AAFP Launches Campaign to Ensure FPs Are at Forefront of Reform Debate

A new grass-roots, e-advocacy campaign launched by the Academy offers members "a historic opportunity to help improve health care in America and to promote the importance of primary care for our country," according to AAFP President Ted Epperly, M.D., of Boise, Idaho.

The AAFP Connect for Reform (Members Only) campaign will engage and energize AAFP members around the issue of health care reform as Congress and the Obama administration prepare to debate and possibly enact health care reform legislation.

"As family physicians, we must be part of this debate now," says Epperly in a video message announcing the launch of the campaign. "We are at a critical juncture (in health care reform), and we must step forward now. We must align our passion, our purpose, our people and our power and push as we have never pushed before."

Members who sign up to participate in the Connect for Reform campaign will receive regular detailed, easy-to-read analyses of health care reform efforts and initiatives in Washington. These reports will give members an insider's view of health care reform on the federal level.

In addition, the interactive campaign will allow members to respond to federal reform efforts and express their opinions on a variety of health care issues, putting them in a position to drive changes, influence outcomes and, ultimately, promote family medicine and the provision of primary care services.

"Ideally, this campaign will put us in a place we have been trying to get to for a long time," said Epperly in an interview with AAFP News Now. "And that is to renew and transform our specialty. This is a vehicle so we can help to make that happen."

The campaign's Web page is equipped with the latest e-mail technology and flash videos, making it possible for the Academy to communicate and engage members on an ongoing and interactive basis. This is the same type of technology the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates used during the 2008 campaign to build grass-roots support, said Epperly. With its implementation, the AAFP has taken its advocacy efforts to the next level, he added.

The Connect For Reform campaign also will be contacting participating members regularly to get their thoughts and opinions on issues and on what the Academy is doing in terms of health care reform. "We are working hard to make sure your voices are heard," says Epperly in the video message, "because we know we can be a more powerful force when we work together."