Next Stop on City Tour: Chicago. The next Health is Primary city tour will be in Chicago on Tuesday, May 19. The Chicago city tour will bring together local experts to discuss market-specific initiatives and new models of care that are improving patient and community health. There will be a focus group discussion following the Health is Primary event for members of the family medicine community to discuss how to incorporate the FMAHealth strategies and tactics into the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians’ strategic plan. In the evening, there will be an interactive panel discussion focusing on how students and residents can get engaged in implementing the FMAHealth strategic plan.
View Health is Primary Events in Seattle and Raleigh. Videos of the Seattle and Raleigh city tour events can be viewed at FMAHealth.org/articles-updates.
Updated Campaign Toolkit Now Available. The Health is Primary campaign has released new tools and resources to help promote the campaign and primary care in family medicine practices and local communities. The campaign toolkit includes print advertisements, posters and patient information sheets that can be customized with a chapter or practice logo. These resources are available at healthisprimary.org/toolkit.
New Patient Resources Available: Chronic Disease. Health is Primary is running quarterly initiatives on a variety of disease prevention and health promotion topics. The focus in January was fitness and nutrition. In April, the campaign highlighted and produced patient information sheets on chronic disease prevention and management. These materials are available in English and Spanish at healthisprimary.org/make-health-primary. The campaign will focus on immunizations (August) and smoking cessation (November) later this year.
Health is Primary to Hold Congressional Briefing. On May 14, Health is Primary will be in Washington, DC to brief Members of Congress and congressional staff on the campaign and to highlight primary care transformation and new models of care that are emerging around the country. This event will follow the Family Medicine Congressional Conference.
Core Teams Meet to Finalize Work Plans: All six strategy tactic teams came together in late April for their second face-to-face meeting since the launch of strategy implementation in December (Practice, Payment, Workforce Education and Development, Research, Technology, and Engagement). The teams clarified their goals and firmed up action plans that will help meet the seven strategic objectives of FMAHealth. As part of their work, the teams began to identify a broader network of people with whom to collaborate in accomplishing the tactics they are working on this year. Their next step is to submit the six work plans to the FMAHealth Board for their review and approval at the Board’s meeting in June. Following that approval, each of the six teams will begin reaching out to the family medicine community to invite them to join in the strategy implementation effort.
Recent Presentations to Family Medicine Community
STFM Town Hall Held at Annual Meeting. STFM held a Town Hall as part of their annual meeting in April that focused on Family Medicine for America’s Health and Health is Primary. The well-attended Town Hall audience felt the energy and commitment of a diverse panel that consisted of FMAHealth Board members as well as family physicians and members of STFM, including a pharmacist. The audience rallied around the idea that the time is now for a movement to transform primary care and that family medicine is primed to take a leadership role in this movement.
Family Medicine for America’s Health Team Presents at AAFP Annual Chapter Leader Forum. On April 30, chapter elected and staff leaders attending the AAFP Chapter Leader Forum heard about ways to engage their members using the updated campaign toolkit and in the strategic implementation effort. Very productive one-on-one meetings to discuss chapter involvement in future city tour events and strategic implementation were held following the formal presentation.
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