American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) President Ada Stewart, RPh, MD, of Columbia, SC, joined the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) Board of Directors meeting on May 5 to update the OAFP about recent AAFP activities.
Dr. Stewart, a native of Cleveland, OH, first acknowledged her involvement in the OAFP as a medical student at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo. She specifically spoke of receiving a minority medical student award from the OAFP Foundation and her participation as a medical student in the AAFP Spring Legislative Visit to Washington, D.C. She noted her involvement in the OAFP was the start of her AAFP leadership journey.
Despite the hardships of the past year, AAFP membership continues to grow and overall satisfaction with membership is high and ticked up even higher during the pandemic. The percentage of employed physician members now stands at 72% of total membership and has been increasing 1 to 2 percentage points each year for the past several years.
- Working to reduce administrative burden/complexity
- Increasing overall payment
- Protecting family physicians’ interests with regard to non-physician providers.
- Support and sustain comprehensive family medicine practice
- Reduce administrative complexity
- Equip members with clinical expertise to improve individual and population health
- Grow a diverse family physician workforce.
The AAFP is currently in the middle of a digital public relations initiative to make AAFP the voice of America’s doctor on important public health issues. The AAFP also just started a strategic planning process to adjust to the needs of family physicians in a post COVID world.
In addition, Dr. Stewart spoke about a recent report issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) that recommends increased investment in and access to high-quality primary care.
- Payment parity for Medicare telehealth services, including audio only E/M visits
- Historic increase in outpatient E/M payment rates
- Passage of the American Rescue Plan; and
- Record match for family medicine in 2021.