ACOFP President

"One person with
a belief is equal
to a force of 99 who have only interests."
--John Stuart Mill 

By Ronnie B. Martin, DO, FACOFP dist.

October 14, 2008

Changes and Not Just of Seasons
The ACOFP/AOA Convention to be held at the end of October in Las Vegas and the 2009 ACOFP Annual Convention in Washington, D.C. next March, like the political campaigns that are still ongoing, will spend a lot of time discussing change. Educational sessions addressing changes that will affect your practice and lives as well as the profession of osteopathic medicine will be found throughout the venue. ACOFP is striving to ensure that you are prepared to meet the challenges that changes in our health care system will bring, as well as influence the shape that those changes will have. Without your active involvement, we cannot succeed.

Changes in our health care system are inevitable as health care is the second greatest domestic concern of voters following only the economy (and closely related). The candidates will react to such a groundswell of discontent. Regardless of whom you personally support, vote for or who wins on November 4, change in the structure of our system will occur, the questions remains: will the changes be for the benefit of the patients and the health of our nation or will they again benefit silos of providers, institutions and the insurance industry as we have seen so many times in the past? Change, you see, cuts both ways, for the good and for the bad, equally.

The reform of our current system to one that is patient centered and respects and features preventive and primary care is essential. Without such change, we simply cannot provide access to quality health care for our more than 300 million citizens. Continuing with our current system means we will see deterioration of the health gains we have seen over the past 100 years. Change must occur to a system based on a medical home and access to quality primary care if we are to avoid seeing our economic system further disrupted by a dysfunctional system that consumes more than 16 percent of our Gross National Product, yet produces results that rank us 37th in the world in health outcomes. The Patient-Centered Primary Care model advocated for by ACOFP and other primary care organizations is one solution, none of us claim it is the only one, but merely tinkering with our current systems and not creating one centered on the patient rather than the disease or the institution, is change that everyone agrees is doomed to failure.

In the short three weeks ahead, I urge each of you to continue to be actively involved in the political process. Each of you individually should become the advocate that you want ACOFP to be for you on a grass roots level. Inform each and every candidate, from city council to senator, of where you stand on health care policy and issues. Let them know what you think of what I perceive to be our current dysfunctional, disease oriented, failed system and how you feel it can be redesigned to a more efficient system. Learn as much as you can about each candidate's policy plans for health care; do not accept sound bites or sales approaches.

At the upcoming ACOFP conventions as well as at state and local gatherings, learn about new systems of practice and how they potentially affect your practice. Read about systems in addition to new scientific information. Each of you should become an authority on requirements for Medical Home, e-Prescribing, P4P and Quality Initiatives; after all, it is your life and your profession that will be affected by the change that is coming.

Dr. Zieren Visits Pacific Northwest University
ACOFP President-elect Jan D. Zieren, DO, MPH, FACOFP, dist. represented the ACOFP Board of Governors to the students, staff and faculty during a visit to Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences School of Osteopathic Medicine in Yakima, Washington this past week. Dr. Zieren was impressed by the state of the art facilities available to advance the teaching of osteopathic medicine. The inaugural class of 75 students is 51 percent female and is heavily representative of the Pacific Northwest region.

Our congratulations and kudos are extended to Dean William Betz, DO, MBA, FACOFP for his leadership in establishing the new program. Dr. Betz and his faculty have not only created a quality curriculum and educational program, but they are looking forward to expanding osteopathic graduate medical education opportunities in the region, with an emphasis on primary care and osteopathic family practice residencies in the Northwest to serve these graduates.

Dr. Zieren also met with Dr. DiMeo, head of the Division of Family Medicine and Dr. Lloyd Butler who was instrumental in starting the school and for whom a building, Butler-Haney Hall, is named. The school was recognized with a Chamber of Commerce Award for contributing to the improvement of the Yakima community. On behalf of the entire profession, it is a pleasure to extend our congratulations and welcome them into the osteopathic and ACOFP families.

One Small Step for Osteopathy
A tip of the Stetson to David Garza, DO, FACOFP who recently found when he applied to be a staff physician at the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree in 2010 that the application included designations for MD, PhD, Pharmacist and Attorney, but not for DO. David contacted the national association, provided them information on Osteopathic Medicine along with his personal application. Not only was David selected as one of the volunteers (in the same campsite as his son!), but he received notice that Boy Scouts of American National Jamboree had added DO to their designations on their website and application.

Thanks to David and all of you who continue to "unfurl the flag of osteopathy" every day in your practice and lives. As the saying goes, "we have come a long way baby", but it is not over and we should never forget that as a minority, it will not be for a while yet.

e-Prescribing Conference
As reported in last week's blog, ACOFP Governor Paul Martin, DO FACOFP dist. attended the first ever National E-Prescribing conference this past week. Kudos to the AOA for gaining recognition as a provider for one of these critical information sessions.

Featured speakers reflect the magnitude and importance of this series of meetings on e-prescribing. The speakers included Kerry Weems (Acting Administrator of CMS), Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Governor Donald Carcieri of Rhode Island, Michael Leavitt (Secretary of HHS), David Brailer (Former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology), and Newt Gingrich (Founder of the Center for Health Transformation).

The knowledge that Dr. Martin gained will be available for ACOFP members so they can determine how it best fits with their practices management and operations. This information should help guide the decisions for our members on participating in the program. CMS has approved e-prescribing software and those practices that participate with e-Rx programs will be eligible to benefit from the 2 percent added Medicare payment for physicians who utilize e-prescribing in greater than 50 percent of their traditional Medicare patients. 

Back to Campus
Members of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine ACOFP student chapter under the leadership of President, Michael G. Ross, partnered with the Biddeford Free Health Clinic in Biddeford, Maine for their first Health Fair. The Biddeford Free Clinic provides free general medical for those without health insurance and who cannot afford it. Under the supervision of physicians and nurses, members provided free flu vaccines to patients. University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine ACOFP members also offered a Blood Pressure Awareness Screening at the fair, as well as, provided community members with free medical emergency kits.

Osteopathic Advocacy and Leadership
The AOA is working to update its list of osteopathic physicians currently serving on federal and state health policy, regulatory, legislative or public service counsel, committees or panels so an accurate list can be distributed at the upcoming annual convention. Requests have been sent previously to state affiliates and national affiliates, but I wanted to remind each of you to inform the AOA if you serve in one of these public service capacities. The specific information needed is: Name of Advisory Panel, Name of Individual and Dates of Appointment. All information should be sent to Brandon Fuller. 

RBM Personal Note:
My congratulations to all the fans of the Longhorn who assumed the mantle of number one after defeating my Sooners this past Saturday. It was a great weekend and there is no place else in the country that can match the excitement and atmosphere found at the Texas State Fair and Cotton Bowl, even if the game did not turn out to my liking.

Make your opinions known! Send an email to me and ACOFP. Share your thoughts, make comments, and tell us what you have been doing in regards to osteopathic family medicine.

To unsubscribe from Leading the Osteopathic Way, click here
and put "unsubscribe" in the subject line.