Archives
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Support the AAFP Foundation with the dues check-off campaign
When you renew your annual AAFP/TAFP membership this fall, consider supporting the AAFP Foundation by making a $50 check-off donation on your dues form. Your contribution will ensure that the important work of the Foundation continues at the state and national levels.
Go to the AAFP website to pay your dues.Your dollars will fund grants for chapter-level programs through the Family Medicine Philanthropic Consortium as well as AAFP Foundation humanitarian, educational, and research initiatives. All programs are designed to advance the values of family medicine and improve the health of all people.
The dues check-off is the easiest and fastest way to support your state and national Foundation. Your $50 gift:
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Add AAFP Virtual Care to your family medicine practice
Boost access, increase revenue with telemedicine
By Sheri Porter
The AAFP has launched a new telemedicine software platform designed specifically for family physicians working in small and medium-sized practices with fewer than 20 physicians. Called AAFP Virtual Care, the platform is powered by the virtual care technology company Zipnosis and aims to provide physicians and their patients with an easy way to connect.
This new member resource comes at a most opportune time, according to Steven Waldren, MD, director of AAFP’s Alliance for eHealth Innovation.
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Advocating for women's health in the 86th Texas Legislature
By Evelyn Delgado
Texas Women’s Healthcare Coalition Chair and Healthy Futures of Texas President/Executive DirectorThe texas women’s healthcare coalition is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of women, babies, and families by ensuring access to preventive care — including contraception — for all Texas women. Our membership includes health care organizations, provider organizations, advocacy organizations, and faith organizations from across the state. We strive toward our mission by working with state legislators on women’s health policy issues, educating the public on the landscape of women’s health in Texas, and through building relationships with state agency leaders to improve the programs serving Texas women.
Since its formation, TWHC has advocated for priority issues during each Texas legislative session with the goal of improving access to women’s health services. The No. 1 priority is always to protect funding for the state’s women’s health programs and advocate for more funding to meet the statewide need for family planning and preventive health services.
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Our next moonshot – Apollo 13 and the state of behavioral health in Texas
By Janet Hurley, MD
If you have never seen the movie “Apollo 13,” I highly recommend it. It tells the story of a fateful NASA mission to the moon. In route to the moon, there was an explosion and the astronauts had to use the lunar lander module as a lifeboat. The movie tells the story of innovation, teamwork, and unbridled commitment toward the goal of bringing the astronauts home. The mission was called “a successful failure” because they failed to go to the moon, but they succeeded in bringing the astronauts home alive against terrible odds.
In my role as medical director of population health for my local health system, I have undertaken the task of developing a behavioral health program with the goal of having a behavioral health counselor embedded in each of our primary care clinics and psychiatrist consultants available to review behavioral health care plans, discuss cases with primary care physicians, and receive direct referrals. This is one good way to provide support to primary care while protecting a psychiatrist’s time to ensure that referrals are done for only the most difficult mental health patients. This has been my initial plan for mental health expansion in my organization.
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