President’s Message
May 17, 2013
Dear Colleagues,
As I look at the history of family medicine in the province I can see that there were turning points or triggers that set off a series of changes that have brought us to where we are today. A turning point is described as “a time that a significant, decisive change in a situation occurs, especially one with beneficial results.” I feel that we are at that point today.
With the negotiation process behind us and primary care network evolution ahead of us, we are, as family physicians, at a turning point. We can choose to move in any direction from this point. We have built bridges, partnerships and alliances that will help us to progress and move our vision for the future forward. As I reviewed our proposed negotiated settlement, I see there are many challenges ahead: issues of fee equity, health system savings, blended models of payment for primary care, primary care accreditation and formal attachment, to name a few. Some of these issues, such as formal attachment of patients to a family physician, have been promoted as fundamental in developing the Patient’s Medical Home. Some, like blended payment models, reflect the changing landscape of family medicine and allow inter-professional collaboration, innovative communication with patients and further development of goals, improved access and patient care.
In my short time as president of the ACFP, I have been able to look outside of my own personal practice and primary care network to see that there are many physicians who have created successes that need to be celebrated and duplicated. Family physicians and Primary Care Networks paved the way for primary care evolution in their innovations and initiatives.
Some may wonder what the College is doing to support them in improving their personal practices as well as the system as a whole in Alberta. We have been an active partner in the Primary Care Alliance and in the continuing evolution of Primary Care Network discussions with Alberta Health. We are working with TOP, AIM, and the AMA in the ASaP project, which will offer a menu of screening initiatives along with evidence for their use and trained facilitators for your practice to help implement these maneuvers into your practice. We are offering
the second Practical Evidence for Informed Practice conference in October, to help you decipher the overwhelming amount of information on the best practices for common problems. We are also entering discussion with multiple stakeholders on the challenges and benefits of formal attachment and how we may go about this in Alberta.
On an individual level, the College has been encouraging members to participate in the
HQCA QUALICOPC Alberta: Evaluating Primary Healthcare in the Province of Alberta study that will provide some standardized measurement for primary care system comparison throughout Canada and Western Europe. We are promoting family physician involvement within all strategic clinical networks, as our colleagues recognize the huge amount of work in health care delivery that occurs outside of the acute care system. The Primary Care Alliance and the Steering Committee for PCN Evolution is looking for volunteers to participate in working groups on some of the fundamental issues in transforming Primary Care in the province.
The ACFP would like to commit to developing a database of all Primary Care initiatives large and small occurring in the province. This will be a “one-stop shop” so to speak with tools and links to appropriate resources as the transformation of primary care continues.
As Sir William Osler stated: "The future is now."
We are at a critical juncture, and family medicine and family physicians must seize the agenda for this transformation.
For more information about the ACFP, our initiatives and activities, please peruse the College website.
I encourage you to send emails to
acfppres@acfp.ca or contact the ACFP office at 780-488-2395 with your comments or feedback.
Sincerely,
Cathy Scrimshaw MD, CCFP, FCFP
President
Alberta College of Family Physicians
acfppres@acfp.ca
ACFP Chapter Update
Deadline Approaching! Call for Presentations – ACFP 59th ASA
The ACFP is accepting submissions to the 59th ASA Call for Presentations. Don’t miss this opportunity to share your knowledge with colleagues from Alberta and across the country.
Submit today.
Deadline for submissions is May 26, 2013
New Conflict of Interest Disclosure Policy
In order to ensure proper balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor for education activities, the CFPC has recently enhanced its CPD Conflict of Interest Disclosure Policy. While the CFPC does not view the existence of a financial relationship itself as necessarily implying bias or decreasing the value of an individual’s participation in a CME/CPD activity, the policy has been developed to ensure that when actual or potential conflicts of interest are identified, organizers and presenters must ensure that they are appropriately addressed.
The new policy (effective March 18, 2013) mandates that CME/CPD event organizers and presenters take steps, which include the use of 3 disclosure slides to allow participants/registrants to make independent judgments on the relationships identified and management strategies employed to mitigate bias and/or deal with any conflicts of interest. The policy includes the presentation by the program facilitator or speaker of these 3-slides at the start of each activity accredited by the CFPC. These slides are to be visually and verbally presented to the audience and sufficient time MUST be allowed for the audience to read and comprehend the information being shared. There must also be opportunity for the audience to ask questions about the disclosure should they arise.
- If you participate as a Speaker/Presenter at an accredited CME/CPD event please be aware that this 3-slide policy is now in effect and must be used.
- If you are in attendance at an accredited CME/CPD session or conference, please be aware that this policy is in effect and 3-slides disclosing conflict of interest must be visually and verbally presented at the start of the event.
If you have any questions on the implementation of this new policy, please feel free to contact the ACFP office at 780-488-2395 or by
email.
Physicians Needed - Student Shadowing Program
The Alberta College of Family Physicians (ACFP), in partnership with the AMA’s Alberta Section of Rural Medicine (ASRM) and the Section of General Practice (SGP), has been offering the Shadowing Program for Incoming Medical Students since 2005. The program provides an opportunity for incoming medical students at the University of Alberta and University of Calgary to shadow family physicians in rural/regional and urban health care settings across the province. This opportunity provides students with a positive and genuine understanding of the scope of family practice before starting their formal medical education and exposure to other medical specialties.
Are you able to share your passion for family practice with these students for a very short time (2-4 shifts)? The ACFP will take care of all the arrangements! If interested, please click on the following link for further details.
Save the Date for 2nd Annual Practical Evidence for Informed Practice Conference – October 18-19
Don’t miss out and be sure to mark your calendar for the 2nd annual PEIP conference. Led by the expert team that brings you Tools for Practice, the
Practical Evidence for Informed Practice conference brings together clinical leaders to speak on the latest findings that can affect your practice and how you treat your patients.
You Rock!
Thank you for participating in our Family Docs Rock campaign. The campaign promotes the value of family physician.
If you would like to participate and make postcards and stickers available in your clinic, email
myfamilydocsrock@acfp.ca.