New Scientific Assembly Format a Success
This year's Annual Scientific Assembly (ASA) was a celebration of CAFP's 60th anniversary and an introduction to our new Assembly format. Nearly 400 family physicians attended eight clinical sessions and three workshops over a two-day period.  We'd like to thank those who attended and encourage all members to take advantage of the practical and useful clinical knowledge shared by our faculty.  For more information about the ASA - including updated syllabus materials, information about CME reporting and a link to our online evaluation - visit our Web site. And don't forget to register for 2009! Download this Early Bird ASA registration card and mail or fax to CAFP by May 20.  Mark your calendar now for the April 18-19, 2009 ASA in San Francisco.

Riverside Family Medicine Residency Wins 2nd Annual Battle of the Residents
Led by emcee, part-time comedian, and CAFP staffer Adam Francis, six teams of family medicine residents competed in CAFP's 2nd Annual Battle of the Residents. Teams of two to five players, each representing a California family medicine residency program, fought to the finish. The Battle of the Residents gave California family medicine residents the opportunity to come together and participate in a competition with friends and peers while testing their family medicine knowledge, as well as their local state advocacy awareness. While the Riverside FMRP victory could have been considered a landslide, all teams were enthusiastic competitors. Read more about the Battle, the teams that participated and view our photos.

Silent Auction Raises Nearly $8,000
This year's CAFP Foundation Silent Auction was a huge success! With the generous contributions from members, staff, friends of the Foundation, and your bids, CAFP-F raised more than $7,600 to support  Family Medicine Interest Groups and medical students on California campuses. Susan Melvin, DO made the winning bid on the coveted trip to Hawaii, and, as usual, the powerhouse golf driver was the focus of the most competitive bidding. We thank each and every person who donated or bid on items. Based on your feedback, we'll be back in 2009! You may donate an item for the 2009 Auction using our online donation form, or, for more information, contact Mariah Brooks at mbrooks@familydocs.org.

CAFP advocated strongly during the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee hearing last week for a bill sponsored by a key ally in health care reform efforts. AB 2375, authored Assemblymember Ed Hernandez (D - Baldwin Park) and sponsored by the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, would create a health care workforce master plan to address the critical shortage of primary care physicians and other  health care providers throughout the state. The bill was approved by the Committee, and is on its way to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Read more about other key CAFP-supported legislative successes.

CAFP would like to expand its outreach to health plans, but we need your help - we need to hear about specific payment and contracting concerns with private payers in the state. This will help us identify issues you are facing and request a resolution. You can either complete a brief survey for details about your payer, issue and interactions you've had, or you can e-mail Sandra Newman, Director of Health Policy, at snewman@familydocs.org with this information.

Last month, CAFP participated in a California Healthcare Foundation-sponsored event called the Medi-Cal Performance Dashboard Meeting. Participants included the Department of Health Care Services, the Office of the Patient Advocate, Stan Rosenstein (the senior health care advisor to the Governor on Medi-Cal), and many others. The purpose of the meeting was to identify measures to provide better transparency to quality, cost and access within the Medi-Cal system. CAFP has continually advocated for a proper count of primary care physicians practicing in California and treating Medi-Cal patients, and did so at this meeting. We believe that these data could help policiy makers better relate how insufficient pay leads to poor access. CAFP hopes the Dashboard project will be an avenue to effect change; we will keep you posted on future developments.

Three local CAFP chapters will be hosting CME events in the next week: Orange County, Santa Clara and Los Angeles County. Get to know your local FP colleagues and gain CME credit while doing so. Read more about each event and RSVP to attend today! Also, the San Diego chapter will host its 51st Annual Postgraduate Symposium, "Family Medicine Update: 2008," June 27-29. Read more about the symposium or register now at www.regonline.com/sdafp08con.

Do you know a medical student with a passion for family medicine? Are you a student who wants to get involved? If the answer is yes, apply for one of CAFP's scholarships to attend the 2008 National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, July 31 - August 2. The CAFP Foundation is sponsoring ten $600 scholarships for California medical students to attend this meeting. Applications must be received by May 15, 2008. You can apply online, or for more information, contact Sandra Newman at (415) 345-8667.

CAFP Past President and former Family Physician of the Year, Joseph Scherger, MD, MPH is the author of "Here to Help," a health blog on the RevolutionHealth Web site. On the blog, Dr. Scherger discusses everything from nutrition to men's health to "hot" health care topics. Visit his blog at www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/drscherger. Want more from the blogosphere? Check out our new FP Forum Blog.

A recent article in the San Diego Union Tribune discusses the ways in which both doctors and their patients can improve communication with one another. Read the article for some ideas on how to better your relationship with your patients.

At the recent Annual Scientific Assembly, Susan Melvin, DO received the CAFP-F Award for Educational Excellence in Honor of Barbara Harris. CAFP-F annually presents this award to an individual who exemplifies innovation in family medicine education. Dr. Melvin, is the director of the Long Beach Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program and has been a colleague, mentor, teacher, and friend to many family physicians. Congratulations, Dr. Melvin!

Conducting her last Board meeting as chair before turning over the reins to President Jeff Luther, Immediate Past President Carla Kakutani had a full agenda at the April 25 Board of Directors meeting. New Board members Drs. Evan Bass (District III), Del Morris, (District VIII), Julian Delgado, (Rural Director), Ana-Lia Marilla, (Resident Director), and Alisha McCon (Student Director), assumed their new duties. Outgoing members Dan Harvey, Carol Havens, (who is now Vice Speaker), Roger Steubel, Uma Devaki, Sharon Lin and Immediate Past President Bo Greaves, received gifts and were thanked for their service to the Academy. For information about the actions taken by the Board, please see the meeting minutes.

Make your mark on family medicine by signing up to serve on one of CAFP's committees. Committee members help form policy and make recommendations to keep the Academy at the forefront of the specialty on a variety of topics, from legislative positions to medical practice challenges, continuing professional development to medical student and resident affairs. Review the scope of CAFP committees, and, if you're interested in taking part, fill out a committee application form. CAFP is also accepting applications for service on AAFP commissions (prior service on CAFP committees is recommended). For information, click here.