http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month.html en-us Copyright 2013 American Academy of Family Physicians http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20130429idahochapter.html http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20130429idahochapter.html A program's longevity often is an indication of its success. Such is the case with the 24-four-year run of the Idaho Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program (R/UOP), which represents a successful collaboration between the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and the Idaho AFP. The medical school has administrative control of R/UOP, and each year since its inception, the Idaho AFP has allocated $5,000 toward a program that aims to alleviate physician shortages in a state known for its wilderness areas and rural lifestyle. The end goal -- to fill the primary care pipeline with young physicians who will stay in the state to practice -- is so important to Idaho family physicians that a strong core of volunteers for years have introduced medical students to rural family medicine. ann@aafp.org Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:00:00 CDT Chapter Spotlight http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20130329connchapterspot.html http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20130329connchapterspot.html Family physician Craig Czarsty, M.D., of Oakville, Conn., embarked on his first medical mission trip to the Dominican Republic in 2005. From then on, he was hooked. A past president of the Connecticut AFP (CAFP), Czarsty continued to go on annual mission trips until the foundation then sponsoring the trips in which he and some of his CAFP colleagues participated pulled out of the Dominican Republic to focus on other mission areas in Central and South America. ann@aafp.org Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:20:00 CDT Chapter Spotlight http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20130227iowachapterspot.html http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20130227iowachapterspot.html The Iowa Academy of Family Physicians (IAFP) has earned a reputation as a savvy political player within the halls of the Iowa legislature during the past few years. In 2011 alone, the IAFP and its legislative allies succeeded in halting a Medicare physician payment cut and stopping midlevel providers from obtaining independent practice authority. But the chapter's greatest legislative victory came in 2012 as a result of legislation that created a physician loan repayment program designed to encourage more medical school graduates to pursue careers in primary care and to increase the number of primary care physicians, including family physicians, practicing in rural parts of the state. The legislation establishes a loan repayment program for primary care medical students who agree to stay and complete their residencies in the state and to practice in small, rural communities for at least five years after residency. ann@aafp.org Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:40:00 CST Chapter Spotlight http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20130130arizonachapspot.html http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20130130arizonachapspot.html In 2009, the Arizona Academy of Family Physicians (AZAFP) faced a tough decision. According to (then) President-elect Jeffrey Wolfrey, M.D., of Phoenix, the chapter's annual meeting, with its focus on CME for family physicians, was in a fiscal crisis. "We'd had this (member) meeting for decades; the expenses had gotten higher, and we were losing pharmaceutical support," says Wolfrey. "I remember the board meeting where the directors voted to cancel the annual meeting. Everybody hated to see it, but we just felt like it was the fiscally responsible thing to do." After the meeting, Wolfrey, chair of the department of family medicine at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix and a clinical professor of family and community medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, had second thoughts about the vote. ann@aafp.org Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:20:00 CST Chapter Spotlight http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20121231newjerseyafp.html http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20121231newjerseyafp.html As the AAFP constituent chapter that coined the phrase "distressed practice environment," the New Jersey AFP (NJAFP) knows a thing or two about what it will take to build and maintain a healthy network of primary care and family medicine practices capable of caring for the state's nearly 9 million residents. According to Raymond Saputelli, M.B.A., C.A.E., executive vice president of the NJAFP, salvation for the Garden State's medical system lies in practice transformation. ann@aafp.org Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:30:00 CST Chapter Spotlight http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20121130virginiachapter.html http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20121130virginiachapter.html The interests of family physicians and nurse practitioners (NPs) used to collide regularly in the Virginia General Assembly, largely because the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners (VCNP) and their legislative allies had for a few years been advocating legislation that would grant NPs independent practice authority. During those years, the Virginia Academy of Family Physicians (VAFP), the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) and their legislative allies argued successfully against the measures, resulting in a prolonged legislative stalemate that diverted time and resources away from other pressing issues, such as physician payment and removing administrative barriers to patient care. That longstanding impasse has now been resolved. ann@aafp.org Fri, 30 Nov 2012 17:55:00 CST Chapter Spotlight http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20121031chapspotlight.html http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/chapter-of-the-month/20121031chapspotlight.html Charles Rhodes, M.D., of Cabarrus Family Medicine in Mount Pleasant, N.C., has been practicing medicine for some 30 years. He describes family medicine as a "specialty of relationships" between a physician and his patients. "Family medicine chooses you; it's just something that fits your personality. I'm on fire for it and have been since I started medical school," said Rhodes in an interview with AAFP News Now. Rhodes exemplifies the kind of mentor that the North Carolina AFP had in mind when it launched its Family Medicine Interest and Scholars Program in June 2010. ann@aafp.org Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:00:00 CDT Chapter Spotlight