Posted on 01.25.10 by Executive Vice President Susan Hogeland, CAE

What a difference a day makes - last week's special election in Massachusetts threw a monkey wrench into health care reform - who knew it could happen so quickly?  While no one would say the House and Senate bills were perfect by any stretch of the imagination, both were highly favorable to family medicine and primary care - and that was a good start.  Now, it seems all bets are off and CAFP and AAFP are standing by waiting to see what the House and Senate leadership will try to salvage, if anything.  But, life goes on.  CAFP will monitor this situation very closely and will try to save what is most beneficial to family physicians and their patients.

The budget battle continues as well.  CAFP has asked other primary care and patient advocacy organizations to sign a letter we have written to the Governor and legislators asking for consideration of a number of revenue increasing measures that could lessen the impact of cuts to health care services.  Deadline for agreeing to sign onto the letter is the 27^th of January.  Among the measures are nickel-a-drink tax increases for alcoholic beverages and sugar-sweetened beverages and an increase in tobacco taxes.

We are knee-deep in Congress of Delegates activities and Annual Scientific Assembly activities, as we will be through the first weekend in March for the former, and through May 15 for the latter.  Please register for the ASA as soon as possible - it promises to be outstanding.  Our CME stars, Shelly Rodrigues and Cynthia Kear, are presenting at the CME Alliance in New Orleans on many of the excellent CME activities the Academy has undertaken this year.  Between the two of them, they are giving six presentations - way to go!  Much of CAFP's continuing medical education success is tied to these two powerhouses.

Carla Kakutani was interviewed by Associated Press about the new timely access regulations for HMO patients after AAFP contacted us for help.  AAFP President Lori Heim was also interviewed and their comments (Dr. Heim's and Dr. Kakutani's) comments were carried extensively:  the article has appeared in more than 100 different publications, including ABC News online: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/print?id=9620424

Here's a brief sample of media outlets that have published the article (so far):

• Forbes
• ABC News
• Business Week
• Los Angeles Times
• Philadelphia Inquirer
• San Jose Mercury News
• Washington Post
• Boston Globe
• Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Dallas Morning News

Thanks to Legislative Advocate Tom Riley and media consultant Catherine Direen for providing deep background on this issue and connecting the dots for all concerned. 

CAFP will sponsor the second Medical Home Summit for residency program directors and chief residents on February 8 and 9 in Los Angeles with the support of Southern and Northern California Permanente Medical Groups and Pfizer.  This important event is tied to CAFP's "Residents in Action" legislative and media training program for residents and is handled by Sandy Newman, Dasha Sakharova and Shelly Rodrigues.

Sandy Newman and I are attending the National Committee on Quality Assurance's Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH)training for physician offices this week in Washington, D.C. so we can better understand what physician practices must do for NCQA recognition as a PCMH.  We knew it wasn't easy, but now we're even more impressed with the 146 practices in California that have achieved PCMH recognition so far.