Policymaker-focused Advertising Campaign Kicks Off in Washington, DC. Health is Primary is running advertising to raise awareness about the value of primary care among policymakers. Members of Congress will also receive state-specific “welcome kits” that highlight data and stories on how primary care delivers better health outcomes at a lower cost. Additional events will be held throughout the year to educate policymakers on this issue.
February is Chronic Disease Month. This month the campaign is focused on chronic disease. You can download our monthly toolkit here, which includes tear sheets for patients on chronic disease management and the February calendar. In March, the campaign will focus on care coordination.
Help Us Promote a Unified Message About Primary Care. A strong primary care system is critical to a high functioning, cost effective health care system, and we need your voice. For suggestions about how to promote our message and engage on social media, see our 2017 campaign calendar, write an op-ed or share your story about primary care on our website.
Health is Primary is Partnering With the Alliance for Health Reform. Health is Primary has teamed up with the Alliance for Health Reform and will sponsor their summit series in 2017. The summit series will focus on three key issues: The future of health insurance, chronic disease management and healthcare workforce. Stay tuned for more information on these events.
Update from the Strategy Implementation Team:
Last Chance to Join a Focus Group About Student Choice of Family Medicine & Primary Care. The FMAHealth Workforce Education & Development Tactic Team continues to conduct online focus groups to identify the critical issues that impact a medical student’s choice to pursue family medicine and primary care. Over the last several months the team has held focus groups with various stakeholders including medical students, residents, and medical school and residency faculty from across the U.S. For the next round of focus groups to be held in February and March, the team plans to invite program directors, FMIG advisors, department chairs and deans to join in the discussions.
Additionally, the interview team would like to interview participants outside of the family medicine specialty including internists, pediatricians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners to provide diverse perspectives to the dialogue.
While the immediate goal of the focus groups is to promote better understanding of medical student choice of family medicine and primary care, an unexpected result has begun to occur as well. New alliances within and among stakeholder groups are forming that can also help
address America’s primary care shortage.
If you are a member of one of the stakeholder groups mentioned above and are interested in joining this discussion, we would like to include you. Please contact [email protected].
Registration is Open for the Upcoming Starfield Summit – Expanding the Role of Primary Care in Achieving Health Equity. Registration for the second Starfield Summit, focused on expanding the role of primary care in achieving health equity, is now open! The Summit will be held in Portland, OR on April 22-25, 2017 and is designed to build on the success of the first Starfield Summit (held in April 2016 in Washington, D.C.). It will provide a diverse and dynamic group of attendees the opportunity to build on existing work by tapping into the strength of current partnerships and by creating new coalitions and collaborations that will pave action oriented paths toward health equity and social accountability.
At the Health Equity Summit, thought leaders in health inequities, primary care clinicians and their organizations, public health experts, educators, researchers, trainees, advocates, policy experts, social service organizations, patients and community members will come together to create a blueprint for family medicine and primary care’s role in eliminating health disparities. Those interested in health equity research, practice transformation and education will gain valuable insights into best practices and have the opportunity to network with like minds for information exchange and collaboration.
To register or learn more visit the Health Equity Summit website at: http://www.starfieldsummit.com/starfield2/
