Archives
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2008 Year in Review
TAFP has an Olympic year in ‘08
By Kate McCann
At record pace, 2008 went by in a blur for TAFP. Using the goals set at the September 2007 strategic planning meeting, staff began working on a three-year plan, roaring into the new year with fresh ideas for advocacy and communications, new and improved member services to help practices remain financially viable, and valuable CME programs to allow members to stay ahead of the curve.
Advocacy
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When it’s bad enough to be good
Health care reform and rescuing primary care
By Tom Banning
TAFP Chief Executive Officer/Executive Vice PresidentThere is an old adage that political leadership is the art of finding a parade and getting in front of it. And the corollary to that axiom is that whether it’s a parade or an angry mob, it’s best to stay in front of it.
The drumbeat for health care reform might be the sound of a marching band or it could be the din of a brute-force mob for whom might makes right and passion wins over reason. Either way, the need to transform our health care system—and in so doing reinvigorate primary care—is being heard, and more importantly, understood by policy makers, opinion leaders, the business community and the public at large.
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Reflections on being the “Doctor of the Day”
By Warren Longmire, M.D.
Most people who come into medicine want to help others. They have a strong desire to give prompt, friendly, medically accurate, and full service to those in need. With this concept in mind, I offer these reflections on 30-some years of participation in the Physician of the Day program, in which family physicians volunteer to treat people at the state Capitol when the Legislature is in session.
When we began, many legislators were very suspicious of us. They frequently asked, “What do you want for all this care you are giving?” The best answer we had was, “when we figure out just what is needed, we will share it with you.”
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The secret to better health care
By Robert Youens, M.D.
TAFP President, 2008-2009Hello, my colleagues. I have this bully pulpit for the next three quarters and intend to use it tastefully to express my opinion about the state of our affairs. So, here we go.
We are fortunate to be practicing the most fundamentally pure and satisfying medical specialty there is. Ours is a specialty of science and understanding, of the head and the heart, and of the definable episode and caring continuity.
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