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WASHINGTON– The American Academy of Family Physicians is launching a 5-year strategic effort to help convince payers and policy makers to place a higher value on primary care and that getting back to basics is the way to achieve better health, better care, and lower costs.
Family physicians are best-positioned to deliver on that promise, known as the Triple Aim, said Dr. Glen Stream, in announcing the new campaign at the AAFP Scientific Assembly Oct. 23.
“We believe the solution to many – if not all – of our health care problems can be found in primary care,” said Dr. Stream, a past board chairman of AAFP, in a statement.
Dr. Stream is the chairman of the board of directors of Family Medicine for America’s Health, an organization that will tackle the work of “modernizing the family medicine specialty.” The group will focus on expanding access to the patient-centered medical home, building up the primary care workforce, and shifting from fee for service to a more comprehensive primary care payment model, Dr. Stream said.
One issue the campaign will work on: Advocating for the creation of primary care–specific evaluation and management codes.
“If you had a primary care code that was specifically designed to recognize the intensity and complexity of modern primary care practice and valued it accordingly, then you could change payment for primary care services,” said Dr. Stream, in an interview.
The campaign won’t focus only on physician income, but on “how do you have adequate payment into a medical home system that covers all of the services that patients need and deserve?”
The campaign will also focus on technology. There will be efforts to speak with one voice about improving electronic medical records systems. But the technology work group – one of six on the campaign – will more specifically look at ensuring that new inventions, whether they be at the bedside or on a smartphone – are effective in actually connecting physicians and patients and improve health outcomes.
As part of the overall strategic initiative, the AAFP is also launching “Health is Primary,” a public outreach project that will, among other things, visit a number of cities to showcase primary care interventions that are meeting the Triple Aim.
The cities have not been chosen yet, but the tour will begin in January, said Dr. Stream.
Dr. Don Berwick, who has been a chief promoter of the Triple Aim through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and when he was administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, applauded the AAFP campaign.
“Bravo to family medicine for taking leadership here,” said Dr. Berwick at the briefing. “You’ll have me rooting for you from now on,” he said.
In a plenary address to the AAFP Scientific Assembly, Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services said, “When it comes to improving the way providers are paid, I want you to know that we share your commitment to rewarding value and care coordination, rather than volume and care duplication. Like you, we want to pay providers for what works – whether it’s something as complex as preventing or treating disease or something as straightforward as making sure that you have time to answer a patient’s questions.”
Although most of the campaign’s goals are aligned with those of the AAFP, its efforts are more urgent and more inclusive, Dr. Stream said. The campaign’s board includes representatives from the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, the American Board of Family Medicine, the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, the North American Primary Care Research Group, and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Other board members include a rural physician, a new physician, an association executive, and a representative from the National Partnership for Women and Families.
WASHINGTON– The American Academy of Family Physicians is launching a 5-year strategic effort to help convince payers and policy makers to place a higher value on primary care and that getting back to basics is the way to achieve better health, better care, and lower costs.
Family physicians are best-positioned to deliver on that promise, known as the Triple Aim, said Dr. Glen Stream, in announcing the new campaign at the AAFP Scientific Assembly Oct. 23.
“We believe the solution to many – if not all – of our health care problems can be found in primary care,” said Dr. Stream, a past board chairman of AAFP, in a statement.
Dr. Stream is the chairman of the board of directors of Family Medicine for America’s Health, an organization that will tackle the work of “modernizing the family medicine specialty.” The group will focus on expanding access to the patient-centered medical home, building up the primary care workforce, and shifting from fee for service to a more comprehensive primary care payment model, Dr. Stream said.
One issue the campaign will work on: Advocating for the creation of primary care–specific evaluation and management codes.
“If you had a primary care code that was specifically designed to recognize the intensity and complexity of modern primary care practice and valued it accordingly, then you could change payment for primary care services,” said Dr. Stream, in an interview.
The campaign won’t focus only on physician income, but on “how do you have adequate payment into a medical home system that covers all of the services that patients need and deserve?”
The campaign will also focus on technology. There will be efforts to speak with one voice about improving electronic medical records systems. But the technology work group – one of six on the campaign – will more specifically look at ensuring that new inventions, whether they be at the bedside or on a smartphone – are effective in actually connecting physicians and patients and improve health outcomes.
As part of the overall strategic initiative, the AAFP is also launching “Health is Primary,” a public outreach project that will, among other things, visit a number of cities to showcase primary care interventions that are meeting the Triple Aim.
The cities have not been chosen yet, but the tour will begin in January, said Dr. Stream.
Dr. Don Berwick, who has been a chief promoter of the Triple Aim through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and when he was administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, applauded the AAFP campaign.
“Bravo to family medicine for taking leadership here,” said Dr. Berwick at the briefing. “You’ll have me rooting for you from now on,” he said.
In a plenary address to the AAFP Scientific Assembly, Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services said, “When it comes to improving the way providers are paid, I want you to know that we share your commitment to rewarding value and care coordination, rather than volume and care duplication. Like you, we want to pay providers for what works – whether it’s something as complex as preventing or treating disease or something as straightforward as making sure that you have time to answer a patient’s questions.”
Although most of the campaign’s goals are aligned with those of the AAFP, its efforts are more urgent and more inclusive, Dr. Stream said. The campaign’s board includes representatives from the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, the American Board of Family Medicine, the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, the North American Primary Care Research Group, and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Other board members include a rural physician, a new physician, an association executive, and a representative from the National Partnership for Women and Families.
WASHINGTON– The American Academy of Family Physicians is launching a 5-year strategic effort to help convince payers and policy makers to place a higher value on primary care and that getting back to basics is the way to achieve better health, better care, and lower costs.
Family physicians are best-positioned to deliver on that promise, known as the Triple Aim, said Dr. Glen Stream, in announcing the new campaign at the AAFP Scientific Assembly Oct. 23.
“We believe the solution to many – if not all – of our health care problems can be found in primary care,” said Dr. Stream, a past board chairman of AAFP, in a statement.
Dr. Stream is the chairman of the board of directors of Family Medicine for America’s Health, an organization that will tackle the work of “modernizing the family medicine specialty.” The group will focus on expanding access to the patient-centered medical home, building up the primary care workforce, and shifting from fee for service to a more comprehensive primary care payment model, Dr. Stream said.
One issue the campaign will work on: Advocating for the creation of primary care–specific evaluation and management codes.
“If you had a primary care code that was specifically designed to recognize the intensity and complexity of modern primary care practice and valued it accordingly, then you could change payment for primary care services,” said Dr. Stream, in an interview.
The campaign won’t focus only on physician income, but on “how do you have adequate payment into a medical home system that covers all of the services that patients need and deserve?”
The campaign will also focus on technology. There will be efforts to speak with one voice about improving electronic medical records systems. But the technology work group – one of six on the campaign – will more specifically look at ensuring that new inventions, whether they be at the bedside or on a smartphone – are effective in actually connecting physicians and patients and improve health outcomes.
As part of the overall strategic initiative, the AAFP is also launching “Health is Primary,” a public outreach project that will, among other things, visit a number of cities to showcase primary care interventions that are meeting the Triple Aim.
The cities have not been chosen yet, but the tour will begin in January, said Dr. Stream.
Dr. Don Berwick, who has been a chief promoter of the Triple Aim through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and when he was administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, applauded the AAFP campaign.
“Bravo to family medicine for taking leadership here,” said Dr. Berwick at the briefing. “You’ll have me rooting for you from now on,” he said.
In a plenary address to the AAFP Scientific Assembly, Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services said, “When it comes to improving the way providers are paid, I want you to know that we share your commitment to rewarding value and care coordination, rather than volume and care duplication. Like you, we want to pay providers for what works – whether it’s something as complex as preventing or treating disease or something as straightforward as making sure that you have time to answer a patient’s questions.”
Although most of the campaign’s goals are aligned with those of the AAFP, its efforts are more urgent and more inclusive, Dr. Stream said. The campaign’s board includes representatives from the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, the American Board of Family Medicine, the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, the North American Primary Care Research Group, and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Other board members include a rural physician, a new physician, an association executive, and a representative from the National Partnership for Women and Families.
