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New Primary Care Initiative Targets Doctors in Training02/15/2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media contact: Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice (P4) initiative has potential to transform the way doctors are trained to practice medicine LEAWOOD, Kan. – The Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD) and American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), in collaboration with TransforMED, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) practice redesign initiative, today announced 14 family medicine residency programs will participate in an initiative aimed at changing the way family physicians are trained to practice medicine. Dubbed P4, the Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice (P4) initiative has the potential to inspire considerable changes in the content and structure of family medicine training. Findings from the project are expected to guide future revisions in accreditation and content to ensure America's future family doctors are proficient in using the most up-to-date tools and technologies to meet the growing demands of health care consumers. The AFMRD and ABFM Foundation have pledged nearly $1.75 million to fund the initiative, only a portion of the financial commitment necessary to drive this innovation forward. "While many family medicine residency programs are taking new and progressive approaches to physician training, the 14 residencies participating in the P4 initiative will highlight innovations taking place in residencies across the country," said Samuel M. Jones, M.D., president of the AFMRD and co-chair of the P4 steering committee. "We're confident that residency programs not formally participating in the P4 initiative will continue moving ahead with their own innovations that may also advance the future of the specialty." "Instead of implementing the changes so-called experts prescribe, P4 relied on the imagination and judgment of family medicine residency directors and their staffs," said Larry Green, M.D., co-chair of the P4 steering committee. "It is our hope that, by encouraging change by innovation, as opposed to dictating change, the P4 initiative will give birth to a new and progressive way of training family physicians to be personal doctors. In the increasingly fragmented world of health care, residencies participating in P4 will endeavor to teach future doctors how to build a personal medical home where patients experience seamless, coordinated care. By implementing more progressive curricula that focus on futuristic ways of caring for patients, budding family physicians will learn how to elevate levels of patient care and satisfaction prior to completing residency. "The 21st century physician must have the technical knowledge and expertise to provide personalized, high-quality care in an information-age environment," Jones said. "I am confident P4 will guide us to a more forward-thinking graduate medical education curriculum that will empower America's future family doctors to provide the kind of efficient, top-quality, convenient care our patients deserve." The proposed innovations vary among the 14 participating residencies. For example, Baylor Family Medicine Residency in Houston, Texas, will add a fourth year to its program, provide residents with the opportunity to complete coursework toward a master's degree in public health (MPH), and increase ambulatory care setting experiences for residents. The Lehigh Valley Family Medicine Program in Allentown, Pa., will relocate its training to community-based practices, where residents will learn to implement innovations such as group visits and chronic disease management. The University of Missouri Family Medicine Residency Program in Columbia, Mo., will immerse residents in the personal medical home by increasing the amount of time residents spend in the outpatient clinic, and increasing the utilization of electronic resources. By doing so, the program will enhance the opportunity for resident physicians to provide continuity care to their patients throughout their training. In May 2007, the P4 residencies will hold their first joint meeting to fine tune their proposed innovations, make any necessary adjustments, and prepare to move forward. Contingent upon funding and organizational support, they will spend the next five years developing, implementing and testing their innovations, and sharing the results with the medical community. During the project, they will be subject to detailed evaluation and assessments by a research team from Oregon Health & Sciences University. P4 will be administered by TransforMED, the AAFP's practice redesign initiative. "P4 is a logical extension of the TransforMED national demonstration project currently underway," said Terry McGeeney, president and CEO of TransforMED. "The two initiatives will operate collaboratively and in parallel, allowing key learnings from the national demonstration project to seed new training strategies and approaches to guide the P4 residency initiative." "Today's family medicine residency directors acknowledge that new training approaches are essential to ensure family physicians are prepared to embrace new technologies and implement the characteristics of a personal medical home," Green said. "We are hopeful this national experiment will provide us with the compelling data necessary to optimize future training."
Residencies participating in the P4 initiative include: Baylor HCHD Family Medicine Residency Program – Houston, Texas Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation – Cedar Rapids, Iowa Christiana Care Health System Family Medicine Residency Program – Wilmington, Del. Hendersonville Family Practice Residency Program – Hendersonville, N.C. John Peter Smith Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program – Fort Worth, Texas Lehigh Valley Family Medicine Program – Allentown, Pa. Loma Linda Family Medicine Residency – Loma Linda, Calif. Middlesex Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program – Middletown, Conn. Tufts University Family Medicine Residency – Malden, Mass. University of Colorado Family Medicine Residency – Denver, Colo. University of Missouri–Columbia Family Medicine Residency – Columbia, Mo. University of Rochester Family Medicine Residency Program – Rochester, N.Y. Waukesha Family Medicine Residency Program – Waukesha, Wis. West Virginia University Rural Family Medicine Program – Harpers Ferry, W.V. Editor's note: Please visit www.transformed.com/p4-participants.cfm for an overview of each residency program's P4 innovations. To download the complete PDF of this press release, click here. ###
Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors The Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD) is dedicated to promoting excellence in family medicine graduate education in order to meet the health care needs of the American public. The AFMRD represents family medicine residency program directors at a national level and provides a voice for them in appropriate arenas. It works to develop the art and science of resident education in family medicine, improve the quality of education of family physicians, promote ethical behavior in all aspects of residency operation, promote communication and cooperation between family medicine residency programs and other members of the family medicine family, provide a network for mutual assistance among family medicine residency directors, and enhance the administrative operation of family medicine residencies.
American Board of Family Medicine The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) is the second largest medical specialty board in the United States. Founded in 1969, it is a voluntary, not-for-profit, private organization. Through its certification and recertification processes, ABFM ensures that the family physicians it certifies have completed the necessary training and have the experience to provide quality care to the individual and the family, and that this commitment to excellence is maintained throughout the physicians' years of practice. American Academy of Family Physicians Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents nearly 94,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care. Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 207 million office visits each year – nearly 62 million more than to the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America's underserved and rural populations. In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine's cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care. To learn more about the American Academy of Family Physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit www.aafp.org. About TransforMED The Leawood, Kan.-based TransforMED LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Established in 2005, TransforMED provides ongoing consultation and support to physicians looking to transform their practices to a new model of care that is based on the concept of a patient-centered medical home. TransforMED is an active member of primary care communities and recognizes and supports the unique value that primary care offers to patients and the health care system. TransforMED shares and supports the idealism and altruism of primary care physicians and the strong commitment to their communities and patients through continuing patient relationships and independent decision making. TransforMED offers practices both products and services, including consultation and advice on implementing the patient centered medical home model. To learn more about TransforMED, visit www.transformed.com. |
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