New AAFP Web Site Encourages Patients to Advocate Family Medicine's Issues

The AAFP has launched a new Web site aimed at educating patients about family physician issues and encouraging them to join with their family physicians in advocating those issues with state and federal legislators.

Family Health Advocate was created as part of the Academy's "bold champion" initiative to support the AAFP's legislative advocacy agenda with consumers. The site's purpose is to inform patients and consumers about the Academy's advocacy issues and to motivate them to make their voices heard about those issues on family physicians' behalf.

According to information on the Web site, patients play an invaluable role in the health care system and need to have their voices count on issues that affect their health and that of their family members. "Your voice counts," notes the site. "Join us and become a family health advocate to help make sure the health care system supports you. Together, we can send the message that the health care system needs to change, and it needs to change now."

The site, which had a "soft" launch early in 2008, uses the Academy's consumer Web site familydoctor.org as a springboard to reach the 2.5 million health care consumers that visit familydoctor.org each month.

Family Health Advocate features articles about advocacy issues that are important to family physicians and Web tools that make it easy for patients to contact their elected officials about these issues. The Medicare payment cut, the patient-centered medical home and health care reform all have been topics featured on the site.

Visitors to the site also can sign up to receive monthly e-mail newsletters and action alert e-mail notifications that focus on "hot" legislative issues and ask users to take immediate action by contacting their elected officials. Included in each action alert is a link to letter templates and contact information for legislators on a state-by-state basis. Action alerts sent in June to registered users of Family Health Advocate resulted in a significant percentage of those users contacting their legislators to urge a favorable vote on the Medicare payment bill.

Although primarily focused on advocacy issues, Family Health Advocate also includes stories on health care tools and tips for patients, AAFP programs and initiatives, and some clinical information.

Academy members are encouraged to reuse content on the site in their own patient communication vehicles. AAFP members also are encouraged to take an active part in the site by sharing their stories with the site's readers. Comments are subject to approval from the site's editor.