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The
Future
is
Now
by
F.
David Schneider, M.D.,
M.S.P.H.
Wow
is
all
I
can
say!
My
first
seven
months
as
TAFP
President
have
been
exciting
and
busy.
Since
July,
I
have
represented
the
TAFP
at
the
AAFP
National
Conference
of
Residents
and
Medical
Students,
the
AAFP
Congress
of
Delegates
and
Annual
Scientific
Assembly,
the
TMA
Fall
and
Winter
meetings,
the
AAFP
Multistate
Conference,
the
Family
Practice
Advisory
Committee
to
the
Texas
Higher
Education
Coordinating
Board,
the
annual
Texas
Family
Medicine
Leadership
Conference,
and
the
Statewide
Healthcare
Coordinating
Council’s
Conference
on
Innovative
Primary
Care
Practices.
We
hosted
the
Future
of
Family
Medicine
in
Texas
Conference
in
February
and
the
annual
C.
Frank
Webber
CME
conference
and
Interim
Business
Session
in
March,
and
met
with
Lt.
Gov.
David
Dewhurst
to
present
the
TAFP
Presidential
Award
of
Merit.
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All
of
these
meetings
have
significance
to
our
future
as
family
physicians
—
from
recruiting
new
medical
students
and
residency
graduates
to
our
state
to
practice
family
medicine,
to
restructuring
how
family
medicine
is
practiced
as
a
discipline
within
the
house
of
medicine,
to
changing
the
way
family
physicians
are
reimbursed
for
what
we
do
best,
managing
complex
medical
illness
in
the
office.
We
have
much
work
to
do
if
we
are
to
re-establish
ourselves
at
the
center
of
the
house
of
medicine,
where
we
belong.
I
have
three
objectives
for
my
year
as
president:
To
make
the
Future
of
Family
Medicine
a
reality;
to
build
coalitions
within
the
house
of
medicine;
and
to
make
our
voice
heard
as
advocates
for
our
patients.
We
are
accomplishing
these
in
tangible
ways.
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In
early
February,
family
medicine
leaders
from
all
around
Texas
met
in
Austin
to
begin
the
process
of
rejuvenating
our
specialty.
As
all
of
you
are
aware,
the
national
Future
of
Family
Medicine
project
of
the
Association
of
Family
Medicine
Organizations
has
completed
its
work.
The
final
report
has
just
been
published
in
the
Annals
of
Family
Medicine.
But
we
didn’t
want
to
wait
until
their
publication
date
to
begin
the
process
of
change.
So
on
Feb.
6
and
7,
approximately
65
family
medicine
leaders
from
all
kinds
of
practices
and
all
parts
of
Texas
got
together
at
the
Barton
Creek
Resort
to
hear
the
final
results
of
the
FFM
project
and
come
up
with
concrete
ways
to
implement
the
recommendations.
The
conference
generated
numerous
ideas
for
how
we
can
improve
the
practice
of
family
medicine.
The
first
three
the
TAFP
is
working
on
are:
1)
Pursuing
a
grant
from
the
Agency
for
Healthcare
Research
and
Quality
to
develop
electronic
health
records
systems
for
all
the
family
medicine
residencies
in
Texas;
2)
organizing
a
statewide
academic
health
summit
to
better
define
the
role
of
family
medicine
within
the
medical
schools,
and
3)
developing
innovative
methods
of
educating
our
practicing
physicians
in
new
medical
practices
and
techniques.
It
is
clear
that
we
all
need
truly
integrated
electronic
health
records
in
our
offices,
systems
that
can
talk
to
each
other
and
track
data
we
currently
track
manually
or
in
our
heads.
Much
of
what
we
spend
our
time
on
could
easily
be
automated
with
today’s
technology,
so
that
in
the
future
the
mundane
won’t
even
concern
us.
We
should
be
able
to
get
accurate
reports
on
our
patients’
current
health
status
and
trends
so
we
can
identify
signs
of
disease
early.
For
example,
we
should
be
able
to
know
which
of
our
patients
have
uncontrolled
diabetes
or
hypertension
just
by
typing
a
few
keystrokes,
so
we
can
have
only
those
patients
come
see
us
for
diet
counseling.
A
significant
threat
to
our
survival
in
primary
care
is
the
inadequate
reimbursement
system.
At
the
state
and
national
levels,
our
leaders
are
working
to
make
changes
happen
now.
Dr.
James
Martin,
one
of
our
TAFP
Past
Presidents,
and
current
AAFP
Board
Chair,
reported
that
discussions
with
CMS
on
the
inadequacy
of
the
current
reimbursement
system
for
E&M
codes
could
lead
to
changes
that
would
bring
significantly
more
revenue
to
our
practices.
This
is
crucial
for
the
success
of
primary
care
practices
—
no
matter
to
which
primary
care
specialty
we
belong.
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At
the
TMA,
we
are
working
to
develop
primary
care
leaders
for
Texas
medicine.
We
are
actively
grooming
our
leadership
for
leadership
positions
at
TMA,
as
we
have
done
successfully
at
the
AAFP.
We
are
strengthening
the
Primary
Care
Coalition,
made
up
of
the
leadership
of
the
family
physicians,
general
internists,
and
general
pediatricians.
With
15,000
members
between
the
three
specialties,
we
constitute
more
than
a
third
of
the
TMA
membership.
The
message
we
bring
to
TMA
is
that
quality
primary
care
for
our
patients
can
only
happen
if
we
are
allowed,
both
logistically
and
financially,
to
run
healthy
practices.
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The
third
objective,
to
be
a
strong
voice
of
advocacy
for
our
patients
continues
through
our
grass
roots
legislative
efforts.
Members
of
our
Academy’s
leadership
sit
on
many
committees
and
task
forces
throughout
the
state
in
many
different
organizations.
Our
message
is
clear.
We
must
have
better,
safer
health
care
for
our
patients.
I
look
forward
to
continuing
to
serve
the
TAFP
for
the
remainder
of
my
term
as
president,
and
beyond
as
a
leader
in
family
medicine.
I
invite
all
of
you
to
join
me
and
the
rest
of
our
colleagues
in
the
TAFP
leadership
in
forging
our
future.
You
either
have
received
or
are
about
to
receive
communication
calling
you
to
join
our
commissions,
committees,
task
forces
and
sections.
Please
consider
this
call.
It
is
our
collective
responsibility
as
family
physicians
to
step
forward
and
make
our
voices
heard.
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