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- Page navigation anchor for Family Physicians are being outflankedFamily Physicians are being outflankedShow More
The comments and articles about redefining family medicine sound good but are also becoming hollow in their impact on family medicine as physician assistant and nurse practitioner programs are about to outflank family physicians for our target population, especially in urban areas.
The is a recent move to give NP's a doctoral title on the cheap. Soon, you'll be able to call your local NP "doc". Unless family...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for New Model of Family MedicineNew Model of Family MedicineShow More
The New Model of Family Medicine is a worthy goal to improve the speciality. However, most of it was what I thought we were doing when I was in my residency 30 years ago.
Several new labels have been formulated to describe the New Model, like "personal medical home", "evidence-based medicine", "lifelong learning program", "high quality care", "practice based research", "quality of care", and "team approach t...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for 'New' Method of Financing Primary Care'New' Method of Financing Primary CareShow More
Imagine thousands of social services units all across our nation providing high quality medical care and equal access to patients. How could this be? This existed prior to 1987 in our primary care offices (social services unit) because in each individual office mercy was given to those who could not afford to pay the full charges for service, and those who could and did pay were subsidizing the care of those who we...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Family Medicine: Simplicity Beyond Complexity, Leading with QuestionsFamily Medicine: Simplicity Beyond Complexity, Leading with QuestionsShow More
The future of family medicine is bright. Healthcare and security are the only two national issues that everyone wants more of. Certainly our specialty is undergoing a serious identity crisis and our diversity makes simple solutions challenging. The FOFM report is a great starting point (1). Questioning the FOFM is a necessary step in finding our common voice amongst the cacophony of ideas, controversies, and visions of o...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Why Family Medicine?Why Family Medicine?Show More
I applaud the authors for outlining essential steps in the modernization of family medicine. This will help family medicine transform into a more humane, patient-oriented, evidence-based practice of medicine.
I am dismayed, however, by the lack of material here that is unique to family medicine. Most of what is proposed could be equally well applied to every other primary care specialty, as well as to most subspec...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for We need this dialogueWe need this dialogueShow More
The Future of Family Medicine has stirred up a tremendous amount of reactivity among our discipline. I would submit these comments:
1. I'm not sure what is new about the "new model." I've always been proud of my heritage as a "descendant" of the original physician, and I continue to feel very centered in the beliefs and values that brought me to this discipline. I'll bet the vast majority of the contributors to...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Family Medicine's Future - The Real StoryFamily Medicine's Future - The Real StoryShow More
Family Medicine’s Future - The Real Story
It looks as if the world is changing for Family Practitioners. The leadership has apparently determined that it is time to roll out a New Model for primary care delivery. Considering the convoluted, inequitable, yet business-oriented medical delivery system, this proposal seems to be a desperate gasp to save the specialty.
Reflecting on survey results publi...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for A few thoughtsA few thoughtsShow More
1] I am an optimist and believe that Family Medicine will do well in any system or non-system.
2]All Fam. Med. organizations must actively fight for a Health System which as a " right" will cover the basic health needs of every US citizen. When this happens the importance of Fam med will become apparant as the core of the system. To do this we should join with every organization working for the same outcome. As...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Critical Issues for Family MedicineCritical Issues for Family MedicineShow More
The report o the future of family medicine lays out,in considerable detail, the future (or a possible future) for Family Medicine However, I believe that it overlooks several critical issues that are (or certainly should be) the provence of family medicice and which really define the unique domain of family medicine.
First, family medicine physicians, along with their collaborating staffs, must be able to trea...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for AshamedAshamedShow More
I will not go into all the problems I have with this "Future". So many have already discussed them in great detail. All in all, I believe this is the most disturbing collection of garbage I've read in quite a while. I'm disappointed in this project. I'm ashamed of our board for caving in to the consumer advocacy groups and essentially transforming all of us into lifelong residents. Why would med students choose to be FP's...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for TAKING STEPS INTO THE FUTURETAKING STEPS INTO THE FUTUREShow More
The Future of Family Medicine (FFM) project has put together the nuts and bolts of the paradigm of family medicine and its 10 recommendations cover the activities that must be around to keep the discipline fighting fit: the new model of care of personal medical home providing a basket of services; medical records; Family Medicine education; life-long learning; research; quality of care; role of academic departments; best...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for New Model on the Wrong TrackNew Model on the Wrong TrackShow More
The development of the proposed New Model of Family Medicine evidently involved a tremendous expenditure of time, effort, and money for its formulation. Unfortunately, as I review the published report, all I perceive is a great deal of newspeak, marketing and political correctness thinking and rhetoric, yet very little substance.
The entire premise for the New Model is based on two fallacious concepts. One is...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Future of Family Medicine Includes New Role for NursesFuture of Family Medicine Includes New Role for NursesShow More
The Future of Family Medicine project labors under one of the traditional barriers to a transformed specialty, namely, the total focus on physicians, with only passing reference to the office team. We wrote a renewal plan for our family health center in Nederland, Colorado two months before the publication of the Future of Family Medicine Project. It is strikingly congruent with the FFMP report, except that it reflects a...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Too much navel gazing...Too much navel gazing...Show More
As a family doc "in the trenches", I was disappointed after reading the final FFM report. While it is a very worthwhile academic exercise, it doesn't provide much that is helpful in actual practice. Our specialty is in trouble because we have allowed it to be. Our leadership has not been a voice or a force in the way it should be. Students are not excited about family practice because we are not excited about it.
...Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Good Intent, Great Potential, Wrong DirectionGood Intent, Great Potential, Wrong DirectionShow More
Family Medicine has needed a dramatic overhaul for the past decade. I appluad your gargantuan efforts to address our plight. However, after spending 10 years on the frontlines with medical students and residents in the Predoctoral Division and on Faculty at U of TN, and now having joined the ranks of those in Private Practice, it seems to me that the changes suggested in the FFM Project are a nice facelift, but will do abs...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for What About the Future of the �Physician� in Family MedicineWhat About the Future of the �Physician� in Family MedicineShow More
If we don’t produce a roadmap for our future, someone else will plan it for us. I still remember the day, after having been in practice some five years, when an insurance rep came to my office telling me how managed care would be making my life easier, how it would be “physician friendly”, and that it’s main aim was to direct patients to my office and make sure I received the maximum reimbursement. At the time I didn’t rea...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for CIRCLING THE WAGONSCIRCLING THE WAGONSShow More
Let's not forget there are two problems here: both medicine in general and family medicine in particular are under attack. We find ourselves in the awkward position of attempting to justify our very existence not only to the system as a whole but also to our colleagues and even to ourselves. This is dangerous ground and given the current climate we need to hunker down and wait it out, to make ourselves resilient enough t...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for The Future of Family MedicineThe Future of Family MedicineShow More
I commend the members of the Project Leadership Committee for undertaking this task of The Future of Family Medicine, though after examining the results, I believe this could be more accurately called “The Leadership Role of Family Medicine In The Future of Medicine in the United States.”
The results clearly reveal that Family Medicine with its current concepts and attributes have a place in the current and futur...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for EDITOR'S QUESTIONS AND FURTHER SYNTHESISEDITOR'S QUESTIONS AND FURTHER SYNTHESISShow More
The following questions and summary of the online discussion will appear as part of the On TRACK feature of the May/Jun issue of Annals, which will be published later this month. I am posting it now in the hope that it will help to move forward the very thoughtful and passionate discussion that readers have been having. I am grateful to the online discussants who gave me feedback on my early attempt at a synthesis, and have m...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Administrative/Academic vs. Private Practice PerspectiveAdministrative/Academic vs. Private Practice PerspectiveAfter first reading The Future of Family Medicine Report, I was afraid that I was the only Family Practioner in the country who still had things pretty good (although admittedly not perfect). After some time for reflection and reading your comments on-line, it appears to be mostly an administrative/academic view of things vs. those of us "in the trenches". For the most part, the comments from those in private practice ar...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.
- Page navigation anchor for Patient-centered approach needs shared responsibilityPatient-centered approach needs shared responsibilityShow More
I read the future of Family Medicine supplement with enthusiasm and admiration.(1) Family medicine and society should benefit from the enormous amount of energy and effort used to create the report. One issue that was not addressed is how patient behavior is often contrary to patient expressed interest regarding a patient centered approach to decision-making. Patients verbalize an interest in shared decision-making, yet...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Response to The Future of Family MedicineResponse to The Future of Family MedicineShow More
The article about "The Future of Family Medicine" was quite refreshing. I've long held that physicians should lead the charge in designing a health care delivery system that addresses the needs of patients from our point of view. Left without our vital lead, the government will undoubtedly impose what they feel is the best method to deliver medical care to the public. Hospitalists and Managed Care have redefined the spe...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for I am not a professional hand holder!I am not a professional hand holder!Show More
Any casually aware med student could have told the two high priced consulting firms, and the 5 committees, what is going wrong with our profession.
There will be no future of Family Medicine, at least as practiced by real medical doctors, without addressing three fundamental issues.
Reimbursement. FP’s are at the bottom of the pay scale for medical doctors. To avoid being paid less than the PA, the...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for most important factor left outmost important factor left outShow More
First, let me thank everyone for their hard work on the future of Family Medicine Project. While the recommendations and predictions sound exciting - I feel the most critical element to ensure any future for Family Practice was left out. I predict that without significant and rapid improvment in reimbursment for primary care services our organization's very existence is in jeopardy. The average debt of medical students is...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for A Smart Move.A Smart Move.Show More
The philosophy of the recommendations from the first 5 Task Forces, I hope, would continually DETER medical students from entering Family Medicine, until an uniform recognition of the specialty of Family Medicine is appropriately bestowed upon, financially, politically, economically, socially, and philanthropically. In essence, this report has institutionallized what is supsicious, word-of-mouth from practitioners to...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for The Need for Family Doctors is awesomeThe Need for Family Doctors is awesomeShow More
The project report was well written and well organized and had many nice words, verbosity, redundancy and cutely coined phrases such as "personal medical home". (Yes, by all means, put the patient in a home!) But it certainly doesn't indicate the Gateway to Modern Scientific Medical Care that the family physician has always offered since the inception of the our specialty over 40 years ago; developed from the comprehensi...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Future of Family Medicine ProjectFuture of Family Medicine ProjectShow More
I was very disappointed to read the report on the Future of Family Medicine. First, of course, it defined me, as a solo practitioner as passé. It then went on to say that the essence of Family Medicine was continuous, relational medicine, with a family orientation, but, without any evidence, says that this will best be delivered by large, corporate style practices, (sounding suspiciously like present academic Family Pr...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for One Early Synthesis of the DiscussionOne Early Synthesis of the DiscussionShow More
Here is an early synthesis of the TRACK discussion so far. The editors welcome your further reactions.
From the TRACK discussion so far, we have gained a greater appreciation on how:
Times are changing (e.g. as articulated by Hashim, 4/20/04)
Change and the current health care reality is causing great suffering
- Among family physicians, patients, and others...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Comment on "The Future of Family Medicine" report.Comment on "The Future of Family Medicine" report.Show More
I have read the article and so has my wife (who after 29 years of marriage, putting me through med school, and being the book keeper for my office for 21 years, is very well qualified to have on opinion). We both agree that the article is just so much "smoke and mirrors." It never addresses the core problems with our specialty. First, we have markedly declining and inappropriately low reimbursement for work done. Mine...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for The Future of Family MedicineThe Future of Family MedicineShow More
After reading "The Future of Family Medicine", and discussing it with colleagues who, like me are veteran FPs who are not set in their ways, close-minded or prone to automatically embrace the latest trends, several thoughts come to mind.
1)It seems to many of us that the AAFP is gradually losing touch with many of its members. So many "real-world" issues seem to be ignored, while reports like this that seem to be...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Family Practice Reimbursement Issues Inadequately AddressedFamily Practice Reimbursement Issues Inadequately AddressedShow More
I read with great interest the report "The Future of Family Medicine" and agree in principle with the ambitious recommendations. However, until the woefully inadequate reimbursement that family practitioners receive is addressed, Family Medicine will not survive as a viable specialty. The one small paragraph in the report that addressed reimbursement emphasized increased efficiency as a means to improve practice margins....
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Future of Family Medicine: Chaos Theory in PracticeFuture of Family Medicine: Chaos Theory in PracticeIn theory,Show More
there is no difference
between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.Moving from chaos to sense
Is difficult, daunting, and dense.
In research and in practice,
The dominant fact is
We dance to the dollars and cents.Competing interests: I serve as Senior Associate Editor...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Personal medical home and access to carePersonal medical home and access to careShow More
There needs to be more development of the "access to health care for all Americans" advocacy on the part of participating organizations in the Future of Family Medicine.
People cannot have a personal medical home until they have a method of accessing the health care system. The tens of millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans, many children, have little or no practical means of establishing a personal me...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Pills and ProceduresPills and ProceduresShow More
Table 3 command of complexity "... health and well-being - not just pills and procedures." This phrasing denigrates the use of pills and procedures further distancing family physicians from science and technology. We need to do pills and procedures and do them well ... and do so much more. This may seem like nit-picking but can we complain that we are not respected in academia or seen to be technologically savvy when...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for provocative reportprovocative reportShow More
After reading the report and several of the letters regarding the report, I am overwhelmed by the number and diverse thoughts and feelings engendered. Let me enumerate a few: (1)Even though there is mention of the dysfunction of health care financing, this seems to me to be the major problem in medicine generally and family medicine specifically. Patients either can't afford to see anybody and then, without a primary ca...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Concerns of the FFM reportConcerns of the FFM reportShow More
Here are a few concerns:
Does this "New Model" create new openings and theories for medicolegal liability? If the patient's personal health record is headquartered in the family physicain's office, are we now responsible for knowing every piece of information that flows through? For example, say a radiologist sent a report to a surgeon and the surgeon missed an important finding. If all this communication is go...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Personal Medical HomePersonal Medical HomeShow More
It was great to see the Future of Family Medicine report in print. The message that it sends is thought provoking. My thanks and graditude for all the time and considerations placed on the topic by the Task Force members and the Academy.
If the Personal Medical Home is to become a reality I believe that a certification process must be created. Without such a label the message and intent of the project may be lo...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Future Trends in Primary Care: Lessons for Family MedicineFuture Trends in Primary Care: Lessons for Family MedicineShow More
Traditional attributes of general practice such as continuity and comprehensive care have decreasing relevance to primary care today. Patients change providers frequently and specialties overlap increasingly in areas of service. Primary care itself is becoming a competitive field with different specialists, independent mid-level providers, and alternative medicine specialists providing first contact care with increasing...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for No,it's not the modern day Willard reportNo,it's not the modern day Willard reportShow More
The editor asked me to respond to some of the concerns being raised as "doability" of the recommendations.My responses:
1.The Academy's leadership in EHR is resulting in political advocacy to "push" for national standards.
2.The Academy's Partners for Patients has encouraged many EHR vendors to adopt Academy principles and work with FP's
3.The Task Force #6 initial dialogue strongly supports so...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Who cares for all Americans . . .Who cares for all Americans . . .Show More
Doctor Blanchard's comments on retainer medicine touch on a most important issue that will determine the success of the Future of Family Medicine (FFM) project: Can viable financial models be developed that will make for thriving practices to serve as effective medical homes? All five Task Forces and the Project Leadership Committee of the FFM project recognized the criticality of this issue. Task Force Six (TF6), w...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Great Concept But Incompatible with RealityGreat Concept But Incompatible with RealityShow More
I read with great interest the article "The Future of Family Medicine". I think it is a great idea, but the reality is that it just can't happen without great changes in the American health care system.
To be able to finance an office described in the article will require a huge influx of money from third party payers. This is just not going to happen. Medicare reimbursement has been flat for the last several y...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for A truly new approach to family medicineA truly new approach to family medicineShow More
A Patient-Oriented Approach Based on “Appreciative Medicine”
Terry L. Franklin, M.D.
I. The State of Medicine Today
Every day we hear about breakthrough technologies that support conventional medicine, such as MRI, PET and CT scans that detail the inner workings of the human body or sensational new wonder drugs. This is in keeping with a health care system primarily based on allopathy, typical...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for From melting pot to the final "ingot"From melting pot to the final "ingot"Show More
As a 20 year residency trained and boarded member of the ABFP, fellow of the AAFP, I have read and wish to comment on the Annals of Family Medicine "Future of Family Medicine". My intent on entering the medical field was to be a traditionalist rural family physician. Due to social and financial pressures and constraints, I have evolved through a number of roles as a family physician, never really achieving my original goal...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for a nightmare scenario.a nightmare scenario.Show More
When I read the hypothetical scenario described by Michael Fleming M.D. which accompnied the "Future of Family Medicine" supplement,in which he describes a hypothetical diabetic's encounter with her physician,I thought Dr. Fleming was being sarcastic.
I was dismayed to realise that he was perfectly serious in that the delivery of this kind of "medical care" is a goal towards which doctors should strive.
...Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Response to "Future of Family Medicine"Response to "Future of Family Medicine"
I know a lot of thought and work went in to this, but I find this report and the plans boring, tepid, and uninspiring. There is nothing here that excites me about being in family medicine, nor anything that I think would draw someone to the field. I feel even more separated from my chosen discipline.
Competing interests: None declared
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Re: Giving UpRe: Giving UpShow More
Well said -- I wish more people in our specialty thought like this. I fear (no, I am nearly convinced) Family Medicine will die because the public is sold on the notion that a specialist is the only doctor to treat a specific problem. The only practical way we will stay alive is on 'word of mouth' referrals from patients. Good luck, and don't give up.
Sincerely, (from just south of you) Scott J. Samuelson, M.D....
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for ANOTHER PAT ON THE BACKANOTHER PAT ON THE BACKShow More
A hearty congratulations, and - just what they need - another pat on the back for the authors of the Future of Family Medicine project. I am forced to agree with the eternal optimists that the glass is still one eighth full.
It does not surprise me at all that 85% of patients in the multimillion-dollar focus groups want an FP as their personal medical advocate and resource. THEY JUST DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR IT....
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for FP declineFP declineShow More
It is no surprise to me that the numbers of students interested in family medicine residency prorams is in decline. I am a preceptor of students from the nearby medical school, and the reasons for students lack of interest is obvious.
Family practice is at the bottom rung of the pay scale for physicians. Why go through these years of education to be paid less than all of your colleagues? Medicare just cut reimb...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Medical Organization OverkillMedical Organization OverkillShow More
As a Board Certified Family Physician, I see little need for this grandiose set of changes being proposed, and stand firmly opposed to it being institutionalized by the organization designed to represent us rather than exercise tyranny over us. I find medicine by email to be a rather sterile entity; many FP's are employees of multispecialty groups and cannot necessarily dictate the total management setup of the whole...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for responseresponseShow More
I am submitting my reaction to the proposed changes to family medicine. I feel qualified to comment because my experience is based not only on my own nearly 30 years, but my father's 30 before me (when it was GPs who did surgery and delivered) and my 2 sons after me (both FPs in Paoli Inidiana Fps who deliver and even do C sections). If you alter the landscape, you will be doing an experiment with the lives of all presen...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for The movement toward retainer medicineThe movement toward retainer medicineShow More
We cannot even begin moving toward the "new model" outlined in your report without first having a major overhall to the financing of health care in our country. For those of us practicing retainer medicine we have been practicing the "new model" since 1996. Retainer practices put the power back in patients hands by giving them the opportunity to purchase out of pocket access to a practice that offers the "new model". M...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for It's about the money!It's about the money!Show More
How can one expect family physicians who have the least reimbursement and highest overhead to fund the recommended transformation of their practice to a model that embraces new facilities, EMRs, patient resource centers, etc?
For all that patients say they want, we know they are not willing to pay for it. We have learned that the relationship is meaningless if the managed care plan changes and the patient mus...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for STOP THE MADNESSSTOP THE MADNESSShow More
The specialty of Family Practice has taken a trip down the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland. Instead of tying to be nicer to Family Physicians under siege with reimbursements, malpractice, etc.. we are now told that taking an examination every six years is not enough! Please spend more time and money proving you're good enough for less each year. Up is down and down is up. Gosh, if we can't be kinder to ourselves...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Perspectives from U.S. Representative Jim McDermottPerspectives from U.S. Representative Jim McDermottShow More
I read with great interest the report on The Future of Family Medicine: A Collaborative Project of the Family Medicine Community in this month’s issue of Annals of Family Medicine, and I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this online discussion. I share the authors’ concerns over the current state of health care in America. As a physician myself, a psychiatrist by training, I have been keenly interested thr...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Health Promotion, Technology and JoyHealth Promotion, Technology and JoyShow More
The successful future of family medicine and the future of US healthcare must be inextricably linked. The complexity of healthcare choices and treatments demands a generalist in each person’s medical home. This is not the old, hated, gatekeeper model, but a model of the physician as guide and consultant.
We are challenged to use technology in our practices. Data show that care by generalists produces excellent o...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Whither Family Medicine?Whither Family Medicine?Show More
The statement of the Future of family Medicine Project Leadership Committee, published in the Annals of Family Medicine, March/April 2004 is bold but not brave. It says all the right things; the problem is what it doesn't say.
All of the proposals, although important and necessary, might be made by many if not most of the non-primary care specialties, who also will soon recognize changing need and claim their i...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Complexity and BenificenceComplexity and BenificenceShow More
‘The Future of Family Medicine: a collaborative project of the Family Medicine Community in the United States’ is a clear, consistent and visionary document. I know from experience how difficult it is to reach a consensus with ‘meat on the bone’ between leaders of different organizations with their own vested interests. Over the past four decades I have read numerous national and international reports on the future of (r...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Future of Family MedicineFuture of Family MedicineShow More
Dear Authors and Editorial Team: Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the "Future of Family Medicine" article. You have done a marvelous job. I am very concerned with the future of our specialty. For example, our group is the only group in one hospital where we actually see our own patients in the hospital rather than use hospitalists. We are seeing an erosion of Family Medicine internally (doctors less committe...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Living The DreamLiving The DreamShow More
Over the past 20 years, most Family Physicians left residency anticipating a thriving practice with patients they would share a long- term relationship with. That continuity allowed them to personalize the care to the individual and their family. Multiple forces have fragmented that care to the point that many physicians spend more of their time processing patients through the system than providing care. Other forces inc...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for A new "old-fashioned" approach to Family MedicineA new "old-fashioned" approach to Family MedicineShow More
I read with interest your report on the future family medicine. I submit to you that a few innovative primary-care physicians are currently pioneering a way to achieve these goals. We are doing this under the auspices of patient supported practices.
These are practices where the patients pay an annual fee for the services of their primary-care physician. No insurance company is charged for any service, thus...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for There won't be a practice if...There won't be a practice if...Show More
I wanted to raise the issue that is of utmost concern to practicing physicians and is so blatantly not being addressed in the article on the future of family physicians. The issue of malpractice and tort reform needs to be resolved before we find ourselves unable to provide care to our patients. This has been a concern but never really an urgent issue for me as my malpractice premiums have always been low compared to othe...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for We must evolveWe must evolveShow More
Despite our dedication to our patients and the long hours we devote to our profession, the current “system” is incapable of delivering the health care we so desperately want and need. Redoubled effort won’t result in an office practice that can deliver on the new rules from the Institute of Medicine’s Chasm report of 2001.
The richest health care system in the world leaves at least 40 million Americans withou...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Giving UpGiving UpShow More
Instead of challenging the current medical establishment and current patient thinking about health care and how FP's can be a patient's best source of medical care, you are proposing we put our tail between our legs and beg for scraps of food like a hungry dog!
I predict there will be two organizations for FP's in the future, and the current one will be for physicians who want to be nothing but middle people addi...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Allow Our Marketing Consultants to Help UsAllow Our Marketing Consultants to Help UsShow More
The report of the Future of Family Medicine project is very accurate and on track. The report represents a tremendous work from the family medicine community and means a lot of future work for many people in the family of family medicine. I congratulate the leaders of our community for their work and insight on this difficult topic. I wish to make several points:
First, problems are not solved at the same le...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans and AAFP: Creating a Better FutureBlue Cross Blue Shield Plans and AAFP: Creating a Better FutureShow More
“The Future of Family Medicine” report provides a landmark analysis of health care delivery in the United States, a valid assessment of what the public wants, and a road map for systematic changes in family practice designed to correct flaws in the system, while meeting both the needs and desires of the broad patient population. It is the culmination of a massive research undertaking followed by intense analysis and plan...
Competing Interests: None declared.