PROMOTION OF THE VALUE OF FAMILY MEDICINE
MEMBERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Government Relations Team
The Indiana Academy of Family Physicians advocates for you in the Statehouse. With our lobbyists Doug Kinser, JD and Meredith Edwards, the IAFP stays on top of the issues to make sure family medicine is represented. The IAFP legislative team utilizes mandates from the yearly Congress of Delegates and input from the Commission on Legislation and Board of Directors to determine our legislative priorities and actions.
Our Issues:
- Family Physician Shortage
The IAFP believes that “everyone deserves a Family Physician.” Family Physicians deliver a high standard of care that improves patient outcomes. Just at a time when America needs more family physicians we see fewer and fewer students choosing this specialty and family physicians leaving the workforce earlier. At the legislature the IAFP works to maintain the family medicine residency funding and monitors the medical school expansion to ensure family medicine is included.
- Payment Reform
The shortage of family physicians cannot be corrected without payment reform, including increased fees for services, improved payment structures through the medical home and loan forgiveness.
- Smokefree Workplaces and Tobacco Cessation
As a family physician you are on the frontline helping your patients quit tobacco addictions, and treating tobacco related diseases. The IAFP supports comprehensive and effective public policy measures that prevent and reduce smoking and other tobacco use in the state, including funding the Indiana Tobacco Prevention & Cessation Agency (ITPC) at the level recommended by the CDC; increasing the state tobacco tax; and, eliminating secondhand smoke from all workplaces, including restaurants, bars and gaming facilities.
BE INVOLVED
The IAFP offers several ways for you to be involved in the legislative process:
Physician of the Day Program
The Indiana Academy of Family Physicians and the Indiana State Medical Association jointly sponsor the Physician of the Day program. IAFP members volunteer to spend one or more days at the Indiana Statehouse during the legislative session. The purpose of the Physician of the Day program is to provide episodic primary care services, as a convenience for the governor and legislators while the state legislature is in session. For more information contact Chris Barry or Meredith Edwards at 317.237.4237.
Testify
Whether a piece of legislation is on increasing physician payment or smokefree air, elected officials want to hear from you. As physicians you hold a respected place in the community and your opinion counts. During each legislative session the IAFP will seek out members to give testimony on family medicine issues. If you are interested in providing testimony on a particular issue, or would like to be called on to testify, please contact Meredith Edwards.
Write a Letter/Make a Call
The primary way the IAFP will communicate with you on legislative issues is through the e-FrontLine. At times when a key bill is up for a vote, the IAFP will send out information to you in an e-FrontLine newsletter explaining the issue and how you can help, including making a phone call, writing a letter, or attending a council meeting or town hall.
When we need local, state or national policy makers to hear from family physicians we utilize the AAFP legislative action center “Speak Out.” Speak Out enables you to easily send email messages to legislators and lawmakers on issues you care about. You will be contacted via a mass email from the AAFP when a Speak Out alert for Indiana is available. (Please make sure we have your current email address and mailing address on file, so we can correctly identify your legislative district. Email us with your updated information!)
Donate to the PAC
Decisions made by the state legislature affect your life as a family physician. The IAFP Political Action Committee directly supports the campaigns of key legislators we know will support the interests of family physicians. Your much needed contributions assist the IAFP with providing a strong voice for family medicine.
Please donate to the IAFP-PAC. Send your contribution to the Indiana Academy of Family Physicians at 55 Monument Circle, Ste 400, Indianapolis, IN 46204. Make checks payable to IAFP-PAC.
PROMOTION OF THE VALUE OF FAMILY MEDICINE
Workforce Multimedia Campaign
The IAFP created a multimedia campaign touting the importance of family medicine and highlighting the state’s critical shortage of primary care physicians. Click here for the results.
Legislators and Policy Makers
IAFP works with state legislators and policy makers to guarantee the future support of family physicians. IAFP lobbyists will champion the message of primary care and the medical home during each legislative session.
IU School of Medicine
Indiana is facing a critical shortage of primary care physicians, and the IU School of Medicine is the only Indiana school that can supply the state with the primary care physicians it so desperately needs. IAFP will urge the school and Indiana’s lawmakers to focus its resources on promoting primary care and placing value on the services they provide. IAFP will share this critical message with the Indiana General Assembly. To share your concerns about the primary care physician shortage or your experiences with the medical school, please email the IAFP at iafp@in-afp.org.
TransforMED
TransforMED, owned by the American Academy of Family Physicians, is an organization whose mission is to assist in the implementation of physician practice redesigns based on the patient centered medical home model. In 2006, TransforMED launched a 24-month National Demonstration Project, serving as a "learning lab" to generate new knowledge about the process of practice transformation and lessons learned about the Patient Centered Medical Home. One of the participating self directed practices was Olio Road Family Care, in Fishers, Indiana – a practice which the IAFP has a very close relationship with. As a result, Olio Road has shared its lessons learned with the IAFP and its members. Visit TransforMED’s website (www.transformed.com) to access lessons learned and tools that will help you determine where your practice stands in relation to the TransforMED medical home model.
NCQA
The AAFP, along with the American College of Physicians (ACP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Osteopathic Association (AOA) worked with NCQA to establish a set of standards evaluating a practice’s ability to operate as a Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). The IAFP, as well as national groups, are working to convince payers, policy makers and legislators that reimbursement should better reward a practice’s “medical homeness.” To learn more about the NCQA designation, visit http://www.ncqa.org/tabid/631/Default.aspx.
Grant Applications
The IAFP continues to apply for various state and federal grants that help promote the value of Family Medicine.
Coding and Billing Issues
The IAFP works with Joy Newby, LPN, CPC, a nationally-recognized coding and billing expert. Joy frequently speaks at our meetings, and provides updates to members via our FrontLine Physician, e-FrontLine, and our website.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home
The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PC-MH) is an approach to providing comprehensive primary care for children, youth and adults. The PC-MH is a health care setting that facilitates partnerships between individual patients, and their
personal physicians, and when appropriate, the patient’s family. Principles of the PC-MH include the importance of a personal physician and a physician-directed medical practice; whole person orientation and coordinated care; safety and quality; enhanced access to care; and the resolution of payment issues. For more information visit http://www.pcpcc.net/content/patient-centered-medical-home
Practice Enhancement Forum
The Practice Enhancement Forum is a state-based training course for family physicians and their office staffs in the domains of quality improvement, office redesign, and a care model, consistent with that described in the Future of Family Medicine report. Check your FrontLine Physician and e-FrontLine for details on Indiana's next PEF.
Start Saving Money on Vaccines Now!
Get Deeper Discounts on Vaccines, Reimbursement Support with Payers, and Timely Updates About New Products, Changes and Promotions!
The Indiana Academy of Family Physicians is partnering with Atlantic Health Partners because Atlantic can save Family Physicians money, advocate for fair payment and support family medicine and our chapter. Joining the Atlantic program is free to your practice and enrollment is completely voluntary.
As a member of Atlantic, your practice places orders directly with Sanofi Pasteur and Merck and receives the most favorable pricing and purchasing terms for pediatric, adolescent, adult, and flu vaccines.. Atlantic also advocates on our behalf with payers for fair and reasonable vaccine reimbursement. Furthermore, Atlantic can provide assistance to your practice related to billing, coding, and inventory management.
We encourage you to contact Cindy Berenson or Jeff Winokur at 800.741.2044 or at info@atlantichealthpartners.com for more information and to register, or visit www.atlantichealthpartners.com.
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The IAFP has partnered with the publisher of Prescriber's Letter so you can save $44 off the regular price just by being an IAFP member.
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• Up to 24 CME credits
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Learn more and start your subscription to Prescriber's Letter online now at www.PrescribersLetter.com/INAFP or by calling Prescriber's Letter at (209) 472-2240 or (800) 995-8712.
Education
The IAFP aims to provide high-quality, low-cost continuing medical education that is planned by family physicians especially for family physicians. CME credits are available at the IAFP Family Medicine Update and IAFP Annual Scientific Assembly, and will soon be available online as well.
Reporting CME
To report your CME hours, visit https://secure.aafp.org/login and enter your AAFP ID number and password/last name. We’re here to help - call us if you have questions.
Research
The IAFP works with Deborah I. Allen, MD, and the Bowen Research Center at the IU Department of Family Medicine to conduct research into the current status of the family physician workforce in Indiana, and the nature of their practice. We also conduct surveys of our members through online survey tools.
MEMBERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Regional Meetings
Every spring the IAFP staff travels across the state to meet with physicians in each of the IAFP eight regions. These region meetings are a great time to connect with the Academy and fellow physicians in your area. Check your FrontLine Physician and e-FrontLine for more details.
Click here for a map of our regions. The map link is near the top of the page, above a complete list of your Academy’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee.