AAFP's Future of Family Medicine Report recommends adoption of the New Model of Medical Care, and CAFP has been in the forefront of providing the training and resources to enable family physicians to do so. Improving office processes is key to improving both quality of care and the bottom line. Because Patient Centered Medical Home, office redesign and quality improvement are so closely related, you may also want to view the links we've made available on our quality resources page. Practice Management News, CAFP's monthly newsletter on coding, payment, workflow and legal issues, also includes many helpful resources.

Office Redesign

Established in 2005, TransforMED is an AAFP practice redesign initiative focused on assisting family physicians in implementing high performance practices that meet the needs of both patients and practices.

Ideal Micropractices are a very low overhead, high technology practices that focus on providing safe, effective, patient-centered, efficient, timely, and equitable care. This Web site offers a range details on how to transition to this model, sample forms and publications, toolkits, forums, and more.

The Better Diabetes Care section of the National Institutes of Health Web site provides tools for practice organization and redesign including self-assessments surveys, best practice models, and other resources.

Each year, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement organizes a summit on Redesigning the Clinical Office Practice. The goal is to serve as a meeting place for thousands of providers to learn cutting-edge improvements for the office practice and outpatient settings.

The Dartmouth Green Book is a workbook which provides hands-on, easy-to-use tools and methods for clinical teams can use to improve the quality and value of patient care as well as the work-life of all staff who contribute to patient care.

The Health Disparities Collaborative provides a Leaders' Guide to Developing the Business Case for Planned Care. Also included are a series of toolkits, resources, and specific tools.

Advanced Access

To find out more about same-day scheduling (also known as advanced access), AAFP and Medical Economics have made available a range of articles and tools:

The Outcomes of Open-Access Scheduling

Open Access as an Alternative to Patient Combat

Same-Day Appointments: Exploding the Access Paradigm

Reducing Delays and Waiting Times With Open-Office Scheduling

Don't Be Afraid of Same-Day Scheduling

You Mean I Can See the Doctor Today?