February 22, 2010
I want to update you on the activities of the board and board leaders since my last communication in January.
Elissa Palmer, Joe Gravel, Jay Fetter, and I represented our membership in the semi-annual meeting of the Council of Academic Family Medicine (CAFM) and Working Party. CAFM is composed of the four family medicine academic organizations – AFMRD, STFM, ADFM, and NAPCRG. Working Party is composed of the same academic organizations plus the ABFM, the AAFP and the AAFP Foundation.
The CAFM organizations discussed areas of common interest including our ongoing advocacy efforts, the PCMH and mental health integration, engaging the Veterans Administration in education, and others projects. A more complete list of projects can be found at the CAFM website at http://www.academicfamilymedicine.org/
One measure of our advocacy impact is that the AAMC and others have singled out organized family medicine, represented by the AAFP and the academic organizations of CAFM, for their joint positions taken during the recent health care reform debate. I have heard, and I agree, that it is especially powerful to have the signatures of the four presidents and the chair of CAFM in each letter. The signatures represent the fact that these organizations, all with diverse member needs, are agreeing on an issue. That represents a powerful coalition. The voices of these groups do not get lost in a homogenized way as in other specialty disciplines. (You may recall that our recent survey of our membership indicated that over two-thirds of our members believe that the unique needs of our program directors cannot be met by having only a single academic organization.)
Two new CAFM strategic priorities for the coming year include residency innovation and preparing a response for the anticipated release of the RC-FM new program requirements in the fall 2010. On a final note regarding CAFM, I am pleased to report that I have been elected as chair of CAFM to a one-year term beginning in August 2010.
The AFMRD board just completed its winter meeting to further develop the strategic plan for the next three years. The plan will be released at the Program Directors Workshop in June and pieces of the plan will be highlighted in the Annals of Family Medicine over the next 12 months. While the plan is not yet ready for release at this time, I can tell you the focus of the plan will be to raise the bar for quality in residency education. We are also working to increase the transparency of the board, improve its governance and increase the participation of non-board AFMRD members in the ongoing committee work of the organization.
If you have an interest running for a board position, it is not too late. Please contact Elissa Palmer or any other board member to get more information. If you would like to serve on an AFMRD committee, please contact a board member or the AFMRD staff.
Stan Kozakowski, MD
AFMRD President