Newly-elected MAFP student and resident board members visited the MAFP office for an orientation Friday, conducted by Drs. Brent Smith of Cleveland and Jeremy Wells of Hattiesburg, along with MAFP staff.

During orientation, students and residents took part in discussions about the responsibilities and expectations of a board member, learned more about the committee structure and strategic plans, and discussed ways to improve Spring Fling and other resident and student activities.

Ulmer to Present 'Code Well'

For the 2017-18 school year, 205 Tar Wars presentations were made around the state. Between UMMC medical students, William Carey medical students and Miss Mississippi Anne Elizabeth Buys, 8,998 4th and 5th graders around the state were educated on the effects of tobacco use and the damage it can cause. More information on the Tar Wars program. If you're interested in presenting Tar Wars to a classroom near you, contact Jewell Buckley at MAFP.

Do you have knowledge to share with residents, medical students or your peers? Your words could help someone choose family medicine as a career. MAFP is putting together a list of family physicians interested in being speakers for MAFP conferences, plus medical student groups and residency programs this school year. Physicians are encouraged to provide their services free of charge. Contact Kay-Lynn Meador to get on the list -- make sure to tell us a topic or two you feel confident presenting to others.

You don't have to attend the MAFP Annual Meeting to purchase a ticket for the $10,000 Draw Down. Last year's event raised more than $12,000.

Tickets - which cost $100 and are tax-deductible - are available until July 19 by calling the MAFP office. The drawing will be July 24 at 6 pm.

ONE FREE DRAW DOWN TICKET to anyone who sells 10 tickets! The MAFP can mail your tickets prior to the meeting to give you a head start. Please e-mail Kay-Lynn if you have 10 friends who can help support a great foundation.

Paid advertisement from ABFM PRIME SAN.  The ABFM invites board-certified family physicians to enroll in PRIME Registry™ free for the first three years!

PRIME Registry is a practice and population data tool developed by the ABFM that safely extracts patient data* from your electronic health records (EHRs) and turns it into actionable measures, presented in an easy-to-use, personalized dashboard, maintaining its full confidentiality. PRIME not only simplifies quality reporting for payment programs such as MIPS and CPC+, but also allows you to better evaluate aspects of your practice, patient groups, and individual patients, illuminating gaps or successes in patient care.

Another bonus for ABFM Diplomates: the integrated Performance Improvement (PI) activity tool allows Diplomates to easily use EHR data to complete PI activities and earn points toward the ABFM continuous certification requirements.  PRIME will soon add social determinant and community resource data, showing clusters of disease, poor outcomes, and community resources for patients and clinics via the new Population Health Assessment Engine (PHATE ™).

By enrolling in PRIME now, you will secure free MIPS reporting through PRIME in 2019, and you will be able to take advantage of all the features PRIME has to offer.  Ready to get started? Enroll at primeregistry.org . Have questions? Email [email protected] or call 877-223-7437.

* All registry data are maintained in compliance with HIPAA, subject to a Business Associates Agreement, but the ABFM has gone farther to protect your data. The registry vendor has no rights to use identified data without your permission, and the ABFM purposefully cannot touch patient data except for research purposes and after Institutional Review Board approval.

The MAFP Nominating Committee takes pleasure in placing the following names in nomination for the slated positions. Incumbents are listed in italics. 2018 Slate

The Nominating Committee is: Sue Simmons, MD, Chair; Sam Crosby, MD; Susan Chiarito, MD; Wade Dowell, MD; Jennifer Gholson, MD; Katie Patterson, MD (Ex-Officio).

The ballot will be up for a vote at the Annual Business Session on Tuesday, July 24, during the MAFP Annual Meeting. You must be present to participate.