Strategic planning: TAFP members chart aggressive course for 2010-2011

posted 09.16.10

To help chart the course of the Academy in rapidly changing times, 28 TAFP members from a variety of practice settings and backgrounds gathered in Austin Aug. 13-14 for TAFP’s strategic planning meeting. They analyzed the results of the TAFP summer member survey and integrated the data into the discussion.

The group came with the goal of setting broad strategies for the Academy over the next 3-5 years. However, citing the uncertainty of the practice environment and rapid changes taking place after federal health care reform, the conversation changed to strategies targeted to occur over the next 1-2 years.

Physician participants grouped the actions into four categories: advocacy, practice viability, membership, and education, and held a targeted discussion on each category. From there, they developed objectives and action initiatives for each.

As in previous years, the results of the member survey placed advocacy at the state and national levels at the top of the priority list. This led strategic planners to develop a comprehensive list of advocacy initiatives that address physician workforce, scope of practice, and access to care; for instance, preserving the physicians’ scope of practice while promoting the collaborative role of nurses in advanced practice, rewarding medical schools who produce primary care physicians, and expediting the international medical graduate licensure process, among others.

Practice viability also ranked high on the member survey, and at least three physician participants in strategic planning held advanced degrees in business. The group proposed developing business training and practice management courses to sharpen family physicians’ business acumen. Also, the group directed TAFP and AAFP to develop tools to instruct physicians on ways to maximize practice revenue and incorporate other best practices.

The membership initiatives center on increasing communication internally and externally by informing the members of Academy resources, educating members on requirements of health care reform, and increasing awareness of family medicine among medical students and the general public. The education initiative will develop more programs to aid physicians in the ABFM Maintenance of Certification process, increasing the number and frequency of SAM workshops.

To read the 2010-2011 TAFP Strategic Plan, download the full document. We invite you to send comments to president@tafp.org as we continue evolving to meet the needs of members.