Professional Issues

(11/17/2009)  --  IBM plans to eliminate copays and deductibles for primary care physician services for most of its employees in January, a move that could prompt other large companies and employers to eliminate financial barriers for primary care services as well, according to analysts interviewed by AAFP News Now. More

(11/12/2009)  --  As more demonstration projects prove the value of the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, in increasing care efficacy and reducing costs, a number of federal agencies are adopting the medical home model as part of their overall health care transformation efforts. That was one of the messages that came out of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, or PCPCC, summit held Oct. 22 in Washington. More

(11/11/2009)  --  The AMA threw its support behind health system reform on Nov. 9 during the 2009 interim meeting of the AMA House of Delegates in Houston. And according to members of the Academy's delegation, the final measure adopted by the delegates carries forward much of the Academy's own message on reform. More

(11/09/2009)  --  Research has documented that primary care physicians report troubling levels of professional and personal distress, with more than half of practicing physicians in some studies reporting symptoms of burnout. Physician burnout, in turn, has been linked to lower quality of care and more medical errors. More

(10/28/2009)  --  Texas has taken steps to increase the number of primary care physicians in underserved areas of the state by putting in place one of the most generous physician loan repayment programs in the country. The program, which will be funded at $60 million on a biannual basis, will award as much as $160,000 during a four-year period to individual physicians who agree to provide primary care services in federally designated health professional shortage areas, or HPSAs. More

(10/07/2009)  --  The American Board of Family Medicine, or ABFM, has announced that it is joining forces with the American Board of Internal Medicine, or ABIM, to establish a pilot program for Recognition of Focused Practice, or RFP, in Hospital Medicine. The announcement is welcome news to AAFP President-elect Lori Heim, M.D., of Vass, N.C., a hospitalist who says she sees many benefits in such recognition. But she cautions that any RFP program that might result from the pilot should not be used to limit the scope of family physicians who practice the full scope of family medicine, including both inpatient and outpatient medicine. More

(10/02/2009)  --  The AAFP has sounded a clarion call in a new physician workforce reform report that recommends comprehensive changes in national workforce planning; specialty distribution; graduate medical education, or GME, funding; and medical education policy to secure a family physician and primary care workforce that meets the country's burgeoning needs. More