Reference Committee on Education" [Members Only]). The new task force, with members all from family medicine, will "try to determine exactly the objections of the Congress and craft some policy that would be acceptable to the delegates and that ACEP could endorse," said Fields.
