Reconnecting to “Vision, Voice, Leadership”: ADFM’s New Strategic Plan

More Inclusive Membership

Academic health centers have undergone significant changes due to mergers, acquisitions, and market forces that are forcing these institutions to play a greater role in our health care system. The traditional academic structures of medical schools have shifted. Faculty at many medical schools are now employed directly by health systems and the meaning of academic appointments is becoming less important. ADFM is exploring ways to meet the needs of many different academic unit structures to strengthen the voices of family medicine at the institutions.

Engaging Our Key Audiences in Academic Medicine on Family Medicine and Care of the Community

Cultivating partnerships within our academic and clinical structures is key to continue developing and supporting family medicine departments and the work they do to care for communities. A few recent examples include partnership with the other family medicine organizations to advocate for changes to the ACGME guidelines; participation in the Societies’ Consortium on Sexual Harassment in STEMM as an inaugural member alongside other organizations including the AAMC; and forging connections for the research endeavors across our discipline with a research summit that was held in October⁴ to build out a strategic plan to map our research trajectory for the next decade. These partnerships are a start, but ADFM continues to explore best places to engage.

Creating a Compelling Set of Resources on the Business Case for Academic Health Systems to Invest in Family Medicine

Some of these key partnerships may hinge on the ability of academic family medicine to demonstrate a business rationale for development and support. In many institutions, family medicine departments are in a position to increase the primary care footprint of academic health centers that would allow them to capture greater market share, particularly in an increasingly networked/consolidated health system environment. Academic health centers are also responsible for growing the primary care physician population for their region. Additionally, systems with a high penetration of value-based care will know that strong primary care leads to more cost-effective care as research has demonstrated that high use of primary care and continuity of care leads to lower health care costs and better health outcomes.^5-8

Creating Opportunities for Innovation and Disruption

One of ADFM’s strengths is bringing together our members for peer sharing and idea generation. We hope to move this to the next level by pushing forward ideas and efforts that are innovative or create (positive) disruption in the way our departments deliver care, teach students, residents, and other learners, and conduct research. This includes opportunities for bringing new technologies into the practice of family medicine that will get cutting edge care to our patients faster; opportunities for the use of artificial intelligence in caring for patients with increased efficiencies and potential for improved outcomes; and mechanisms to maximize the contributions of all members of interprofessional teams.

Leveraging Our Influence and Power to Improve the Health of the Communities We Serve

Academic health centers collectively oversee the care of millions of patients and almost universally practice evidence-based medicine. As noted by others, academic health centers bear a responsibility to advance the Quintuple Aim, which adds in health equity, due to the societal importance of their 4 missions: patient care, education, research, and community collaboration.⁹ Family medicine is often the entity that is most well-connected to the community within an academic health center given its role in outpatient and continuity care, and there is an opportunity to better leverage this position to create win-wins of helping academic health centers meet their needs in service to patients and the community.

We, as ADFM, believe that departments of family medicine have a large role to play in advocacy for our patients, trainees, clinical care teams, and research opportunities; connecting with our community partners, especially those who serve vulnerable populations to make communities healthier; and to change the focus of academic health centers to be more holistic in their approach to patients and improve health care outcomes. We should be an active part of the solution to the current systems that repress our ability to meet the Quintuple Aim. The other strategic areas that we have identified above will help create a more intentional strategy for better leveraging our potential as academic departments of family medicine.