It seems as if our plate just keeps getting fuller - CAFP currently has so many opportunities to make a difference for family physicians and their patients.  Unfortunately, our first order of business is to ensure we have the resources to continue advocating on your behalf, and that means collecting dues unpaid at this time.  May 1 is the deadline for dues payment; AAFP intends to notify those who have not yet paid and that their memberships have been discontinued.  That's a bad thing.  It takes an amazing amount of resources to ensure everyone - or almost everyone - stays in the membership fold.  In addition to multiple contacts by the AAFP, there have been a number of outreach efforts by staff here at CAFP as well.  This week, every staff member, including me, has been given the responsibility of contacting a minimum of 40 of the 712 members who have not yet paid - by email or by telephone.  You can imagine the time and energy this takes away from programmatic activities such as regulation review, advocacy for Patient Centered Medical Home, work on behalf of residency training programs, outreach to students and residents, planning for our upcoming Annual Scientific Assembly, etc.

The simple solution is:  please pay your dues today, if you have not yet done so.  If you need to renew, you may do so online at www.aafp.org/. There's also a new monthly installment renewal option if you prefer that route. If you sign up before May 1, you can make monthly dues payments from May through August by going to the "My Academy" page at aafp.org ; sign in as a member using your ID# and your password.  On the "Pay your Dues" page you will find the installment plan signup.

Now, back to our OTHER business:  last week was really busy on two fronts - in the State Legislature and attending CMA meetings.  CAFP testified on a bill to require insurance companies pay the real cost to physicians of purchasing and administering vaccines, AB 2093 (M. Perez) and also participated in a press conference to promote the legislation.  Academy member Marsha McKay, MD, of Twain Hart, represented CAFP.  Legislative assistant Adam Francis represented CAFP at CMA's Leadership Academy, a gathering of organized medicine's leadership from around the state to learn about the latest issues.  Adam also represented the Academy at a CMA meeting on scope of practice over the weekend. 

I was occupied with interviews to replace Sandy Newman, our now-former Director of Health Policy, to whom we said goodbye last Friday after five years with the Academy.  I'm happy to report the candidates for her position have been excellent and that I am close to a final decision. 

We're also quite involved in preparing for our April 24-25 meeting with 11 family physicians who are volunteering their weekend to help us identify what our first steps should be on helping family physicians implement the Patient Centered Medical Home in their practices.  We are in the process of wrapping up our all-member survey on PCMH and have now reached nearly 300 respondents.  And, of course, we are in the final stages of preparation for our May 14 Board of Directors meeting and May 15-16 Annual Scientific Assembly, being held at the Grand Hyatt Union Square here in San Francisco.  If you haven't yet registered for this meeting, please do so right away.  It's a great chance to earn prescribed credit while networking and sharing with family physicians just like you - in a beautiful location!  Register online today.