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IAFP News
** HAPPY HOLIDAYS – THIS IS THE LAST ISSUE OF E-NEWS FOR 2006.
Three things that IAFP and our members can give thanks for this holiday season:

1. The IAFP Strategic Plan: http://www.iafp.com/about/mission.htm
2. Medicaid Payment reform http://www.iafp.com/legislative/medicaidpayments.htm
3. Award winners http://www.iafp.com/PR/IAFP%202006%20meeting.htm

** DECEMBER 31 IS THE DEADLINE FOR IAFP 2007 AWARDS NOMINATIONS!

1. The Family Physician of the Year Award
2. IAFP Media Award
3. Family Medicine Full-time Teacher of the Year
4. Family Medicine Part-time Teacher of the Year

Link to full information and nomination forms at http://www.iafp.com/PR/Award%20forms.htm

**THE DECEMBER 2006/JANUARY 2007 ISSUE OF FAMILY PHYSICIAN IS ONLINE
http://www.iafp.com/Final%20December.pdf

**Did you miss the last E-news? Link to it here!
http://www.iafp.com/newsletter/E-news/Dec4.htm

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**FIND TOMORROW’S FPs WITH THE SUMMER EXTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Family Physicians are making a difference!  The IAFP Foundation is currently seeking more preceptors for the 2007 Summer Externship Program to host a first-year medical student for four weeks.  The Summer Externship Program works to introduce students to the specialty of family medicine and the lifestyle of family physicians.  The IAFP Foundation’s Vision Statement benefits the specialty of family medicine and the people of Illinois by encouraging more students into family medicine.  This program is meeting both of these goals by creating a positive influence on medical students that attracts more of them into family medicine and the quality, comprehensive care provided by the specialty.

Please contact Crishelle O’Rourke at corourke@iafp.com or 515-987-8978 for more information.

Link to an article by IAFP board member Deborah Edberg, MD about being a preceptor http://www.iafp.com/foundation/edberg.htm

**TAR WARS PUBLISHED RESEARCH
Family medicine is making a difference in keeping today’s kids from becoming tomorrow’s smokers! Link to the press release about a recent Univ. of Colorado study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. This research concludes that Tar Wars effectively changed students’ attitudes and beliefs about tobacco use. http://www.iafp.com/tarwars/study.htm.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
**PUBLIC COMMENT FROM PHYSICIANS NEEDED FOR MEDICARE PART D
The US Pharmacopeial Convention is seeking input from physicians and others on how to adjust Medicare Rx covered drugs in 2007. View the proposed additions, deletions and clarifications, then offer your feedback. The list doesn’t include medications by name, but by categories, pharmacological classes and "formulary key drug types."

Link to http://www.usp.org/healthcareInfo/mmg/forPublicComment.html

The previously planned 5.1% cut in reimbursement is gone – for now. Physicians will have an opportunity for a 1.5% bonus by reporting on at least three out of seven different Medicare patient types beginning in July 2007. The Physicians Voluntary Reporting Program (PVRP) has determined the reporting

What will it mean for you??

Family physicians likely will want to take advantage of an interactive online tool that the Academy's Practice Support Division has updated to help members calculate changes in their Medicare income based on evaluation and management code payment changes recently published in the CMS final rule.

Use the AAFP web calculator http://www.aafp.org/online/etc/medialib/aafp_org/documents/prac_mgt/codingresources/emimpacttool.Par.0001.File.dat/EM%20Impact%20Tool.xls

This tool allows users to see payment allowances and calculate revenue changes between 2006 and 2007.

**HELP FOR MEDICAID PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS
By Dr. Fredric D. Leary, medical director, Your Health Care Plus – McKesson Health Solutions
Your Healthcare Plus is a new chronic illness management program designed to help Illinois families learn new ways to take charge of their illness, so they can live longer, healthier lives.

Through Your Healthcare Plus, Illinois-based nurses and social workers team up to provide patient education and coaching to reinforce the doctor's orders. Your Healthcare Plus helps participants by finding a primary care physician, assisting patients with setting and keeping appointments, arranging transportation to doctor's appointments, and facilitating communication between the primary doctor and other specialists.

Your Healthcare Plus is delivered statewide by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and McKesson Health Solutions, and is available to nearly 170,000 eligible adults and children who receive Medicaid in Illinois.  

LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE ON IAFP’S WEB SITE AT: http://www.iafp.com/legislative/your%20healthcare%20plus.htm Contact Dr. Leary via e-mail: frederic.leary@mckesson.com
Visit the "Your Healthcare Plus" web site: http://www.yourhealthcareplus.com/

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**Medicaid Primary Care Case Management Information
Illinois Health Connect is Illinois’ statewide Primary Care Case Management program. Under this program, most people with and HFS or All Kids medical card will have a medical home through a Primary Care Provider.

What does this mean to the Family Physician? Any family physician who provides a medical home to the HFS medical assistance recipients (Medicaid) patients must sign up to continue serving these individuals. Sign up is quick and easy.

Here are just a few of the benefits to being an enrolled IHC PCP:

· Enhanced Maternal and Child Health Rates
· A Special Monthly Care Management Fee of $2-4 per patient
· Payment Cycle Improvements by HFS

If you still have questions about Illinois Health Connect, there’s still time to get answers! The last informational teleconference of the year is coming up on Dec. 20 at noon. If you wish to participate, please RSVP to Kristen Jackson at 630-435-0356, ext. 221 or kjackson@iafp.com and leave a message with your name, phone number and which session you wish to attend. The call in number for the teleconference is 800-201-6800, Passcode 894-2625#.

You can also get more information about Illinois Health Connect ANYTIME by calling the Provider Helpline at 1-877-912-1999 or visiting their website at http://www.IllinoisHealthConnect.com.

**IAFP has answers on the Web. Link to the article on the PCCM program at http://www.iafp.com/legislative/allKids%20overview.htm

**SUPPORT A STATEWIDE SMOKE-FREE ILLINOIS
Please go to and sign the Smoke-free Illinois Resolution as an individual doctor, a practice or other group to show your support. Local lawmakers need to see supporters in their district!

Go to http://www.smokefreeillinois.org/state/  for more information and to download the resolution to sign and submit!

**CITIES ON THE MOVE IN DEBATING CLEAN INDOOR AIR ORDINANCES

*The Niles Village Board will consider a terrible proposed ordinance that will allow smoking in bars, bowling alleys and the bar areas of restaurants on December 19. Please tell the Niles Trustees to oppose this bad bill and adopt the Cook County Ordinance. You can e-mail the trustees at trustee@vniles.com.

*The Naperville City Council will conduce a first reading of a proposed comprehensive ordinance that eliminates smoking in all indoor workplaces and even includes outdoor dining and city events such as Last Fling and Ribfest. The council is expected to vote in January on an ordinance to take effect in July 2007.

Keep up with all the smoke-free coalition activity in your community or across the state at http://www.smokefreeillinois.org.

Members in the News – If you would like a copy of any of the articles below, contact Ginnie Flynn at gflynn@iafp.com.

*Mary Pohlmann, MD – a retired family physician in Carbondale and the current chair of the Smoke-free Carbondale coalition has announced her candidacy for the Carbondale City Council. She is featured in today’s (Dec. 15) Southern Illinoisan at http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2006/12/15/local/18529057.txt#readcomments

*Eric Henley, MD of Rockford and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford family medicine department’s corrections health program at the county

Jail was featured in a three-part series broadcast on the local NBC affiliate in Rockford's morning news program from November 21-23. The reports covered the success of the jail health program, the mental health program, and the medical education program. Rockford M4 student Betsy McGee was interviewed for the third report.

*Catherine Counard, MD of Evanston is quoted in the December 8 Chicago Tribune story about the recent Pertussis outbreak at New Trier high school in Winnetka and the response of the area schools in offering free vaccinations for all students. Counard is the Chief of Communicable Diseases at the Cook County Department of Public Health.

*The Chicago Tribune called on IAFP the day after Congress passed the Medicare payment rules for 2007. IAFP connected the Tribune to AAFP past-president Bruce Bagley, M.D. now the medical director for quality improvement at AAFP. Dr. Bagley is quoted in the December 14 "Inside Health Care" column in the Tribune.

*Ben Brewer, MD of Forrest talks about how patients have a growing concern about health care out of pocket costs and his role as a primary care physician to consider and help manage those costs – while keeping the patient healthy. The November 28 installment of "From the Doctor’s Office" in the Wall Street Journal Online addresses the gaps in Medicare and other programs that keeps patients from preventive care, but can land them in the hospital.

*Robert Ireland, DO of New Lenox is featured in a November 30 Joliet Herald News article about preventing and treating colds and flu. The article helps to educate patients and dispel some myths and misconceptions.

Who are the superstars of family medicine education? Nominate your favorite full-time or part-time faculty for the IAFP Teacher of the Year Awards: http://www.iafp.com/PR/toy.htm

STUDENTS:

**The Pisacano Leadership Foundation is pleased to announce that the application for the 2007 Pisacano Scholars Leadership program is now available online at www.fpleaders.org , and may be submitted as the original application.

The Pisacano Scholars Leadership program is designed to provide educational programs, leadership training, and funding to reimburse a portion of medical-school-related debt.  Scholarships will be awarded to outstanding medical students for a four-year period.  Students who have made a commitment to the field of family medicine and who will enter their fourth year in medical school in the fall of 2007 may apply.  The PLF will award scholarships with a maximum value of $28,000 each for the 2007-2008 academic year.

Applications must be received by March 1, 2007 to be considered.

If you would like any additional information, please contact Jane Ireland: jireland@fpleaders.org or 888-995-5700, ext. 249.

*Link to the full Resident Update on our web site: http://www.iafp.com/residents/update.htm

*JOB LISTINGS AND OTHER INFO ON-LINE Here is a place to start: http://www.iafp.com/JobListings/

FP Jobs Online has launched an exciting new feature for job seekers called My Work Style. This state-of-the-art self evaluation tool will help you to uncover your personal professional style to identify optimal work environments and potential professional obstacles. The My Work Style self evaluation, a $100 value, is free to job seekers!

*Link to new resources for residents IAFP web site http://www.iafp.com/Residents/index.htm

**PRI-MED JUNE DIABETES CONFERENCE
Pri-Med, in partnership with the American Diabetes Association, is proud to announce a new CME program on diabetes. Pri-Med Clinical Focus in Diabetes will be coming to Oak Brook on May 12, 2007 and St. Louis, Mo. on June 9, 2007. As an Illinois Academy of Family Physicians member, Pri-Med would like to offer you the first opportunity to register. Please call 877-263-5127 for additional program information or to register and reference Pri-Med Clinical Focus in Diabetes.

**ABFM SUMMER EXAM REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 18
The American Board of Family Medicine announced that the online registration for the Summer 2007 Certification, Recertification, and Sports Medicine exams will be available on January 18, 2007.  To complete an online application, Diplomates will need to log into their Physician Portfolio and follow the Online Application link. From this link, Diplomates will be able to view the requirements and deadlines as well as complete the necessary application. Please check the ABFM website, www.theabfm.org, for updates regarding deadlines.  For assistance with logging in or answers to other questions, Diplomates may contact the ABFM Support Center at (877) 223-7437.

*CHRISTINE PETTY, MD RESIGNS AS DELEGATE TO AAFP.
IAFP Past President Christine A. Petty, MD (Coal Valley) resigned from the AAFP Delegate position on October 29. As a result, Alternate Delegate Tim J. Vega, MD of Peoria moves up to fill her slot in the Illinois delegation. This leaves a vacancy for Dr. Vega’s unexpired term at the Alternate Delegate position. Any IAFP member interested in running for that position must submit a nomination to IAFP executive vice president Vince Keenan at vkeenan@iafp.com. Nominations are due January 26, 2007.

TAR WARS
See the latest update from IAFP Tar Wars at: http://www.iafp.com/tarwars/

If you have any news items to share with the IAFP membership, please e-mail Ginnie Flynn at gflynn@iafp.com