Around the world of TAFP

Although the year 2006 was marked by Pluto’s planetary identity crisis, TAFP stood steadfast in its identity. In TAFP’s 58th trip around the sun, members and staff made strides in the delivery and advocacy of health care in our great state and beyond. As a staff, we’ve worked to inform, empower and safeguard our members. In return, our members have championed solutions to issues from patient safety and meeting needs of underserved populations to providing model leadership in the specialty of family medicine. Together we’ve rallied behind family medicine as the answer to the health care crisis in Texas.

EDUCATION

Keeping with our track record of delivering top-notch continuing medical education, TAFP hosted five symposia around the state this year reaching over 1,000 family physicians. These included the 32nd Annual Winter Symposium in Colorado, the C. Frank Webber Lectureship in Austin, the Primary Care Update, coinciding with TMA’s annual meeting, TAFP’s 57th Annual Session and Scientific Assembly in Frisco, and the TAFP Primary Care Summit in Houston. The star of TAFP’s CME shined as attendees gave an average program evaluation of 4.5 on a five-point scale.

The education department coordinated diverse CME programs at the symposia, exploring topics in physician health and boundaries, cultural diversity, epidemics, ethics in prescribing durable medical equipment, vaccine safety, continuity of care, and robotic surgery. At the 2006 Annual Session, the sold out NPI Hot Topics in Procedures workshops were so popular they will be brought back in 2007. Evidence-based CME was also incorporated into Annual Session and will return to all 2007 symposia.

TAFP is proud to announce its reaccreditation by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education for the next 4 years. The Academy received exemplary status for our needs assessment process and accreditation status for all other elements. At each of TAFP’s five symposia of 2006, at least one hour of medical ethics was offered to help fulfill a requirement by the Texas Medical Board. In addition, the Academy offered 102 PrimeCME programs in 36 cities last year, reporting 1,339 attendees and 134 Category 1 credits.

ADVOCACY

For TAFP’s Legislative Affairs division, the year was marked by much groundwork for the special legislative session on school finance, the November mid-term elections and the 80th Legislative Session. To start, TAFP’s Liaison Committee with Managed Care Companies met with industry leaders to present family medicine as an antidote for high rates of both uninsured patients and health care costs. Leaders of managed care providers, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna and United Healthcare, were receptive to the message that family physician-directed care serves the best interests of all parties.

The TAFP Political Action Committee and our physician leadership base continued voicing family medicine’s interests. TAFPPAC was engaged in a number of decisive races during the mid-term elections, helping install new Texas House and Senate leaders supportive of medical reform and access for all Texans. The success of these elections was due in no small part to the financial and personal time commitments by active family physicians.

TAFP and its partners in the Primary Care Coalition published a new report, “Fractured: The State of Health Care in Texas” in October, in time for attention during the November mid-term elections. The report issued a bipartisan call to improve Texas’ health care delivery system, strengthen and streamline safety net health care programs, and provide all Texans with a medical home where they can receive comprehensive and affordable preventative care.

This report has been disseminated to every member of the Texas legislature and major newspaper in the state and was shortly followed by letters to editors and op-eds. The result: decision-makers are listening. TAFP has held editorial board meetings with the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, San Antonio Express-News and Austin American-Statesman. TAFP looks forward to meaningful response to the report in the 80th Legislative Session, which our team is prepared to take on.

Health care issues likely to appear on the legislative agenda in early 2007 include Medicaid and CHIP funding, the high numbers of uninsured Texans, health information technology, reimbursement to providers, managed care reform and strengthening graduate medical education. TAFP is ready to answer with the best solutions to these issues.

LEADERS and MEMBERS

TAFP’s new officers were inducted at this year’s 57th Annual Session. The Academy welcomed its newest inductees: Douglas Curran, M.D., president; Linda Siy, M.D., president-elect; K. Ashok Kumar, M.D., vice president; Robert Youens, M.D., treasurer; and Melissa Gerdes, M.D., parliamentarian. This occasion marked the close of an outstanding term of presidency for Tim Coleridge, D.O., who now holds the title of TAFP immediate past president.

The Academy took the opportunity to recognize some of its revered members during the 57th Annual Session. Erica W. Swegler, M.D., of Keller, received the Family Physician of the Year Award; Robert Chapman, M.D., and Martha Chapman, M.D., of Haltom City, were jointly honored with the 2006 Physicians Emeriti Award; Thomas Gavagan, M.D., of Houston, won the TAFP Public Health Award; former commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., M.P.H., received the TAFP Presidential Award of Merit and Glen Johnson, M.D., of Houston, was named Philanthropist of the Year.

At AAFP’s 2006 Scientific Assembly in Washington, D.C., Leah Raye Mabry, M.D., of San Antonio was re-elected to the position of vice speaker of the AAFP Congress of Delegates and began her third term. Roland A. Goertz, M.D., of Waco, was elected to the AAFP Board of Directors and awarded the 2006 AAFP Robert Graham Physician Executive Award. James C. Martin, M.D., of San Antonio, was also recognized as a family physician who has worked for nearly 30 years to improve his specialty. AAFP awarded him the John G. Walsh Award for Lifetime Contributions to Family Medicine at the Scientific Assembly in September.

The specialty of family medicine lost three of its leaders in 2006. Past presidents Jimmy Randles, M.D., a longtime resident of Waco, last residing in Vernon, Jack Arthur Haley, M.D., of Houston, and A. Earl Mgebroff, M.D., of Yoakum, all passed away last year. Their contributions and commitments to the Academy will be fondly remembered for years to come.

TAFP’s membership numbers have been on a steady rise with 3,861 active members and 5,705 total members. Once again, the Academy boasted 100 percent resident enrollment for 2006. Student membership numbers have grown as well, with 591 medical students on the roster. The 16th annual Texas Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Students was a marked success, hosting a record 95 attendees at the meeting in March. The TAFP Procedures Fair at the conference is a new favorite tradition as 13 residency programs demonstrated hands-on procedures to attending medical students. The procedures fair is the first opportunity for some students to practice “real medicine,” making it a vital component of the conference.

The TAFP Foundation continues planning for the strong future of family medicine through its significant support of educational and scientific initiatives. Thanks to our generous members, the Foundation’s research expenditures went from $20,000 a year to $30,000 a year in 2006 allowing the Research Grants Committee to fund six studies. It currently has 52 monthly donors who contributed a total of more than $13,000 in 2006. Scholarships totaling $20,000 were awarded this year that put the scholarship program over $100,000 in funds dispersed since its inception in 1994. The TAFP Foundation formed the Glen Johnson, M.D., Student Scholarship to benefit African American medical students from the charitable contribution made in honor of TAFP’s Philanthropist of the Year, Dr. Glen Johnson.

Exploring a variety of research topics relevant to family medicine, SPARRC members are currently participating in a Diabetes and Depression study. The study gathers data on the effects of depression on diabetes control, quality of life and other outcomes for patients with diabetes. Another research project TAFP has coordinated is the Texas Quality Circles Project. It comes as a response to the call for delivering high-quality health care, amidst the push for cost efficiency in the screening and treatment of osteoporosis. Primary care physicians join a circle in their city and attend four interactivity CME meetings while collecting data on their patients to share with the group. The project was approved this year for 20 Prescribed Category 1 credits under AAFP’s Performance Improvement Projects.

COMMUNICATIONS

Turning up the volume on the voice of family medicine is what our keen communications team achieves more each year. By its 228th publication, quarterly magazine Texas Family Physician has established itself as a relevant platform for doctors to share and garner insight on current goings-on in the medical world. The significant task of researching, producing and editing the report, “Fractured: The State of Health Care in Texas,” was coordinated by TAFP’s communications division, backed by the Primary Care Coalition. As aforementioned, the report has been met with thoughtful media response.

TAFP has been able to mobilize to the information needs of our members through several key outlets. With communication becoming ever more driven by technology, our team has responded with a polished and comprehensive online presence in 2006. Kate McCann finished her first year on the job as associate editor, bringing insightful reporting and research to feature stories of Texas Family Physician, TAFP’s electronic newsletter QuickInfo, and has contributed to making our online resources more comprehensive. TAFP’s Webmaster and e-learning specialist, Rob Ripperda, and director of member services and operations, Kathy McCarthy, C.A.E., have also invested much attention and finesse to the upgrade of our user-friendly Web site, www.tafp.org. Member resources and frequently updated practice tools, along with a new search feature all serve to better equip our members as they navigate www.tafp.org.

As Jonathan Nelson, director of communications, observes of his division, “We have been able to redouble our efforts, quickly launching Web news and resources almost instantly.” TAFP’s QuickInfo was redesigned and has received positive reader evaluations, delivering news and information as needed to members on a more frequent basis. The team has also been inspired by the successful results of Ohio AFP to initiate an informational media project called “Family Health Focus.” The campaign is favorably raising the profile of family medicine by providing quality information to medium-to-small Texas newspapers. TAFP’s communications department will continue on its path of expansion for 2007, establishing a greater Web and media presence for family medicine.

BACK AT THE OFFICE

The Academy welcomes new staffer, Camille Fajardo, as membership coordinator. She will be coordinating efforts with the Texas Department of State Health Services to recruit family physicians to bring the highly effective anti-tobacco campaign, Tar Wars, to elementary students throughout the state, as well as handling other membership needs.

2007 marks a transition in leadership, as Executive Director Jim White will retire at the year’s end with Tom Banning stepping up to fill the role. Banning will learn the ropes in his new position as deputy executive director. Director of education, Jo Ann Kindinger, also said goodbye to TAFP after 16 years of service that included initiating programs such as PrimeCME. TAFP looks forward to another stellar year promoting high quality health care throughout Texas in 2007.

The 2006 Staff:

Jim White, Executive Director
Tom Banning, Deputy Executive Director and Director of Public Affairs
Jennifer Burns, Symposia Planning Specialist
Laurel Catlin, PrimeCME Planning Specialist
Camille Fajardo, Membership Coordinator
Ann Maldonado, CME Coordinator
Kate McCann, Communications Coordinator
Kathy McCarthy, Director of Member Services and Operations
Jessica Miley, CME Coordinator
Robert Montoya, Director of Accounting
Nathan Moore, Marketing Specialist
Esmond N’wokeji, Education Coordinator
Jonathan Nelson, Director of Communications
Paige Newman, Research Coordinator
Rob Ripperda, Webmaster and E-Learning Specialist