THANK YOU TO OUR 2021 TOP SPONSORS | |
A Note from the President | |
|
New Year, New Requirements, New Opportunities
Happy 2022! On behalf of the FMEC Board of Trustees and staff, thank you for all you are doing in your busy clinics and overcrowded hospitals to get us through the current COVID surge. Our region was hit early and hard by the Omicron variant, and while the situation is improving in many communities, we know it’s taking a huge toll on our members and their families. We thank you and hope we see things improve throughout 2022.
I’m pleased to report that the FMEC Board recently submitted comments on the proposed revisions to the Family Medicine Program Requirements released by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Our long-term support of residents and faculty across a large region gives the FMEC unique perspectives, and we felt it was important for the FMEC to have a voice in the process. The FMEC Board believes certain elements of the new requirements will result in a stronger resident experience, such as the move toward cross-institution learning collaboratives and a focus on lifelong learning. In addition, those changes will also offer opportunities for the FMEC to support residency programs through our current and emerging initiatives. Please read about the FMEC’s input in our letter to the ACGME and an accompanying press release. Did you provide input to the ACGME? Please share your thoughts on the new requirements, and how the FMEC could help you implement them, with me or our CEO, Scott Allen ([email protected]).
Also, huge thanks to past FMEC President Dr. Stacy Potts for her role in leading the revision of the requirements – it was hard work over many years, and we congratulate her!
Finally, please make sure to get your presentation submissions into the FMEC 2022 Annual Meeting! The meeting is early this year, so our deadline is early too – February 11, 2022! Don’t miss this opportunity to share your work and attend a great meeting. Submit your proposal on the FMEC 2022 Annual Meeting Submission Site.
Donald (Raj) Woolever, MD, FAAFP
[email protected]
| |
|
2022 FMEC Annual Meeting submissions due soon!
Program submissions are due February 11, 2022. Visit the FMEC 2022 Annual Meeting Submission Site to submit, and for information on the specific types of presentations, review the FMEC 2022 Annual Meeting Session Overview. The FMEC is interested in submissions that address any topic related to family medicine, but this year we are especially interested in topics related to the following issues.
- Diversity, equity and inclusion
- Whole person healthcare, and strategies to address the emotional, financial, social, spiritual, and occupational health of your patients
- Social determinants of health, and the unique ways that primary care and physician training can address issues such as poverty, educational quality, food insecurity, access to transportation, affordable housing, unemployment, maintenance of basic utilities, violence, and public safety
- Pediatric care, from birth to young adulthood
- Innovative approaches to managing patients with COVID-19 and pandemic care generally
- Upcoming changes in the ACGME’s family medicine requirements, specifically sessions that will help the FMEC audience be ready to conduct cross-institutional quality improvement programs; integrate lifelong adaptive learning, individualized learning plans, coaching, and training in self-reflection into their programs; and expand their community councils to engage diverse members and members with lived experience
Got an idea for a session related to the above topics? Please submit it!
We’ve moved! Remember to update your records
If you haven’t already, please update your records with the FMEC’s new address: PMB 362
3195 Dayton-Xenia Road, Suite 900, Dayton, Ohio 45434-6390. Share this with anyone in your hospital or health system who needs it!
| |
|
Geropalliative Care course available soon!
Starting in February 2022, the FMEC will open up registration for the Geropalliative Care Series, an online CME course approved for 6.0 AAFP Prescribed Credits through February 1, 2023. The course focuses on patient-centered care of frail older adults in their last 2 to 5 years of life. The series will cover what is geropalliative care, frailty, delirium (understanding the importance and prevention), evidence-based medical prognostication, and the potential harms caused by continuing traditional care. The course was developed by Dr. Daniel Hoefer, the Chief Medical Officer for Sharp HealthCare’s outpatient palliative care program Transitions, and Associate Medical Director for Sharp HospiceCare. He is a board-certified family practice physician, certified in Palliative Medicine and is part of Sharp Rees Stealy Medical Group in San Diego. Dr. Hoefer has been the visionary for the development of an evidence-based disease management care model for late-stage illness. Watch your email for more information on pricing and how to register!
Needing Inspiration? Subscribe to Pulse
Pulse–voices from the heart of medicine was launched in early 2008 by the Department of Family and Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. The FMEC, as part of its work encouraging creative writing and artistic accomplishments for family physicians and its awards program, has been a leader in connecting health care and medicine with the humanities. The FMEC was proud to be part of the formation of Pulse. Every Friday, Pulse publishes and distributes a first-person story or poem, together with a visual image or haiku, about health care, and Pulse welcomes submissions by anyone who has a healthcare story to tell. For more information and to subscribe, visit the Pulse website.
Strong 2021 for the FACTS project
Thanks to generosity of its supporters as well as the team’s dedication, perseverance, and flexibility, the FACTS Fertility Appreciation Collaborative not only maintained its offerings but expanded in important ways.
-
The FACTS medical elective remains one of the most effective educational opportunities for medical and health professional students interested in learning more about Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (FABMs). FACTS saw more student enrollments in our online elective over the last academic year than in the previous 2.5 years combined!
-
FACTS offered its second virtual conference in 2021 and welcomed 265 people from around the world to learn more about FABMs. FACTS also held its first virtual FACTS speaker training, preparing a dozen more medical professionals to share the evidence about FABMs.
-
FACTS premiered its newest presentation, a webinar for adolescents titled, "Know Your Body," which was well received!
-
FACTS launched an innovative 6-part CME Course called Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs) for Family Planning and Restorative Reproductive Women’s Healthcare. This course prepares medical professionals to present FABMs as options for family planning, women’s health monitoring, and medical management of common reproductive health concerns. It is approved for up to 74 AAFP-approved CME credits.
-
Finally, FACTS promoted two important databases. The FABM Professionals Database provides a searchable, national database of physicians, medical professionals, and fertility educators. The FABM Research Database features a collection of over 130 fertility awareness related articles, with a summary of key results and conclusions, available to paid FACTS members (Not a member? Join today!)
| |
|
Record highs and minority surge in medical school applications
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, applicants to medical school soared by a record-setting 17.8% for the 2021-22 school year, led by historical increases among underrepresented minorities. The number of accepted students and new enrollments into medical school also reached new highs, making the first-year class of 2021 larger and more diverse than any before it. Read more in the AAMC’s report.
How’s your state doing? Equity and Healthcare
For many years, the Commonwealth Fund has tracked the functioning of each state’s health care system, with the goal of motivating actions to improve their residents’ health and health care. A late 2021 report evaluates health equity across race and ethnicity, both within and between states, to illuminate how state health systems perform for Black, white, Latinx/Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) populations. Read more in Achieving Racial and Ethnic Equity in U.S. Health Care: A Scorecard of State Performance.
How’s your state doing? Pre-term birth
The March of Dimes has released its 2021 report card, offering a comprehensive overview of the health of moms and babies across the U.S. The report grades the U.S. states, Puerto Rico and 100 cities on preterm birth rates; includes other information such as infant death, social vulnerability, low-risk cesarean births, and state efforts on Medicaid expansion and extension, doula and midwife legislation/policies; and outlines important policy solutions that can make a difference. For the first time in six years U.S. preterm births declined slightly from 10.2 percent to 10.1 percent. Yet, these rates increased slightly for Black, American Indian and Alaska Native women. See how your state and community are doing at March of Dimes Report Card.
| |
|
Good news! Student loan payments remain frozen until May 1st!
Bad news: student loan servicers are changing, there’s a new Limited Waiver opportunity for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and it’s all very confusing! If you have questions right now about how this affects your situation, we can help. The FMEC has partnered with Navigate Student Loans Navigate Student Loans to answer all your questions. Set up a short appointment or give them a call and they can sort out fact from fiction and help you make a plan. For more information, reach out to Joy at Navigate ([email protected]).
| |
|
Working on DEI issues? Tell us about it.
The FMEC has established a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee whose mission is to promote social justice in the communities served by FMEC and intertwine DEI values throughout everything that we do. The FMEC is currently planning activities for the 2022 calendar year and beyond and will be seeking your input. Watch for a short survey in your inbox and please respond!
Join the FMEC Annual Meeting Planning Committee
The FMEC is seeking family physicians and others from throughout the region to help with our conference program submission review process. A group of 40+ healthcare providers are involved every year, reviewing proposals for workshops, posters, research presentations and more, and helping determine and organize the meeting tracks. Help us create the best meeting possible! This volunteer opportunity is fun and educational. It's a great academic endeavor which does not require a huge time commitment, and faculty and use the submission review as an exercise for your residents and fellows. There are also opportunities to serve as Planning Committee coordinator, track organizer, and to moderate and judge at the Annual Meeting itself. We encourage interested applicants to be FMEC members (which is easy and inexpensive), and to commit to 3-year terms. If you are interested in joining the 2022 Planning Committee, please contact Lisa Schwieterman at [email protected].
| |
|
A selection of upcoming family medicine and primary care meetings, nationally and in the FMEC region, in the next 3 months. If you have a meeting to be listed, please email [email protected].
September 16-18, 2022: FMEC 2022 Annual Meeting, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, VA
February 23-26: Association of Departments of Family Medicine Annual Conference, Denver, CO
February 24-26: FMEC Board of Trustees meeting
February 25-27: Maryland AFP Annual Meeting and Winter Refresher, Baltimore, MD
March 2-6: Latino Medical Student Association National & Northeast Regional Conference, Philadelphia, PA
March 17-20: ACOFP Annual Convention and Scientific Seminars, Dallas, TX
March 25-27: AAFP Residency Leadership Summit, Kansas City, MO
April 7-9: American Medical Student Association AMSACon2022, Washington, DC
April 13-17: Student National Medical Association 2022 Conference, Orlando, FL
April 30-May 4: STFM Annual Spring Conference, Indianapolis, IN
| | | | |
