STFM PREPARES FAMILY MEDICINE EDUCATORS TO LEAD

There is a critical need for leadership development in family medicine. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the expansion of Medicaid in many states, and the aging population are driving the need for an expanded family medicine workforce. Medical schools and residency programs are jumping through hoops to educate a workforce to meet that need, in spite of the fact that health systems are incentivized to distribute Graduate Medical Education (GME) funding to subspecialty training.^1–2

There is hope that the funding for both graduate medical education and primary care services may be changing. The nation is coming to realize that primary care must be at the foundation of a health care system that actually delivers better health, better health care, and lower costs. The July 2014 Institute of Medicine report, Graduate Medical Education That Meets the Nation’s Health Needs, calls for changes to GME financing and governance to address deficiencies and shape the physician workforce for the future. Family medicine organizations introduced to Congress and the public new policy recommendations for graduate medical education. And Family Medicine for America’s Health, a 20+ million dollar campaign launched in October 2014, is implementing strategies to ensure broad access to sustained, primary care relationships; reduce health care disparities; transform training; and facilitate a transition from fee-for-service payment to comprehensive payment.^3–5

All of is happening as residency programs and fellowships are adjusting to changes in the graduate medical education accreditation process, including the transition to a single accreditation system.

Change such as this requires leadership from all of family medicine. Physicians, educators, researchers, and other health professionals need to be prepared to step up and advance change in programs, practices, institutions, and communities. “Leadership offers the enviable opportunity to influence the course of events: it direction, its content, and its texture,” points out STFM President Sam Cullison, MD.

STFM is helping family medicine educators prepare to lead change and to lead in the midst of change. Two Leading Change task forces have been charged with developing and disseminating curriculum and resources to educate and empower family medicine faculty. The first launched a series of 12 free online modules. The second is working on:

• Curriculum for live presentations on topics such as Calibrating the Leader, Power and Politics of Change, Creative Leadership, and Building the Team. This curriculum will be tailored for established fellowships, conference/preconference workshops, and STFM On the Road presentations. The first training session will be at the 2015 STFM Annual Spring Conference.

• An indexed online toolkit that includes links to:

  • References listed in the Leading Change online modules

  • Worksheets, forms, and assessment tools to accompany the modules

  • Recommended readings

  • Case studies

  • Previous fellowship projects

• A yearlong leading change fellowship that will offer mid- to senior-level faculty the opportunity to enhance their ability to lead change by applying the existing Leading Change curriculum to an actual change opportunity within their institutions or departments. The fellowship will be multidisciplinary and will likely include dyads. The fellowship is slated to launch at the 2015 Conference on Practice Improvement. STFM already has a yearlong Emerging Leaders Fellowship. The STFM Foundation coordinates a Bishop Fellowship Program for senior faculty.

• © 2015 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.