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March 31, 2017

In This Issue...

  1. Academy News
  2. Government Relations
  3. News You Can Use
  4. Members in the News

Quick Links

Awards Nominations

Annual Report

POLL on Burnout

Health Care Coverage

MACRA

My IAFP Profile

Update AAFP Contact Info

Practice Resources

Tar Wars Illinois

Event Calendar

Member Benefits

FPJobsOnline

Complete the AAFP membership survey

IAFP staff will get the results from AAFP this summer which will help inform the board and staff on how we can serve you better adn shorten our IL member survey this summer!  Learn more

Support our chapter by using AAFP CME

Improve patient care and bridge your knowledge gaps with AAFP self-study CME when and where its convenient for youand help our chapter earn additional revenue through the AAFP Self-Study CME Revenue Share program.

At checkout, add 4MYCHAPTER in the source code box and a portion of your purchase revenue will be shared back with our chapter.

 


 

Academy News

New options for member input to the Board

The IAFP Board of Directors meets four times this year. They met February 17 and will meet again on May 17, August 5 and October 5. How can you provide timely input so that the board can respond to member issues in a more proactive way? Learn more on our new process for year-round member input.

IAFP renews ACCME accreditation
The IAFP Education staff has successfully completed the requirements for IAFP to be reaccredited by the American Council on Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through 2020. This accreditation allows IAFP to provide AMA Category 1 credit for CME.

Join a Member Interest Group

Member Interest Groups (MIG) provide an avenue for IAFP members across all levels (active, life, resident and student) to connect and collaborate on a topic of interest or situation of common ground. IAFP has three current MIGs:  Women in Leadership, FPs in FQHCs and Direct Primary Care.  We have four proposed/developing MIGs looking for members. Learn more and join the one(s) that fit your interests! The deadline to apply for the developing MIGs or propose a new group is May 1. 

Call for Abstracts is now open!

All abstracts must be submitted online.  Be sure to read the instructions carefully.  Click here to continue.

Theme:  Evolution of the #FMRevolution

Important Dates:
Abstract Submissions (for all presentations) Deadline:  May 14, 2017 at 11:59 PM CST
Student Poster Submission Deadline: June 4, 2017 (at 11:59 PM CST)

Conference dates: October 6-8 at the Hilton O'Hare Rosemont. 

 

 Get your tickets for our White Sox game and support the Foundation
The season opener is just days away! Mark your calendar and print out your order form for the annual Family Health Foundation of Illinois Home Runs for Healthy Families White Sox game on Friday June 23. Every ticket = a donation to the Family Health Foundation of Illinois.  Learn more here Deadline to order is May 25.

 

For those members who are teaching Tar Wars in their local schools, make your plans for entering the state poster contest! Deadline is April 30. Details are on our Tar Wars web page.

 


Government Relations

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Gordana Krkic, CAE, Deputy Executive Vice President of External Affairs at [email protected]

Federal Update 

ACA repeal and replace fails in Congress
Amid furious activity both for and against the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with the American Health Care Act, ultimately House Speaker Paul Ryan did not call for a vote, knowing he did not have enough Republican support to pass it. IAFP sent an action alert email to all members on March 21, urging them to contact their U.S. Representative via AAFP's Speak Out mechanism to oppose the AHCA, which would threaten health care coverage for hundreds of thousands in Illinois. Thank you to the many physicians, residents and student members who contacted Congress.

While both Medicare and Medicaid were passed in 1965, most of the news coverage focused on Medicare. But over the past five decades, Medicaid has surpassed Medicare in both news coverage and in the number of Americans it covers. It has grown gradually to provide for the medical needs of one in five Americans - 74 million people. Preserving Medicaid, so central to the country's health care system, played a major role in the failed attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Along with Democrats, many moderate Republicans in Congress and Republican Governors nationwide objected to the AHCA's deep cuts to Medicaid. Looking ahead, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Democrat leaders suggested Congress will continue their work on health care reforms in a more bipartisan way.

MACRA Pick Your Pace pep talk
Need a quick reference on the 2017 MACRA reporting process? Check out the AAFP's In the Trenches blog post from this week. If you gotta do this, you got this!

State Update

IAFP Calls for Tobacco 21 law in Springfield

IAFP was among the advocates assembled in Springfield on March 29 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Smoke-Free Illinois Act. They used the opportunity to urge Springfield to pass the Tobacco 21 Act, HB 3208. IAFP President-elect Asim Jaffer, MD (left, at podium) spoke at the press conference where he stressed the importance of raising the age to 21. "I'm a father of two children, ages eight and five. I absolutely want to ensure that they grow up to be tobacco-free adults. Taking away the temptation of tobacco by removing the ability to purchase it can make the difference when these young adults are faced with choices, without parental guidance." Read his full statement here.

Despite a high number of support witness slips provided by IAFP members and advocates, which greatly outnumbered opponents, the bill was not called in the House Consumer Protection Committee on Tuesday. Meanwhile, SR 318 (Sen. Terry Link) was adopted, officially declaring March 29, 2017 as "Smoke-Free Illinois Day."

The Illinois Tobacco Quitline (ITQL) is a free telephone resource that provides tobacco-cessation counseling and information to tobacco users.  Get connected with the referral program

Join us in Springfield for Spring into Action - May 9, 10 or 11 

IAFP provides the education and the training - along with breakfast and lunch!  Then everyone walks over to the Statehouse to meet with their state senator and representative about the issues most important to you. Everyone gets home in time for dinner!  Learn more and register todayMake sure you confirm who your state representative and state senator are before you register, using the link provided on the Spring into Action page.  


News You Can Use

Reminder of AAFP Webinar:  Annual Wellness Visits

Are you looking for ways to increase your practice's revenue? Discover the benefits of Annual Wellness Visits (AWV). Access the AAFP's live webinar "Getting Paid for What We Do Best," with presenter Daniel Bluestein, MD, to learn how these preventive Medicare wellness visits can provide revenue from new patients and strengthen your relationship with existing patients.

Getting Paid for What We Do Best
April 4 at 12 p.m. CT ($30 for members, $15 for residents)

After the webinar, you should be able to:

  • Review AWV requirements and summarize visit elements.
  • Identify how AWV findings can close care gaps and engage patients.
  • Examine AWV financial and quality implications.
  • Recognize the importance of AWV in relation to value-based payment.

Register Now

POLST upcoming webinar for Primary Care

POLST in the Primary Care Setting is a free webinar about the Providers Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) and one of a series of webinars as part of the POLST Paradigm Toolkit.

The free webinar is Thursday April 13 at 1pm CT. Register here

HFS launches portal for Medicaid MCO issues

Learn more here

ABC-D Conference Registration is open!

Registration is now open for the Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics' ICAAP 3rd Annual Autism, Behavior, and Complex Medical Needs-Downstate (ABC-D) Conference, "Zip Code vs Genetic Code: The Social Determinants of Caring for Children and Families with Special Needs." Regency Conference Center in O'Fallon, IL on April 28, 2017. Learn more


Members in the News

If you have a news item to share, email it to Ginnie Flynn at [email protected].

IAFP Board Chair Alvia Siddiqi, MD is quoted in a Modern Healthcare story on the transition to new Medicare cards that will no longer have the patient's social security number as an identifier. Doctors who accept Medicare will need to update all their EHR information in order for billing to be processed. The new cards will be issued beginning in April 2018. Siddiqi serves as the AAFP representative to the US Dept. of Health and Human Services Advisory Panel on Outreach and Education.

IAFP board member Santina Wheat, MD is quoted in a March 27 DNA Info article about the unusually high adult smoking rate of 41 percent (compared to the national average of 17 percent) in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. Wheat is Medical Director of Erie Family Health Center, an FQHC located in that neighborhood. Wheat lamented that it is an ongoing challenge in their practice to encourage patients to quit.

Michael Thornton, MD authored a March 22 letter to the editor in the DeKalb Chronicle urging support for a voter referendum for a property tax increase that would provide much needed funding support for the DeKalb Co. Health Department. Thornton is a long time board member and current medical director of the county health department.

IAFP President Donald Lurye, MD authored an Op-Ed in the March 17 Champaign News Gazette reminding the community of the importance of family medicine residency training in Illinois to support a future family medicine workforce to meet our state's need. The editorial ran on Match Day, which unfortunately reveals a decrease in the number of Illinois students choosing family medicine residencies. 

  

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