Initiative Stands to Boost Member Retention

Experience the AAFP, an Academy membership retention program that recently evolved from a pilot project to a permanent initiative, already may be boosting AAFP membership renewals, according to Colleen Lawler, C.A.E., director of the Membership Division. The program offers price cuts and free resources for members in their first seven years of practice.

"We sent information to our new physicians in April about the resources they qualify for when they pay their annual dues in full, and we're starting to see them renew their memberships at a slightly higher rate than other active members," says Lawler. "It's likely part of that response can be attributed to Experience the AAFP."

Between 98 percent and 99 percent of family medicine residency graduates upgrade to active member status, says Lawler, so the Experience the AAFP program does not focus on gaining new physician members. Instead, it aims for retention.

"We're trying to push the programs we know are valuable to new physicians so they get engaged with the Academy," says Lawler. "Engagement will trigger retention."

According to a memo from the Membership Division, a 2003 predictive study "indicated a strong proclivity among new-to-practice physicians to drop AAFP membership within the first four years following residency completion. … Faced with significant debt and start-up costs and dilemmas typical of all new small businesses or developing careers, new physicians are particularly susceptible to frustration and dropping membership because of lack of perceived value."

The Board in 2003 approved Experience the AAFP as a 2004-05 pilot program and last December established it as a permanent initiative.