ACOFP President

By Jan D. Zieren, DO, MPH, FACOFP dist.
June 10, 2009

President Writes Senators Baucus and Kennedy on Health Reform
On June 2, President Barack Obama wrote to Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-MT), and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chair Edward Kennedy (D-MA) expressing his goals for health care reform legislation. Policy options addressed include:

Public Plan -- All Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option alongside private options; which will lead to more choices, increase market competitiveness and keep insurance companies honest.

Individual Mandate -- End gaps in coverage for individuals and encourage "shared responsibility." For those who can't afford health insurance, a hardship waiver must be available in a system with an individual mandate.

Employer Mandates -- Employer responsibility to support health insurance for their employees, but with a small business exemption from employer mandates.

MedPAC Recommendations - Adopt MedPAC's recommendations on cost reductions unless opposed by a joint resolution of the Congress, similar to the process used by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC).

New Spending -- Health care reform should not add to the federal deficit over the next ten years; Congress should pass legislation that is paid for or budget neutral.

Finally, President Obama hopes to reach a bipartisan consensus on the many issues surrounding health care reform; and that Congress will pass health care reform by October 1, 2009.

Sign up for the 2009 ACOFP Intensive Update Course
Held September 10-12, 2009 with 21.5 Category 1-A CME credits anticipated in Chicago, Illinois, this course is designed for practicing osteopathic family physicians who want to update their skills, as well as for those preparing to take the recertification examination given by the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians (AOBFP).

This course presents an overview of the most important topics in contemporary osteopathic family medicine, and features focused, patient-care oriented review presented by family physician faculty with expertise in specific topic areas. These reviews will help improve existing skills, as well as introduce new and innovative osteopathic modalities.

Website Development
ACOFP has partnered with OsteopathicWebsites.com to provide ACOFP members with a resource to build and edit their own websites to promote their practices. OsteopathicWebsites.com designs a customized, osteopathic medical practice website based on the medical practice information with absolutely no software to install.

For a reduced annual fee, the site is hosted as part of OsteopathicWebsites.com. This means that within 24 hours of building a site, it is posted and live. Members do not have to worry about finding a hosting company or loading files onto a server. Try it today by building a sample site- a 15 day free trial allows for just 5 clicks of the mouse and it is up and running .

Back to Campus
Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine ACOFP Student Chapter President Rebecca Lewis is placing all the residency program information collected at the ACOFP Residency Fair during the ACOFP Convention in Washington, D.C. into a binder which will be made accessible to all students on campus.

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.

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